The Alternative für Deutschland or AfD has made significant
gains in German state elections and this comes after gains in the European
Parliament made earlier this year. And people are talking about it. It's
shocking to them that 80 years after the start of WWII, a Far-Right party (that
by many estimations harbours a Neo-Nazi element) is becoming a significant
player in German politics.
Why has this happened? Well, you can be sure that the
American Right and in particular the Christian Right will have no explanation
for it. They erroneously believe Nazism to be a Left-wing movement. Somehow
Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders are closer to Nazism than someone like
Donald Trump. Never mind the fact that all the Neo-Nazis in America and the West
appreciate and support Trump... and we can also ignore the fact that all the
actual ex-Nazis and fascists who worked with the US after the war ended up
finding their political home in the Republican Party, a party that incidentally
was much more moderate than today's GOP.
Well, aren't today's Neo-Nazis in Germany concentrated in the
areas that were formerly the GDR, formerly Communist
controlled East Germany?
Yes, they are and there's an explanation... and it's
important to understand if we're to follow what's happening in Germany today.
But it requires reviewing some history, something Americans aren't very good
at.
The United States began to publically pursue the Marshall Plan
in June of 1947. One must remember how devastated Europe was. It was smashed to
bits and people were literally starving. The war ended for the Americans in
1945 but the horror of it all went on for several more years in Europe. The
bombing had stopped but the barbarism and expulsions hadn't. The end of the war
marked the beginning of great pain for the German populations of Eastern
Europe. Many were forced out and ended up being 're-patriated' to a Germany
they had not lived in for centuries.
The USSR was concerned that the West was conspiring against
it. Remember the Russian Civil War was still fresh in their minds and though
the West had forgotten, the Soviets remembered all the foreign troops that
landed in Russia. And even during WWII there were old 'White' elements that had
joined with the Nazis in the 1941 Barbarossa invasion. These elements were now
working with the Americans and British.
From their perspective the Marshall Plan looked like an
attempt by the Americans to remake Europe in its image. Societies would be
rebuilt but they would also be controlled by Washington and its money. Because
of the American narrative regarding Liberalism, lip service had to be paid to
democracy and the rule of law. But the history of the Cold War and especially American
relations with its allies indicates otherwise. Washington or at least Deep
State or what we might call Praetorian Washington cared little about democracy
then or now. This became clear in 1948 as the CIA manipulated the Italian
election and effectively shaped the Christian Democracy Party they would go on
to manage and control for decades to come.
At the same time the Soviets had created a military buffer in
the East. They were unwilling to leave these broken societies (on its borders)
in utter chaos and thus they began to create Moscow-friendly satellites.
Washington also had its satellites but euphemistically referred to them as
allies. And yet clearly they were under Washington's control and those that
strayed were punished. The styles were different but the level of control was
the same. Both the Soviets and Americans ruled European empires and both had
their struggles to maintain that control, at times dealing with serious
defections.
The Soviets sponsored the Czechoslovak coup of 1948 in order
to ensure their control. The country's eastern border touched on the USSR and
thus Moscow was unwilling to allow Marshall Plan aid into the country. They
feared that Prague might become a US asset and the Americans would have troops stationed
on the USSR's western border.
Additionally in 1948 several western countries formed the
Treaty of Brussels, an organisation that would prove a precursor to NATO.
Tensions increased especially in the divided German sectors and in particular
Berlin. Stalin was unhappy with the Berlin arrangement, a Western enclave
allowed so deep within Soviet controlled territory. And this wasn't Poland or
Hungary, it was Germany itself... Russia's great and ancient mortal enemy that
had just waged the most destructive war in history against it, a war that for
Russia wasn't just about territory or prestige. The Great Patriotic War (WWII) represented
an existential conflict, the culmination of centuries of struggle and the
climax of the process that began with German unification in 1871.
The growing tensions led to the Berlin Blockade and
eventually the Airlift of 1948-49. It was an impressive display of American
airpower, a practical measure to maintain West Berlin but it also sent a strong
signal to the rest of the world and the Soviets in particular.
During this period the propaganda and espionage war began to
heat up. Cominform was created by Stalin, while the US worked to manipulate
politics using its newly created CIA. Langley's Radio Liberty and Radio Free
Europe were used to spread propaganda into the East.
Under US leadership NATO was created in April 1949 and this
was followed by the creation of West Germany (FRG) the following month. The
Soviets were alarmed and that August exploded their first nuclear bomb. The
Americans would respond by developing the hydrogen bomb in 1952, followed by
the Soviets in 1953.
In response to the creation of West Germany in May 1949, the
Soviets created East Germany or the GDR in October of that same year.
West Germany was brought into NATO in May of 1955 leading the
Soviets to just days later create the Warsaw Pact in response. It's noteworthy
that the Warsaw Pact was created as a counter to NATO but specifically as a
response to West Germany being brought
into NATO. Tensions would increase the following year with the Hungarian
uprising and in 1961 the Berlin crisis led to the building of the Berlin Wall.
Why this narrative? Western Germany was quickly rebuilt in
light of the Cold War and the nation became prosperous through American
investment and reindustrialisation. A prosperous West Germany was a key part of
the US strategy in Europe. The Nazi past was effectively erased as only the
very worst of Hitler's lieutenants were punished. Many high ranking Nazis were
reintegrated into German life and some lived openly. Many played an essential
role in the creation of West Germany's military and intelligence apparatus and
not a few of these former Nazis would work for the Americans both in the United
States and within Europe itself.
In the East the story was different. Moscow looted what was
left of their industrial infrastructure as reparations for German crimes. The
society was broken and impoverished and burdened with great guilt for what
Germany had done.
