\u201cIf the old parties had done their jobs properly then the AfD would not exist,\u201d Ingolf complains, echoing a common sense that the rest of Germany looks down on so-called \u201cOssis\u201d in the east.<\/p>\n
Far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) have already won the most votes in regional elections this month in the eastern state of Thuringia. Now Germany\u2019s bracing for a further political shockwave, as polls suggest the AfD could also take the most votes in Brandenburg state’s election in a few weeks time.<\/p>\n
Tucked away near the Polish border, in the two tiny villages of J\u00e4mlitz and Klein D\u00fcben, support for the far right has soared.<\/p>\n
A former conservative (CDU) voter, Ingolf is frustrated about how successive governments have handled education, saying standards were better when he was a boy growing up in the communist German Democratic Republic.<\/p>\n
He voices anxiety about Germany\u2019s flatlining economy as well as immigration, comparing the far-right riots in England this summer to \u201ccivil war-like conditions\u201d.<\/p>\n
Disorder that, while nothing like a civil war, has stoked narratives about the potential for violent clashes within multicultural communities.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s not what we want here in Germany,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n