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A portrait of Görlitz, the city that could elect Germany’s first AfD mayor

Will the picturesque eastern city, used as a backdrop for Hollywood films, have another claim to fame on Sunday?

Published: 14 June 2019 08:23 CEST
A portrait of Görlitz, the city that could elect Germany's first AfD mayor
Görlitz' Untermarkt, where the 2012 'Measuring the World' was filmed. Photo: DPA

Its cobblestone lanes and Baroque architecture are so quaint that Hollywood directors often come calling, but the German town of Görlitz may soon have a new claim to notoriety. 

A run-off election in the small city of around 55,000 people on the Polish border on Sunday could end in the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party winning its first mayoral seat.

SEE ALSO: Is Germany one step closer to having its first AfD mayor?

Mainstream parties have thrown their support behind the centre-right contender from Chancellor Angela Merkel's CDU party, meaning AfD candidate Sebastian Wippel, 36, is seen as unlikely to triumph.

But Wippel won the first round in late May with 36 percent of the vote, sending shockwaves through the country already bracing for a strong AfD showing in Görlitz 's Saxony state in a September election.

AfD candidate Sebastian Wippel. Photo: DPA

His closest competitor, 51-year-old Octavian Ursu of the CDU, drew 30 percent and will face Wippel in the run-off.

Green candidate Fransizka Schubert, 37, came in third place with 27.9 percent of the vote. 

However Schubert, whose platform included developing transportation and jobs in the oft-called Europastadt (Europe city), announced on May 31st that she would not be running again.

She cast her support behind Ursu, writing that “Politics means finding compromises.”

SEE ALSO: Meet the east German Greens candidate offering another alternative

The Romanian-born Ursu, who came to Germany as a musician in 1990, argues
that only a “family-friendly Görlitz  that's open to the world” will manage to prosper.

Leading filmmakers and authors have led a call for Görlitz  voters to shun the anti-immigration, anti-Muslim party or risk isolation by the arts community and tourists.

British director Stephen Daldry, who filmed “The Reader” starring Kate Winslet partly in Görlitz , actor Daniel Brühl (“Goodbye Lenin”) and writer Bernhard Schlink have all signed an anti-AfD petition: “Don't give in to hate and hostility, conflict and exclusion.”

The city, which was spared damage by Allied bombing during World War II, has also played backdrop to Hollywood blockbusters including “Inglorious Basterds” and “The Grand Budapest Hotel.”

With hoards of visitors hoping to catch a glance of stars like Clooney, Emma Thompson or Jeff Goldblum at work, the town nicknamed Görliwood has since become a tourist magnet with its spruced up historic city centre nestled on the River Neisse.

SEE ALSO: German stars call on voters to shun far-right AfD in Görliwood

Tourists in Görlitz' picturesque old town. Photo: DPA

'Win back trust'

Despite the Tinseltown glamour, Görlitz  is not immune to many of the problems plaguing Saxony and other regions of Germany's former communist east.

Almost 30 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall, Görlitz has suffered from an exodus of talented young people to the richer west.

A burly ex-policeman with close cropped hair and a passion for martial arts, Wippel has adopted the campaign motto: “I won't forget anyone, and certainly not our Görlitzers!”

He is surfing a wave of support, particularly in the east, for the AfD, which has railed against Merkel's 2015 decision to allow in around 1.2 million asylum seekers.

The party is now represented in all 16 of Germany's regional parliaments and polling as the most popular party in both Saxony and Brandenburg state, which will both go to the polls on September 1, followed by Thuringia on October 27th.

The battle for Görlitz's city hall has taken on outsize importance as a bellwether for the three state elections, with the future of Merkel's fragile right-left coalition potentially hanging in the balance.

Görlitz is a picturesque destination, still attracting many tourists over the summer months. 

Wippel said he was not taking the petition against him very seriously, calling it a hollow gesture “by people who don't live in Görlitz”.

Ursu of the CDU told AFP he would “strive to win back the trust” lost by the traditional parties.

'Uncontrolled immigration'

Saxony has received more assistance from the European Union than any of Germany's states, with 2.75 billion euros earmarked for the period 2014-2020.

Nevertheless, the eurosceptic AfD managed to come out on top in the European elections on May 26.

“A whole generation — my generation — is no longer there,” Wippel told AFP, promising to “make them come back” if he becomes mayor.

One look around its tidy streets proves his point. Many shops have “for sale” signs in the window and the locals seem overwhelmingly aged.

A look at Görlitz's old town, leading to the town hall. Photo: DPA

Wippel said his strategy to make Görlitz, which was a major regional trading hub in the Middle Ages, more attractive would include placing a premium on security and fighting immigration.

Görlitz has seen an influx of around 1,000 refugees, including hundreds from war-ravaged Syria, which has made many locals uneasy.

“Things have changed a lot in this town in a short time, particularly with regard to uncontrolled immigration,” said an AfD voter in his 50s who gave his name only as Karsten.

He said his choice on Sunday was for the party “that takes the time to listen” to residents.

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POLITICS

ANALYSIS: What’s at stake in Germany’s eastern state elections?

