Cold War and the German Far Right

Cold struggle and the German Far RightThe German perfect responsibility was unable to make headway because of the Cold War precisely reunification has opened legion(predicate) an(prenominal) innovative possibilities for it do you agree?The Cold War was doubtlessly a period during which Ger somes salutary wing was stifled. With an oppressive Communist government in the East and a more stable and moderate material body of government in the west, extremism was largely isolated in the Cold War years. This is not to say however that the extreme mature was completely inactive during this period. reunion though has certainly given a wider platform for properly wing extremists and to near extent opened up new possibilities.Despite the military issueual vote out of the Nazis, at the end of the Second World War in that respect appeared to be good conditions for a neo-fascist revival. The war had left 10 million German refugees who had bemused their property and 2 million civi l servants who had lost their jobs having previously benefited chthonic the Nazi regime.1Certainly those committed to a right wing revival would book hoped to undertake the dissatisfaction of those who had lost twain economic whollyy and heartyly from the war. Had the difficult post-war conditions continued, then this may turn in been the case, but the rebuilding of Europe and wolframern Europes end to build up its defences against the Eastern bloc ensured that Europes post-war recovery was designed to include air jacket Germany as an important ally in the charge up against Communism. On the whole, all European countries, Germany included, came to benefit from post-war prosperity and the post war settlement was acceptable even to defeated Germans. As von Beyme concludesLabels like defeated and victors contrasted after the first world war were of minor importance, so that in all countries neo fascism stood less chance.2Had the Allies looked to humiliate a defeated Germ any the payoff may gain been different, as it where there was little to stir up ultra jingoisticic sentiment with.The post war consensus of politics in West Germany all the way hold oned the spread of fascism that might have been expected. Post-war reconstruction created favourable economic conditions that in turn enabled the state to satisfy both the political and economic interests of the major social groups. The middle classes benefited financially in the post-war years, unemployment benefits were in place for the poor and public health insurance and pension provision were both put into place. The successful frugality effectively silenced many critics of the post-war governments and left extremists without a popular cause with which to fight. As Stoss writesThus the socio-economic preconditions were established for a broad legitimation of state cause and the integration of forces critical of or hostile to the system.3The post-war party political system in West Germany to a fault made right wing growth difficult.. A popular consensus emerged including representational democracy, social market economy, interaction with the West European community and anti-communism. Importantly, the three major political parties CDU, FDP and SPD dominated elections at the expense of littler parties. The five per cent barrier to a place in government prevented extremist parties from establishing a political foothold. Between 1957 and 1983, no small party succeeded in surmounting the five per cent barrier to representation in the Bundestag.4It should be noted however that whilst organised right wing extremism failed to develop into a mass exploit in West Germany, there were certainly elements of the population that maintained anti-democratic attitudes and sympathies with the extreme right. In 1971 a survey found that 50 per cent of those questioned found national Socialism, in principle, a good idea, poorly put into practice, whilst the SINUS Institute found in 1979 that 13 per cent of the West German population had a right wing extremist picture of the world and 37 per cent a potential for authoritarian disposition.5 In effect, a substantial amount of the West German population was susceptible to right wing extremism.Membership figures of right wing extremist parties gives little clear indication as to the influence of the right. Whilst social station reached 76,000 in 1954, it fell to 21,000 in 1964, rose again to 40,000 in 1967 and fell to 23,000 in 1985.6Such relatively low numbers combined with fluctuation in social status suggests little consistent long-term support for the extreme right. Certainly in West Germany, right wing extremism remained alive during the Cold War but economic prosperity, stable government and a state that was determined not to let extremism flourish ensured that the extreme right made little headway.Whilst there was some awareness of the dangers of right wing extremism in West Germany, the picture in the east wa s less clear. In many ways the old GDR seemed an unlikely breeding background for the right wing and indeed the old communist government had often boasted of its successes in defeating fascism.The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the subsequent reunification of Germany brought about wide political and social change to Germany. To some extent this has given added momentum to right wing extremism, in the East as much as the West.reunification was initially expected to bring about a fall in support for the right as it removed the principal political demand of nationalist groups from the agenda. On both sides of the wall however there were issues opposite than a united Germany for right-wingers to concentrate on. Additionally, the power of the old East German regime to prevent right wing extremism shag be overstated. Prior to the fall of the Wall, extremist activities and violence had formed a part of East German life but had been largely played down by the authorities. The way t hat extremism took a foothold early in the mid-nineties serves as some evidence of this. By 1992 there were 2000 neo-Nazi members in East Germany, twice as many as the West with four times the population.7There are other reasons as to why right wing extremist may have flourished in the East. The activism and novelty of West German right wingers will, at the time of reunification, have been