Demonstration against right-wing extremism in the run-up to the federal election in Thuringia
Thuringia is traditionally a stronghold of the right-wing extremist AfD, which, according to polls, could become the second strongest party in the state parliament.
ADVERTISINGMore than 4,000 anti-right demonstrators protested on Sunday in Erfurt, the capital of the German state of Thuringia.
The state is traditionally a stronghold of the right-wing “Alternative for Germany” (AfD), which, according to polls, could become the second strongest party in the Erfurt state parliament.
“It is frustrating that, despite our work in conveying history and politics, around 30 percent of Thuringians are currently prepared to vote for the AfD. But of course that must not tempt us to give up,” says Jens-Christian Wagner, director of the Buchenwald Memorial.
Buchenwald was a labor camp run by the right-wing extremist NSDAP during World War II. Around 56,000 prisoners died there, most of them Jews.
The Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU), which currently governs the country in a coalition with the SPD and the Greens, is two percentage points behind the AfD, according to an INSA survey.
And since a rejected Syrian asylum seeker was arrested in connection with the fatal knife attack on three festival-goers in Solingen on Friday, the extreme right could receive more votes than the 32 percent that the poll suggests.
Saxony and Brandenburg will also hold state elections on September 1 and 22. They make up 10 percent of the German population, but their election results, together with those of Thuringia, are expected to have a greater impact on national politics.
