Matthew Schofield of Knight Ridder News Service reports on surpising results from a recent poll in Germany:
With jobs scarce, the economy stagnant and cherished social programs chopped, a surprising number of Germans have reached the same conclusion: that 15 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall became an international symbol of freedom, Germany would be better off if the wall were still standing.
Germans are angry. After decades of mostly good economic news following World War II, their country is troubled. The result: mass protests across the country against legislation that severely cuts generous unemployment benefits; a boost to the popularity of the extreme right, or Neo-Nazis; and a return to prominence for communist politicians.
According to a Stern Magazine poll of 2,000 Germans, 20 percent agreed that their nation would be better off if the wall separating East and West were still in place. The margin of error was plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Schofield does a good job putting the poll in the context of the abyssmal economy of eastern Germany and the stong resentment concerning the reforms. But he misses a key finding in the poll: one in four WEST Germans are nostalgic for that monument to inhumanity. Yahoo Nachrichten has the internal numbers:
21 Prozent der insgesamt 2007 befragten Ost- und Westdeutschen der Aussage zu “Es wäre besser, wenn die Mauer zwischen Ost und West heute noch stehen würde”. Unter den Ostdeutschen betrug die Zustimmung zwölf Prozent, bei den Westdeutschen sogar 24 Prozent.
Evidently there is growing resentment concerning the € billions that are transferred annually to the eastern states.
But its not the opinions about the Berlin Wall that is really troublesome, rather it is the growing right-wing extremism in the east that is now attracting attention also outside of Germany. The Financial Times Deutschland reports that if the NPD wins seats in the upcoming state elections, it will scare away investors from the entire region. Meanwhile, the Sueddeutsche Zeitung has discovered that neo-Nazi views and activities are becoming socially acceptable in Magdeburg and other eastern cities.
