Counter rallies in Kaufbeuren show split between supporters of AfD and locals who acknowledge the Bavarian town’s Nazi past
Soaring church spires, the 1,000-year-old town centre unblemished by second world war bombing or graffiti, snow-capped Alps in the middle distance – Kaufbeuren, in Bavaria, can count many blessings.
Unemployment is in the low single digits, the Luftwaffe backed away from plans to move its training school for Eurofighter and Tornado jet technicians elsewhere and crime is at a historic low.
However, as voters prepare to elect a new European parliament next month, deep-seated fears have gripped a significant share of the electorate in one of the most affluent pockets of Europe’s top economy and delivered it to the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD).
The bond between the party and its voters appears unshaken even by a cascade of recent scandals. The AfD’s lead candidate for the election, Maximilian Krah, was forced by his party leadership on Wednesday to resign from its board and stop campaigning after he told Italy’s La Repubblica that the SS, the Nazi paramilitary force which ran the death camps, were not all criminals and could only be judged on the basis of “individual guilt”.
Its like in most western countries in my experience.
If you go into a bar in any decent sized city, nobody will bat an eye no matter who you are or what you look like. Once you go to the countryside or into specific bars run by assholes, it gets less clear. Thats not to say all country side people are nazis, but just more conservative on average.
Also being able to speak the local language usually makes people accept you much quicker wherever you go in the world.
As someone bilingual who lives in a non-english speaking country, this has gotten me into many places that other english speaking foreigners have missed out on. People love it when you speak their own language to them, even if you aren’t completely fluent.
This is triply true for Germany if you speak the local variety, or at least have a noticeable local accent.