seen as something of an attraction to a generation that had grown up in East Germany and lived through the ideologically directed education system and socialisation processed of the Communist regime. Ease of addition to membership of groups would also have appealed to young East Germans who had previously been excluded from the oldstyle Communist Party apparatus.By 1992 right wing parties were beginning to succeed some electoral success in the new Germany, winning three seats in the Lander parliaments.8One of the primary reasons for this was that right wing extremists were able to adapt to the n ew political and social landscape across Germany and find new goals. Initially a number of groups laid claim to some minor East European territories that had been part of Germany immediately before the outbreak of the war. Quickly though the shift in focus moved towards a traditional hub of right wing idea attacks on the number of foreigners living, working or claiming benefits in the country.Right wing extremist groups from early in the 1990s began to criticise the increasing number of foundation seekers coming into Germany from across Eastern Europe. There was a positive attempt by the right to stir up fears on the effects of immigrants both economically and socially. Right wing groups pointed to the demands for right of settlement made by many guest workers and students who had previously arrived in East Germany from third world states. In 1991, 256,000 foreigners, many from Yugoslavia and Romania, entered Germany to apply for political asylum and a further 222,000 applied to become citizens under the constitutional provisions for ethnic Germans.9Again, right wing extremists pointed to the fact that many asylum seekers visibly lived on state subsidies while waiting for their applications to be processed. Unification quickly became a source of ammunition for the right. As Roberts writesUnification, far from depriving them of the nationalist theme, offered them a new variation of it, a policy success for which these groups could seek to claim the credit and which had created a larger, more powerful, Germany freed at last from the last restrictions obligate by the post-war occupancy policy of the victorious allies.10Another viable point is that Communist rule in East Germany in itself had left the country with some characteristics in tune with the right wing. The anti-democratic nature of the old regime in East Germany could be mirrored in some traits of the right wing extremists. As Roberts again suggestsAuthoritarianism, the claim to possession of an abs olute truth, a clear friend-enemy distinction, fanaticism, and the idea of homogeneity of the people, were characteristics fostered by communist rule in the GDR and suitably transferred are also elements of the claims of extreme right wing parties and groups.11There were other reasons for citizens in the East to look to the extreme right. Corruption amongst politicians was relatively widespread in the early 1990s with party financing scandals, ministers becoming involved in improper financial dealings and increased salaries for politicians. There was a feeling amongst many poorer Germans that orthodox politician were becoming too self serving and that the state subsidies for mainstream party political campaigns were too expensive a 1992 survey found that twice as many East Germans were dissatisfied with the German democratic system than West German voters.12The period 1991-94 saw a notable upturn in violence orchestrated by the extreme right. Guest workers, asylum seekers and ho stels housing these people came under regular attack. The violence culminated in murder on occasions in Dresden in 1991 a young Mozambican immigrant was thrown under a tram, refuges were burnt down in cities such as Leipzig and Rostock and in a particularly chilling event in Hayerswerda, a five night protest by right wing extremists culminated in all foreigners being bussed out of the town.13The reaction of the government of a united Germany would be crucial in determining the post-unification progress of the extreme right. Throughout the 1980s, successive West German governments had been criticised for their lax approach in tackling the right wing. McGowan concludes this was refuted by the administrations concerned but their reactions to the right were often contrasted with their more sever approach towards the left wing terrorists from the 1970s onwards.14In the years immediately by-line reunification, there was a reply by the states to the initial upsurge in right wing extremi sm. The Offices for the Protection of the Constitution have utilised powers to carefully keep an eye on anti-democratic organisations and the law has ensured that civil servants cannot join groups officially declared extremist- this measure in itself will continue to deny the right some mainstream support. Whilst new possibilities may have emerged for the extremists, the German state is working hard to ensure that it does not make great headway.Other forces in German society have continued to line up against the extremists. There is very little media coverage of right-wing extremist groups for manakin. Since the early 1990s the right-wing Republikaner Party has been the subject of an outright boycott by the federal press and by many public radio and TV channels.15What is also clear is that the new right in Germany cannot be built rough the forces that support the Nazis in the 1930s. Kischelt writes, in particular, white-collar employees, professionals and members of the adminis trative, political and cultural elite who then backed the Nazi Party are no long-run available for right wing appeals.16The core support for the extreme right in Germany today is primarily lower class males who feel that they have lost out economically and socially since unification. This narrow support base continues to be a hindrance to the rights attempts to expand.Moving into the mid to late 1990s, the gradual expansion of the extreme right has continued and whilst post-war Germany has vowed never again to allow ultra-nationalism or racism to play any part in its politics, this principle has gradually come under threat. The most prominent right party, the Republicans, have openly asserted that unrelenting mass immigration has brought criminal foreigners into Germany and campaigns hard on an