For the map enthused!
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post relevant content: interesting, informative, and/or pretty maps
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If you're wondering what the AfD districts in the West were: Gelsenkirchen in the north and Kaiserslautern in the south.
The most notable thing in Kaiserslautern is Ramstein air base and friends. I guess the military votes far-right.
I have no idea what's up with Gelsenkirchen. SPD came second with CDU just behind, so maybe it's what would be vote splitting in a dumber electoral system. As it is, the map is just a map.
You can find an interactive version here.
Gelsenkirchen is a traditional working class area, which used to be secure SPD heartland. SPD has lost voters massively to AfD among workers over the years, including among the immigrant working class.
Soldiers in Germany tend to vote CDU. The last couple of years the head of the Bundestag's defense commission Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann from the FDP was super popular. In the past SPD was also really strong. These two polls on the Bundeswehr subreddit have FDP and CDU together with a supermajority. Now that's of course not representative, but gives you an idea that the military doesn't vote far right.
including among the immigrant working class.
Really?? That doesn't seem possible, since people tend not to vote for candidates that openly hate them. Do you have a source?
Soldiers in Germany tend to vote CDU. The last couple of years the head of the Bundestag’s defense commission Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann from the FDP was super popular. In the past SPD was also really strong. These two polls on the Bundeswehr subreddit have FDP and CDU together with a supermajority.
That makes sense. CDU is (by German standards) strong on defence, even I know that.
Now that’s of course not representative, but gives you an idea that the military doesn’t vote far right.
I was reminded of the scandals relating to Wehrmacht idolisation, but I have no idea how how widespread a problem that is, so I'll defer to you.
https://taz.de/Tuerken-fuer-die-AfD/!5449750/
This is about Germans with Turkish background. It's the same as in other countries: We came here legally and are law abiding taxpayers. These illegal newcomers are criminals and ruin the image of all immigrants. It's about law and order and strong leadership. If you vote Erdogan in Turkey, AfD is closest in Germany. The Grey Wolves are the biggest right wing extremist organizations in Germany as well, so keep that in mind.
German-Turks are also specifically targeted like in this video by Krah appealing to nationalist sentiments and referring back to German-Turkish alliance going back to WW1.
scandals relating to Wehrmacht idolisation
Yes, this happens from time to time as does other crap. The severity of these cases varies.
In 2023 the Bundeswehr let go of 62 soldiers, among them 10 officers, for extremism. It's not just nazis, but also for example anti-vax conspiracy nutters. I don't have any comparisons of these numbers to other armed forces.
The Bundeswehr emphasizes democratic values and educates people along their principles of Innere Führung and Staatsbürger in Uniform. For example that soldiers are ultimately serving their conscience is stressed. Structurally the Bundeswehr also has differences to other militaries. There are no separate military courts for example. Crimes involving soldiers get dealt with by regular courts.
In 2019 about 15% of soldiers have immigrant parents or immigrated themselves. Of course they can be extremists just as well.
Interesting! I found this study with an actual table of migrant political support by origin: https://www.dezim-institut.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Demo_FIS/publikation_pdf/FA-6235.pdf
Unfortunately Turks get lumped in with MENA in this one, and it comes out to around the the same as for other groups - probably because support from those derived from the rest of the Islamic world is low.
I can't actually read German, but from the percentages not adding up I assume this is some kind of favourability rather than voting intention, and it still comes out to just 20% or so.
US Military can't vote in German elections. The only voting population involved with the military would be NATO Aircom and even that German population would be small compared to the 80%+ turnout.
Lippe which includes GFM-Rommel-Kaserne voted CDU with 27%.
Even in Grafenwöhr CDU was around 27%.
I kind of assumed there'd be lots of German servicepeople on those bases too. Interesting that it doesn't work that way.
So why do you think Kaiserslautern went AfD?
I want to say the anti American sentiment but also Kaiserslautern is the 2nd stop in Germany from France (first being Saarbrücken). So there may be anti immigration influence.
Additionally Kaiserslautern has lost a ton of manufacturing capabilities with the withdraw of Pfaff and Opel in the area may have caused many loss of jobs and general upset of the population.
Reuters has an interactive map where you can see the percentages for each district
Shows a bit more of a positive view in the sense if your looking at this as an American and think AFD got a majority in all east Germany, they didn't, the bluest areas are 40-44% percent while most are at around the 32-36%, but they got the plurality. A bit depressing though in that all of west Germany they're taking 15-20% which this map doesn't show well
I think it's time to unreunite Germany.
What was that line from WWZ again?
And people ask me why I would live in Cologne (Köln) if I had to live anywhere else.
I guess I'm moving to Köln