It has been 65 years since the Berlin Wall suddenly divided a city and a nation. On August 13, 1961, over 10,000 police and military personnel began the construction of the wall, which ran through Berlin, dividing East and West Germany, disrupting streets and neighborhoods, families and friendships, as well as democracy and communism.
Before its collapse 28 years later, at least 140 individuals perished due to the wall, including escapees, bystanders, and border guards.
Hartmut Richter, whose family was trapped in East Germany that fateful Sunday morning, reflects, “Nobody could have envisioned it standing for 28 years.” Richter managed to flee to West Berlin in 1966 by swimming across a frigid river and later helped 33 people escape East Germany in the trunk of his car.
Decades later, Richter views his struggle for freedom not just as a memory but as a cautionary tale. “I fear for the freedom we enjoy here,” he states.
This freedom faces a critical challenge in the upcoming state elections, where the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is poised for a significant breakthrough. The AfD has exploited longstanding tensions between East and West Germany, positioning itself as the defender of East German identity while advocating radical policies that challenge Germany’s post-war democratic principles.
Various studies, including one by the economic research institute DIW Berlin, link the AfD’s rise to economic disparities, demographic changes, and collective grievances in the eastern states of Germany.
Frankfurt-based journalist and political analyst Justus Bender, specializing in the AfD, remarks, “It’s ironic that as we discuss reunification in Germany and becoming one nation again, we now have a party that divides German society.”
Sixty-five years after the Berlin Wall divided Germans between east and west, and over 30 years after its fall heralded reunification, Germany faces new divisions as the far right Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) party surges in popularity, especially in the formerly communist east.
Opinion polls indicate that the AfD is likely to win a majority in the state election on September 6 in Saxony-Anhalt, Eastern Germany.
If successful, it would mark the first time since World War II that a far-right party secures such a position.
“This is a party that is right-wing extremist, xenophobic, and has been deemed hostile to the German constitution by courts,” alerts Sabine Sparwasser, Germany’s former ambassador to Canada. “It