anti-immigration agenda.The German state in the meantime attempts to use constitutional tools to counteract the growth of the right the Republicans and another group, the German Peoples Un ion or DVU for example, are both under surveillance by Germanys counter-intelligence agency, suspected of anti-democratic or unconstitutional behaviour. There is a similar tendency to be suspicious of the right that continues to run through much of German society, both before and after reunification. Bockes and Mudde summarise as suchAs a consequence of the continuing and extensive dealing with the Nazi chivalric, political mobilisation at the extreme right meets with public scrutiny and generally leads to strong counter reactions within society.17 The crux of right wing campaigning remains largely the same. It maintains the perfect(a) demand that jobs should be taken away from foreigners and given to Germans. To some extent this has begun to deliver some electoral success. In Saxony-Anhalt in 1998, nearly one-third of all voters under the age of 30 supported the right wing DVU whilst in the country as whole, opinion polls showed some that 10% of voters sympathise with far-right g roups. Alongside these changes in the political scene, more than 100 neo-Nazi or skinhead groups have grown up which glorify violence and praise the ideas of Hitler. Assaults on immigrants and asylum seekers have continued to rise and a thriving skinhead culture has emerged in parts of Germany, particularly in the east. Official figures show that assaults by such groups on foreigners, including Asiatic or African refugees and Turkish, Italian, and other immigrants, are on the rise. In 1998 for example more than 400 injuries resulted from such assaults (www.bbc.co.uk). The German governments hard-line response has been to ban dozens of extreme right-wing groups. There is a danger that the philosophy of the extreme right can spill over into mainstream politics. Conservative politicians for example have loudly complained about foreign criminality and Germanys immigration burden, ignoring warnings that such talk would encourage racist attitudes. Such politicians vehemently deny that, b ut they have clearly staked their claim to the right-wing ground of German politics, in an attempt to ensure that no other group takes an advantage there.There are seemingly wider historical issues to consider when analysing the role of the extreme right in Germany. Clearly the horrors of the Nazi era do work as an antidote against right-wing extremism and there has been an ongoing vigilance against the spread of the right booth before and after unification. Politicians towards the right within the mainstream party political system may skirt around extremist ideas but generally the mainstream political landscape has remained clear of out and out extremism. The determination of the vast majority of Germans to consign the nazi era to the past can act as a restraint on most with serious political aspirations.The Cold War did certainly act as a barrier to the extreme right in post-war Germany, both east and West. In East Germany, a hard-line Communist government was successful in suppr essing the right wing until the final years of its rule. In West Germany, the post-war political consensus was crucial in playing down possibilities for the right, as was the new constitution that made the electoral route to influence equally difficult. Germany it should be noted was geographically at the centre of the Cold War the Western allies were keen to ensure constancy in West German politics and likewise Eastern bloc leaders were quick to clamp down of right wing extremism. The Cold War threw together a combination of factors that made expansion of right wing extremism all but impossible across the whole of Germany.Reunification then on with the end of the Cold War, did indeed open up new possibilities for the extremists on the right. In the East they enjoyed new found political freedom and a ontogenesis support base, whilst in the West, economic difficulties following reunification and the upturn in numbers of foreigners on the country helped to fuel support for the rig ht.Whether the German extreme right can make the most of the possibilities that reunification has brought about remains to be seen. Although it has enjoyed the occasional electoral success it cannot yet compare with the successes of right wing parties in other parts of Europe. McGowan succinctly states, Neo-Nazism remains a part of German life just as national Socialism remains a part of German history.18This in essence presents the most difficult issue for the extreme right-wing in Germany whilst it may enjoy an element of support, the lessons of history have hopefully taught the German nation that right-wing extremism is a route it cannot allow itself to take again.ReferencesBeckes Uwe Mudde Cas, Germany Extremism without successful parties, parliamentary Affairs, vol 53 (3) July 2000)Kitschelt Herbert, The Radical Right in Western Europe A comparative Analysis, University of Michigan Press, USA 1998McGowan Lee, The Radical Right in Germany 1870 to present, Pearson Education L td, Harlow 1998Roberts Geoffrey, Right wing Radicalism in New Germany. Parliamentary Affairs, vol 45, 1992Stoss Richard, The Problem of Right-wing Extremism in West Germany, West European Politics, vol 11, 1988Von Beyme Klaus, Right-wing Extremism in post-war Europe, West European Politics, vol 11, 1988www.bbc.co.ukhttp//news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/special_report/1998/09/98/german_elections/172134.stm1Footnotes1 Von Beyme, K, Right wing Extremism in post-war Europe, West European Politics, vol 11 19882 p10 Von Beyme 19883 p34 Stoss R, The problem of right wing extremism in West Germany4 p35 Stoss5 p38 Stoss6 p40 Stoss7 Mcgowan L, P189 The Radical Right in Germany 1870 to present, Pearson Education Ltd, Harlow 19988 Roberts G, Right-wing Radicalism in New Germany, Parliamentary Affairs vol 45 19929 p332 Roberts 199210 ibid11 p339 Roberts 199212 p340 Roberts 199213 McGowan L p19014 McGowan L P19115 Bockes U Mudde C, p466Germany Extremism without successful parties, Parliamentary Affairs, vo l 53, July 200016 Kitschelt , p239 The Radical Right in Western Europe Acomparative Analysis, University of Michigan Press, USA 199817 p466 Bockes and Mudde 200018 McGowan L, P201