ABSTRACT
Chapter 3 delineates the ways in which multiculturalism in Germany has been publicly criticized over the last two decades by mainstream right-wing circles, with a very strong anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant discourse. Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) have capitalized on such a number of already existing Islamophobic and anti-migrant sentiments, as well as on Eurosceptic feelings, to mainstream itself. The source of the AfD’s popularity in eastern parts of Germany lies in its communicative strategies, which efficiently address social-economic and psychological needs of the native populations going through relative social-economic and nostalgic deprivation. The interviews conducted in Dresden demonstrate that AfD’s supporters are disappointed with the unfulfilled promises made since unification of the two Germanies in 1990. Members of the native population in Dresden and Saxony stated that they have been going through various social-economic, demographic, and psychological problems, which have not adequately been addressed by Berlin, or Brussels. In reference to the testimonies of the interlocutors, this Chapter discusses the ways in which the AfD invests in the exploitation of the dissonant past. Chapter 3 argues that one of the most essential drivers behind the success of the AfD in the eastern provinces of Germany is the lack of a systematic program of Vergangenheitsbewältigung in the GDR since the end of World War II. Eventually, this Chapter shows that AfD supporters tend to be drawn to a populist and Islamophobic discourse to attract attention from the mainstream media and political parties. The main rationale behind such trickery is to make their social-economic and nostalgic deprivation be heard by the government.
