“If the old parties had done their job properly, the AfD would not exist,” complains Ingolf, reflecting the common sense that the rest of Germany looks down on the so-called “Ossis” in the east.
Far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has already won the most votes in regional elections in the eastern state of Thuringia this month. Now Germany is bracing for a further political shockwave, as polls suggest the AfD could also win the most votes in the state of Brandenburg in a few weeks.
In the small villages of Jämlitz and Klein Düben, close to the Polish border, support for the far right has increased dramatically.
Ingolf, a former conservative (CDU) voter, is frustrated by the way successive governments have handled education, saying standards were better when he was growing up in the communist German Democratic Republic.
He expresses concern about Germany’s stagnant economy and immigration, comparing the far-right riots in England this summer to “civil war-like conditions”.
A disorder that, although not comparable to a civil war, does give rise to stories about the potential for violent conflict within multicultural communities.
“That’s not what we want here in Germany,” he says.
In Jämlitz, best known for its large goose farm, the idea of civil war seemed far away.
The war raging in Ukraine was also not possible. But the AfD’s call to stop sending weapons to Kiev is also resonating.
“The money for Ukraine is a problem,” says Yvonne, who considers any war “senseless” as we talk to her a little further away.
“And this is our tax money being sent abroad. We have enough things to fix in our own country.”
However, Yvonne leans towards another anti-establishment party that was founded only this year and which is also against arms shipments to Ukraine and is a growing force in German politics: the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW).
Ms Wagenknecht’s personal ‘left-wing conservatism’ has already propelled her party into the potential role of kingmaker in Saxony and Thuringia this month.
However, her critics say she has merely created a new, unwanted populist, pro-Putin movement that actively undermines the central pillars of German foreign policy.
I challenge Yvonne to stop supplying weapons to Ukraine, which would allow Russia to win the war it started by invading its neighbor.
“I can understand both sides,” she says after some hesitation.
This is the part of Germany where the older generation from the GDR years grew up and learned the Russian language and culture.
It is also a country marked by two world wars, but which still has a strong pacifist character, fuelled by the fear that the existing conflict could escalate.
“Poland is not big,” says Yvonne, pointing out that the Polish border is only a few kilometers away. “And then we are the first to go when the tanks come by.”
In these two villages, with a population of less than 500 people, 57.5% of voters supported the far-right party a recent municipal electionthe largest share in Brandenburg.
In the entire district, that percentage was 43.7%, which is also unusually high.
This comes ahead of a larger vote at state parliament level on September 22, where the AfD is leading the polls – having already won the most votes in Thuringia on September 1 and finished a close second in Saxony.
In Thuringia, the AfD received 36% of the votes among young people under 30, according to election researchers.
Their relative strength in the east comes despite the fact that the party is seen by many – and is officially represented in three states – as far-right, a charge its supporters vehemently reject.
Not far from there I visit one of the beautiful lakes that were originally used as open-cast coal mines.
When I walk around and ask people if they want to talk about German politics, most of them, unsurprisingly, are not very inclined to do so.
A woman named Katrin is willing to talk, but she doesn’t want to be photographed.
She takes us away from a small group of people sunbathing on the grass and near a small beach. She lights a cigarette and waits patiently for us to hear what she has to say.
It looks like it’s going to be very controversial.
She hates the AfD, which might come across as a dissenting opinion here.
“Half the people here didn’t vote for the AfD,” she reminds us, adding that she is “devastated” by the local support for a far-right party.
But why are they so popular, I wonder?
“That’s a good question,” says Katrin. “I ask myself that all the time.”
“There’s an old saying,” she recalls. “If a donkey gets too comfortable, he’ll go on black ice.”
Katrin says she believes that life is actually relatively good for the people in the community, leading to a misplaced ‘the grass is greener on the other side’ syndrome – whether with a view to the past or the present.
Average wage levels and household prosperity are lower in the East than in the West, although inequality has decreased over the years.
In general, Katrin doesn’t understand. “I still think to myself, why, why, why?”
You get the feeling that the established parties, including those in the coalition government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz, are also unable to understand or respond to the success of the AfD and BSW. These parties score 18% and 8% nationally respectively.
The traditional parties in power are anxiously looking east, and Germany’s reputation for relatively calm, consensus-oriented politics is under pressure.