While West Germany was rapidly rebuilt, much of East Germany
lay in ruins and while the GDR eventually became relatively prosperous in terms
of the Warsaw Pact nations, it remained fairly poor when compared to the West.
During this time East German youth found a means of
expressing rebellion and social nonconformity in revisiting the demonised Nazi
past. Tired of the oppressive state and the reign of the Stasi some questioned
the public school narrative regarding German guilt... the guilt of their
parents and grandparents. Nazism became a symbol of rebellion against the
governing Communist order. Though most Americans still fail to grasp this, in
terms of European politics fascism and communism are at opposite polls in terms
of the Left-Right divide. There's a sense in which (on a practical level) both extremist
ideologies can devolve into authoritarian and totalitarian systems and thus in
terms of the day to day life of individuals and certainly dissidents, life is
very much the same. But in terms of ideology they're opposites and diametrically
opposed to one another. For those youth who wanted to defy the GDR's communist
order, the donning of Far-Right fascist garb and speech and the glorification
of Nazism was a means to do this.
When the Berlin Wall came down in 1989 the West rushed to
reunify Germany. Gorbachev to the astonishment of many did not resist and even
allowed the newly unified Germany to join NATO with the promise that NATO would
not expand to the East. The gobbling up of East Germany in 1990 by the West
effectively ended the Cold War. It set the events of November 1989 in stone and
of course the USSR would itself collapse in December 1991. The US would break
this promise and aggressively pursued an eastward expansion over the next two
decades.
But the story doesn't end there. The reunification of Germany
didn't solve all problems. The East struggled to integrate. The former GDR was
economically inferior compared to the wealthy sectors of Western Germany. The
East didn't share in the economic prosperity of the 1990's, nor did they
benefit much from globalisation as the European economy changed, leaving the
East with even dimmer economic prospects. Culturally they didn't fit in with
the West. The East was dilapidated and dirty when compared with the prosperous
and modern Western states.
Socially the East was actually more conservative. Communism
bred a type of social restraint, an almost-Puritanism that downplayed
individual expression. The 1990's West was already decadent, libertine and was
rapidly embracing not only extreme feminism and materialism but rank
promiscuity and sodomy. The cultures of the East were shocked and in many cases
remain so thirty years later. The former GDR became in many ways the 'backward'
part of Germany, something like its version of the Rust Belt and Appalachia.
And just like in its American analog, populism has been able to gain serious
ground.
By the end of the 1990's, many in the East realised that
they'd been had and that capitalism and global capitalism were more about
exploitation than universal prosperity. They felt like they'd been deceived and
ripped off. Far Right politics and Neo-Nazism were on the rise. Now the enemy
wasn't the communists anymore but instead their dissident and non-conformist
energies could be oriented toward Brussels and the EU, the new masters that
waged war on their people through different and more subtle and seductive
means.
Then to add fuel to the fire the immigrants began to come and
this has only increased in recent years. These forces have fueled both a
nostalgia (ostalgie) for the GDR on
the part of some and an increase in Right-wing politics and historical revisionism.
It is this cultural and economic context that has produced the AfD and has
brought it great success in former GDR states like Brandenburg and Saxony. The
simplistic and reductionist explanations provided by Western and particularly
American commentators are wanting and often dishonest.
It is of course disturbing to see the Far Right re-enter
German politics and indeed you can be sure the Russians are watching. They
haven't (for even a moment) forgotten the history and the perils that resulted
from German unification in the 19th century. Hitler came to power during
the Depression and amid the uncertainty and depravity of Weimar. Germany at
present is the economic powerhouse of Europe and thus in that sense the
situation is very different.
But the economic situation could change... and quickly. Even
now (Fall 2019) Germany is slipping into recession.
An EU collapse would likely lead to a sharp resurgence of
German nationalism.
For many Germans the immigration situation presents a
cultural crisis and in parallel to Weimar it allows the voices that would rally
the 'volk' to come to the fore and gain an audience.
And there are clearly forces within the German Deep State
that are sympathetic to the AfD and the Far Right. Fascism has never really
gone away and for many years it was quietly supported... even by outside
elements such as the United States
Germany has also signalled an interest in militarisation. As
an economic powerhouse Germany wants to play a greater role in international
affairs. There are some who see opportunities in this vis-à-vis the United
Nations, NATO and in Berlin's relationship with Washington. Others see a danger
as militarisation creates the conditions for war. It starts a fire that others
(like the AfD) can pour fuel on.
Globalisation and immigration have helped to create the
conditions leading to resurgent nationalism in Europe. The EU failed to create
a unified identity before it put its various partner countries under cultural
stress. People can easily remember the days before the EU and before the Euro
currency and thus when times get hard, nostalgia kicks in. For some this
impulse is deeply rooted and taps into older historical anger.
The AfD isn't going away. In fact what I think will happen is
that in a few more years you'll see even farther right parties emerge and
parties like the AfD, Italy's Lega and Hungary's Fidesz will become merely
Centre-Right. But a lot of things could happen before that time.
How will the Church navigate these waters? The American
response is clear. The Evangelicals from the United States are riding the
Populist/Right-wing wave and are already praising and collaborating with
figures like Orban and Salvini. The response among European Christians is mixed
but compared to how things stood just a couple of decades ago there has been a
remarkable swing to the Right. Will it divide congregations? Will it lead to
grief for European Evangelicals as they continue to push into politics? What
will this mean for Christians outside of Europe, in Asia, Africa and Latin
America? These are questions that need to be considered.