There is a saying in Germany maybe history does not repeat but maybe it rhymes.
The German right wing extreme party is in some surveys only 4% away of being the most popular party in my country. Though at least for now noone wants to have a coalition with them. Though just as in Weimar some conservatives get tempted.
My friends are really scared. I get increasingly scared too. Usually I don't worry much about the future for the world in general because my personal problem might force me to commit suicide earlier. But I don't know I am still scared that fascism could turn back to Europe. When we were younger at school me and my best friend debated on whether the German history could repeat in every detail. He said he cannot imagine that there will be another holocaust against jews this time because it already happened and the people are sensitized. I was the opposite opinion. I think German history could repeat itself quite literally. That means again a genocide against jews, mentally ill, disabled etc. However I have to say when we speak about probabilities my friend would have been right probably. In Italy we see proto-fascists. Many right-wing extreme party don't want to be associated with the Nazis. They instead depict the mainstream parties as fascists against freedom and political reason.
In my country the right wing extreme party is called AfD. The Alternative for Germany (Deutschland). The party radicalized since their founding. They started as a neoliberal conservative party founded of professors against Angela Merkel's policy on the European economy crisis. They got a lot of popularity during the refugee crisis 2015. There is a pattern in their development. There were always more centrist and less radical actors in contrast to an extreme national wing. As in Weimar (Weimar was the German state prior to the third Reich) the centrist-conservatives tried to use the extreme wingers for their own purpose. And it truely is shocking. The party became more and more extreme. At the founding I considered to suppport the party. I was a conservative to that time and their contrarianism interested me. I decided to support Merkel in end. Within the party the very extreme wing got stronger and stronger. Björn Höcke (who can be called a fascist according to a German court decision) beaten every single one of his opponents in the party. The first guy was Bernd Lucke a professor who lost against Petry. He quit the party because in his opinion it became to extreme and in the end he founded a new party (as many people who quit the party, which were in the end completely unpopular and meaningless). Afterwards Petry said it has become too extreme I think she lost against Jörg Meuthen (another professor), He was the hardest opponent for the extreme wing but also he lost finally the fight with Björn Höcke. Now the party is on the outside led by two people. The lesbian Alice Weidel (ironic because she agitates against woke, LBTQI+ etc.) and Tino Chrupalla. But it is now an unspoken truth that Björn Höcke is the man in town. And this guy is scary as fuck. Well when you hear him speak (by the way he was ironically history teacher) you get the feeling he might admire some past figures of German history which were not the nice guys. A German public broadcast show several years ago made a game. They showed politicians of the AfD quotes and they had to guess whether they come from Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf" or Björn Höcke. And most of them could not differentiate between these two. I could explain many anecdotes but I think my point is clear.
The AfD was once led by another guy called Gauland. He is a former conservative. He called the German nazi dictatorship "bird shit". It cannot really be translated literally. But he meant the time would get too much attention by historians and the people and Germany should focus instead on glorious times like the Prussian era. Many of them say the Third Reich was overplayed by the mainstream.
Maybe this is kind of a long introduction but if you wanted to get insights in German politics here it is. The AfD is the most extreme since its founding and also the most popular. I think they are not so popular because they are so extreme it is rather a fact that the other parties did an horrible job in many instances. The story is probably more complex but I won't dive in the other parties this thread will be long enough.
2023 is quite similar to 1923. At least in my country. By the way the Nazis took power of the country 1933. But the Weimarer republic was 1923 in a lot of trouble. A very high inflation, poly-crises, polarization of the political system, leftwing and right wing extreme parties. Not everything is similar. But for me it is really shocking that the AfD is close to be the most popular party in the country. There are probably many reasons for that.
To the core question of the thread. Yes I absolutely believe history can repeat itself. The extreme parties have changed a lot. Their policies are different and their goals are different. I don't think in case the AfD led the German country became a dictatorship within a short amount of time. This is probably close to impossible. The German constituion has some protection rights. There is a diversified media and there is separation of powers. I rather think the democracy could implode in the long run. It would happen like in Hungary. Critical journalists would be pressured, subtle aggressions and intimidation. The constitutional state would erode and be holed in a slow process not always visible on the surface.
The thing that scares the shit out me. I live in Germany and we really should have learned our lesson on history due to our huge mistakes. And in this fucking country 80 years later already there might be another right wing extreme government. I think for me this shows in the long run of course all the genocides, war crimes etc. can repeat. 80 years is nothing compared to human history. I think the climate catastrophe is only at the beginning. The climate crisis will trigger many crises like refugee crises. This is pretty fucking scary. I think everything could repeat also the holocaust and genocides against other minorities. I don't have a remedy. If I had one I might could get a noble prize for it. I have some theories but I am no expert of course.
I think I spent a little too few time to the core question. I am just pretty scared about the German political situation. Though one can see like in Israel it can get way way worse if the civil society does not fight against it in the right time.
