Germany... where to?

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Even just a year ago, this question would have raised eyebrows and astonishment within political circles around the world. At that time, the Federal Republic seemed to be the embodiment of an economic miracle and a model of democratic stability, and its financial keenness and culture based on hard work and innovation were the guarantor of stability at the European level. Today, clouds of doubt and suspicion are gathering in the skies of Germany, which were once clear, as a result of factors: Among them are a weak economy, a growing national debt, the shadow of war extending from Ukraine, and thorny relations with the United States, under the leadership of President Trump.

However, the darkest and most widespread cloud is what many observers consider to be the return of some of the ghosts of old Germany, represented by the “Alternative for Germany” party, after it achieved major victories in the elections in three states, and its emergence as the third largest political force in the country, after the “Christian Democratic Party” and the “Social Democratic Party.” What is noteworthy is that the Alternative for Germany party built its speech around three main axes.

The first axis revolves around the usual populist concept, which sees that there is a malicious elite that sacrifices the interests of the people on the altar of its selfish ideology.

Populism is often defined as a “superficial” ideology, moral in nature, that divides society into two homogeneous and antagonistic groups: “the pure people” versus the “corrupt elite.” Populism argues that politics must express “the general will of the people,” whatever that will may be.

Populists reject democratic mechanisms when they see that they distort the true popular will. This elite, although never precisely defined, favors immigration, because it provides cheap labor, and supports globalization, because it guarantees larger markets and more profits for them. This elite also perpetuates Germany's feeling of historical guilt, because it justifies the political system imposed by the Allies in 1945.

The second axis revolves around the idea that European Union membership was created as a cordon sanitaire to isolate Germany, which the World War II allies monitored as a constant danger to peace. As the decades passed, the European Union turned Germany into something like a “cash cow,” for the benefit of the countries of southern and eastern Europe, which are always looking to live at the expense of others.

Finally, the third axis in the party’s discourse is the nostalgia for Germany as it was in the past, including the Nazi era, and to a lesser extent during the communist rule in the eastern region.

The Alternative for Germany party ignores the prevailing view that assumes that Nazism and communism are opposites that do not meet, and expresses nostalgia for the era in which they were allied under the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. This strange mixture is served on a golden platter and is called “Nostalgia.”

Although the word “nostalgia” sounds Greek, it is not in fact so. It consists of the two Greek words: “nostos” (return) and “algia” (pain), to embody an overwhelming desire to return, in terms of place and meaning.

In 1688, Johannes Hofer, a medical researcher, coined the word as referring to a disease affecting Swiss mercenaries in Louis XIV's army, who were exhausted by longing for their homeland. Hoover wrote a thesis in which he claimed that “nostalgia” could be a fatal disease if the patient was not returned to his previous lifestyle. The longing for an imaginary “Ithaca” holds special appeal for Germans, whose history is filled with a mixture of turmoil and nostalgia. We see this clearly in the works of Schiller and von Kleist, in the Valhara myths, in Wagner’s music, and even in Beethoven’s fascination with the character of Napoleon.

Today, we see this in the popularity of old German films, including those produced by the notorious “Ufa” studio owned by Joseph Goebbels, and the return of brilliant names from the 1930s, such as Zara Leander and Marika Röck, from oblivion as bright stars of a supposedly golden era.

The political writings of Carl Schmitt, and the works of Gerhart Hauptmann, Bruno Alfred Doblin, and other historians of the Weimar and Nazi eras also found a new readership. In the former eastern region, even Trabant cars - that communist caricature of the concept of cars - are now fetching high prices as antique collectibles. Perhaps Günter Grass, who was dissatisfied with the Germans being reduced to mere producers of Volkswagen cars, is now turning in his grave.

For nearly four decades, reunification has been a universal dream. Now that it has become a reality, the prevailing feeling today seems to be a heavy awakening after a state of intoxication. In the state of Saxony, where the Alternative for Germany party achieved its highest victory rate, the dual nostalgia for life under Nazism and then communism was evident. Interestingly, the state capital, Magdeburg, is the site of the famous experiment of 1854, which proved that when air is emptied of atmospheric pressure, no force is capable of separating two tightly packed metal hemispheres.

The speeches of the party's rising star, Ulrich Siegmund, include these two halves: romantic nostalgia, and sober and strict German discipline, which resembles military discipline.

An example of this mixture is Goethe's novel “The Passion of Werther,” in which the hero, possessed by one-sided love, decides to commit suicide. Being a disciplined employee, Werther finishes his office tasks first, then pays his debts, and out of money, he borrows a pair of pistols. Finally, he formulates a dry farewell letter “To Whom It May Concern,” before booking his ticket to “Valhara” (the world of eternity in German mythology).

In fact, if Werther had been a Russian, or a Persian, he would have composed a poem, gotten drunk, set fire to the barn, and hanged himself from an ancient oak tree.

The undeniable truth today is that millions of Germans, especially from the former communist region, feel miserable. However, this does not mean that we are witnessing a return to the dark days of Nazism or communism, or a combination of them.

In summary, the recent electoral shock must be treated as a political electric shock that revives the regime's dormant apparatuses. Always remember: What does not kill you, makes you stronger.

Quoted from "Asharq Al-Awsat"