After success in Thuringia and Saxony, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) may well come in first in another eastern state election this Sunday. We spoke with a political scientist to analyse what's at stake as Brandenburg goes to the polls.

Published: 19 September 2024 09:11 CEST
ANALYSIS: What's at stake in Germany's eastern state elections?

German politics’ “eastern September” is set to finally end Sunday – with more ruminations and reflections likely to come about the recent fortunes of the far-right AfD at the ballot box.

If current polls are anything to go by, the AfD could come in first in the eastern state encircling Berlin – which counts Potsdam as its capital.

After overtaking the governing Social Democrats (SPD) in a recent shock poll, the party is currently at around 28 percent, compared to the SPD on 25 percent. The centre-right Christian Democrats come in at 16 percent in the latest poll and the left-populist Sarah Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) – named after its founder – charts in at 14 percent.

The remaining parties come in much lower – with the Greens, Left and liberal Free Democrats all facing possible ejection from the state parliament.

Another victory for the AfD – or even a strong showing should the SPD still manage a narrow surprise win – will certainly boost the far-right’s confidence, after it came in first in Thuringia and second in Saxony earlier this month, following state elections that saw all three of Germany’s federally governing parties take massive losses.

Thuringia and Saxony results will likely hang over Brandenburg on Sunday – with Germany’s governing parties, many everyday Germans, and foreigners all watching with some trepidation. Here’s what to watch out for following the Brandenburg result.

READ ALSO: ‘Political earthquake’ – What the far-right AfD state election win means for Germany 

A newly confident AfD insists it must be part of government

The AfD has repeatedly argued that it must be considered as a possible coalition partner to join German governments – whether at the federal, state, or local level. 

“There are no politics without the AfD,” its co-leader Tino Chrupalla said following the Thuringia results. However, all other parties have explicitly refused to work with the AfD to form a governing coalition – meaning that as high as its results this month have been, they fall well short of the absolute majority that would be required to govern alone.

READ ALSO: ‘We need change’: Germany’s far-right eyes power after state election win

However, its getting more difficult to form coalitions to keep the AfD out, with the centre-right CDU in Thuringia even open to governing with the leftwing populist BSW after mainstream parties like the Greens and FDP were thrown out of state parliament entirely.

University of Mainz political scientist Kai Arzheimer, who specialises in the German far-right, says whether the far-right ever get into a German government or not depends mostly on whether – and how – the CDU is willing to work with the AfD.

Thuringia election results on a screen

People watch the first exit polls results for Thuringia’s state elections come in at the State Parliament in Erfurt on September 1st, 2024. Photo by Joerg CARSTENSEN / AFP

“For the time being, it should be able to form coalitions against the AfD, even if they are rather awkward,” says Arzheimer, who adds that even the different regional chapters of the CDU may have different opinions about working with the AfD.

“Within the eastern state parties of both the CDU and the FDP, there seems to be some appetite for coming to an arrangement with the AfD. While a formal coalition would probably split either party, we have already seen some tentative moves towards an informal cooperation.”

Ultimately, the Brandmauer or “firewall” concept in German politics – in which all other parties refuse to work with the AfD – may end up coming under increasing stress on the back of eastern state election results, where governing with the far-right no longer becomes unthinkable.

READ ALSO: EXPLAINED: Could the far-right AfD ever take power in Germany?

What the mainstream parties take from eastern election results

It’s probably no coincidence that Germany’s ruling government decided to re-institute border controls at its land borders with other EU states shortly after the AfD topped the Thuringia state poll, according to Arzheimer, who says the elections are just the latest in a number of things at work when if comes to Germany’s migration debate.

“The border controls, the plans for the stricter enforcement of repatriation orders, and most of all the government’s harsher rhetoric are as much a reaction to Saxony and Thuringia as they are an attempt to control the fallout from the Solingen knife attack and a response to the whole ‘debate’ on immigration,” he says.

“Many experts seem to agree that they are neither practical nor that useful, and introducing them more or less overnight smacks of a degree of panic.”

READ ALSO: Should foreign residents in Germany be concerned about far-right AfD win?

Polls conducted following the election found that migration and internal security issues were big drivers of the AfD vote – despite these being issues for the national, rather than regional, government. 

Of the AfD voters in Thuringia, more than 70 percent said either migration or crime and internal security played the largest role in influencing their vote. Slightly less than ten percent said social security. Despite the AfD’s pro-Russian views, only three percent of AfD voters in Thuringia said Germany’s support of Ukraine decisively influenced their votes.

Besides the mainstream parties like the SPD reacting with spur-of-the-moment migration policies, the Brandenburg result may end up putting pressure on Chancellor Olaf Scholz from within his own SPD.

Brandenburg SPD’s Dietmar Woidke may still be able to hold onto the premiership, but he has said he will resign if he doesn’t beat the AfD outright. Should he lose, calls may grow louder within the SPD for Scholz to resign himself – or at least declare that he won’t stand as a chancellor candidate again.

READ ALSO: How an explosive row over immigration has divided Germany

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