What do you think?
The German right wing extreme party is in some surveys only 4% away of being the most popular party in my country. Though at least for now noone wants to have a coalition with them. Though just as in Weimar some conservatives get tempted.
My friends are really scared. I get increasingly scared too. Usually I don't worry much about the future for the world in general because my personal problem might force me to commit suicide earlier. But I don't know I am still scared that fascism could turn back to Europe. When we were younger at school me and my best friend debated on whether the German history could repeat in every detail. He said he cannot imagine that there will be another holocaust against jews this time because it already happened and the people are sensitized. I was the opposite opinion. I think German history could repeat itself quite literally. That means again a genocide against jews, mentally ill, disabled etc. However I have to say when we speak about probabilities my friend would have been right probably. In Italy we see proto-fascists. Many right-wing extreme party don't want to be associated with the Nazis. They instead depict the mainstream parties as fascists against freedom and political reason.
In my country the right wing extreme party is called AfD. The Alternative for Germany (Deutschland). The party radicalized since their founding. They started as a neoliberal conservative party founded of professors against Angela Merkel's policy on the European economy crisis. They got a lot of popularity during the refugee crisis 2015. There is a pattern in their development. There were always more centrist and less radical actors in contrast to an extreme national wing. As in Weimar (Weimar was the German state prior to the third Reich) the centrist-conservatives tried to use the extreme wingers for their own purpose. And it truely is shocking. The party became more and more extreme. At the founding I considered to suppport the party. I was a conservative to that time and their contrarianism interested me. I decided to support Merkel in end. Within the party the very extreme wing got stronger and stronger. Björn Höcke (who can be called a fascist according to a German court decision) beaten every single one of his opponents in the party. The first guy was Bernd Lucke a professor who lost against Petry. He quit the party because in his opinion it became to extreme and in the end he founded a new party (as many people who quit the party, which were in the end completely unpopular and meaningless). Afterwards Petry said it has become too extreme I think she lost against Jörg Meuthen (another professor), He was the hardest opponent for the extreme wing but also he lost finally the fight with Björn Höcke. Now the party is on the outside led by two people. The lesbian Alice Weidel (ironic because she agitates against woke, LBTQI+ etc.) and Tino Chrupalla. But it is now an unspoken truth that Björn Höcke is the man in town. And this guy is scary as fuck. Well when you hear him speak (by the way he was ironically history teacher) you get the feeling he might admire some past figures of German history which were not the nice guys. A German public broadcast show several years ago made a game. They showed politicians of the AfD quotes and they had to guess whether they come from Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf" or Björn Höcke. And most of them could not differentiate between these two. I could explain many anecdotes but I think my point is clear.
The AfD was once led by another guy called Gauland. He is a former conservative. He called the German nazi dictatorship "bird shit". It cannot really be translated literally. But he meant the time would get too much attention by historians and the people and Germany should focus instead on glorious times like the Prussian era. Many of them say the Third Reich was overplayed by the mainstream.
Maybe this is kind of a long introduction but if you wanted to get insights in German politics here it is. The AfD is the most extreme since its founding and also the most popular. I think they are not so popular because they are so extreme it is rather a fact that the other parties did an horrible job in many instances. The story is probably more complex but I won't dive in the other parties this thread will be long enough.
2023 is quite similar to 1923. At least in my country. By the way the Nazis took power of the country 1933. But the Weimarer republic was 1923 in a lot of trouble. A very high inflation, poly-crises, polarization of the political system, leftwing and right wing extreme parties. Not everything is similar. But for me it is really shocking that the AfD is close to be the most popular party in the country. There are probably many reasons for that.
To the core question of the thread. Yes I absolutely believe history can repeat itself. The extreme parties have changed a lot. Their policies are different and their goals are different. I don't think in case the AfD led the German country became a dictatorship within a short amount of time. This is probably close to impossible. The German constituion has some protection rights. There is a diversified media and there is separation of powers. I rather think the democracy could implode in the long run. It would happen like in Hungary. Critical journalists would be pressured, subtle aggressions and intimidation. The constitutional state would erode and be holed in a slow process not always visible on the surface.
The thing that scares the shit out me. I live in Germany and we really should have learned our lesson on history due to our huge mistakes. And in this fucking country 80 years later already there might be another right wing extreme government. I think for me this shows in the long run of course all the genocides, war crimes etc. can repeat. 80 years is nothing compared to human history. I think the climate catastrophe is only at the beginning. The climate crisis will trigger many crises like refugee crises. This is pretty fucking scary. I think everything could repeat also the holocaust and genocides against other minorities. I don't have a remedy. If I had one I might could get a noble prize for it. I have some theories but I am no expert of course.
I think I spent a little too few time to the core question. I am just pretty scared about the German political situation. Though one can see like in Israel it can get way way worse if the civil society does not fight against it in the right time.
What do you think?
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