ABSTRACT
In the long decade that has passed since the unification of the two Germanies, a new extremism has emerged in German youth, specifically in eastern Germany. The main components of this right-wing extremism are xenophobia and nationalism; anti-Semitism; and ideological commitment to authoritarianism, inequality, and racism. Xenophobia is the lead variable, which, according to surveys, affects at least one third of the young population and considerably more locally, especially in the lower social strata (Bromba & Edelstein, 2001). In the recent IEA Civics Study, German 15-year-olds held the most xenophobic attitudes among the 28 participating countries (Torney-Purta, Lehmann, Oswald, & Schutz, 2001). Anti-Semitism is on the rise, but perhaps rather less so than in other European countries, and perhaps less for the traditional reasons than as a consequence (at least partly) of the Israeli–Arab conflict and the Israeli military rollback in the Palestinian territories, which in many young people arouses outrage rather than sympathy.
