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Following article was published yesterday in the German (bourgeois) magazine Der Spiegel:

HOLIDAY WITH THE FAR RIGHT
German Neo-Nazis in Paradise

Germany's far-right NPD party is expanding its influence even in holiday retreats like the Baltic Sea resort Usedom. Some locals are concerned that this could mean the end of a tourism boom for the idyllic coastal region. But no one likes to talk openly about the problem or its causes, and a climate of fear has seized the residents.

Jutta Arnold gets nervous every time she thinks of the coming season. She should have a dream job: She's Usedom's hotel director and regional head of the German Hotel and Gastronomy Association. Business is good. With its renovated Wilhelminian luxury hotels, gorgeous promenades and long white beaches, the Baltic Sea island lures more and more tourists every year to Germany's remote northeastern corner. At least until now.

After regional elections almost three weeks ago, Germany's far-right National Democratic Party (NPD) celebrated a fresh success on this island. The NPD won 7.3 percent of the vote across the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, but in most villages on Usedom it won just over 10 percent; and now the island's tourism industry fears tourists may decide to go elsewhere next summer.

"To be perfectly honest, the election results will only harm tourism," says Arnold. "That's why I don't understand how people here could vote for the extreme right. We're shooting ourselves in the foot."

Meanwhile, the NPD has learned to deal with the accusation that it scares off tourists. "Tourists welcome, asylum-swindlers out!" say posters still attached to street lights after the election. Arnold knows from experience that those are hollow words. A dark-skinned visitor was recently accosted, she says -- at least one particular tourist was not welcome. "Either I've misunderstood something here," Arnold says about the NPD slogan, "or the NPD has." She candidly admits, "We can only protect our guests on the hotel premises."

What makes Jutta Arnold special is that she'll talk about the danger from the right. Granted, it's part of her job description as a tourism functionary. But an open-mouthed policy on neo-Nazis is nevertheless not typical on the island of Usedom.

The NPD taboo

Many passers-by here would simply rather not discuss it. Some do, then ask not to be named. Others speak fairly openly, give their names, then send pleading e-mails days later: For God's sake, please don't quote me!
 

What's going on? How great must the fear in Usedom be for so many to fall silent?

Those who speak anonymously about the far right don't admit to voting NPD. No one does: That's the first realization. The second is that almost everybody has some sympathy for NPD voters. They're going against the "established parties," people say. The third is that one often hears the claim that the right-wingers aren't causing problems. "They're always well-dressed, they greet you, and they behave themselves."

In Usedom, such well-bred right-wing extremists made the headlines when they assaulted a group of school kids on a camping trip. Six years ago, a homeless man was beaten to death in Ahlbeck. Today, seniors sitting on a park bench in Ahlbeck let the turbulent holiday life pass them by as they say-again, anonymously-that the incident was the work of hooligans, who can be found anywhere and not just in Ahlbeck. The NPD is a different story, though; they are a legitimate political party.

Ahlbeck, Bansin and Heringsdorf are Western Pomerania's three bath resorts from Germany's imperial era, built as majestic summer retreats. Tourists lounge around here in the white sand, eat ice cream, buy amber souvenirs, and enjoy the idyll of beach life on the Baltic Sea. It is here of all places that these tourists now have to grapple with how the NPD has become so popular right in the middle of mainstream society. An East German couple from Bernau near Berlin tries to explain it this way: "One can understand that the people here would vote out of protest." The two tourists do not get any more specific, saying only that people in Western Pomerania have ample reason to complain, despite the fact that "it's much worse with the foreigners" in West Germany.

Bleak winters in the village

A more complete answer to the question of the NPD's rise in popularity can be found beyond the city's promenades, where the holiday paradise ends and a very different region starts. Life here grows especially gray during the winter, when seasonal workers are unemployed. The hinterlands of Usedom can be very bleak, to say nothing of the mainland.

So bleak, in fact, that the NPD could count on a measure of success with its massive and expensive ad campaign. Western Pomerania is among Germany's least-developed states. It's marked by high unemployment and a rural population that "has always been kinda simple," as one man here put it (again, anonymously). Ideal conditions for a party whose most prominent members come from the west in order to win power using equally simple phrases.

"Preserve local schools. Rap the knuckles of fat cats!" an NPD placard demands. This is not really objectionable in and of itself, says Lars Bergemann, the party whip for the left-wing Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS): "The NPD is not stupid. It reads people's lips and has understood how to skillfully address their needs. They have been successful, and we are left with hindsight."

The politician heads the district commission for youth welfare services and has a seat on the council against right-wing extremism. He's willing speak openly about the NPD, as he tries to explain the climate of fear that has spread throughout the region. "It's a big taboo. People don't trust each other," he says. Even obvious NPD supporters don't want to talk about their motives and the party. And since the extremists remain incognito, not even those who want to "work against this democratically" have the courage to come out of hiding. "To some extent this fear is justified, not so much because of the violence, but because it's easy to make a person's life hell in a village."

Bergemann assumes the NPD has a loyal following here. The election result "wasn't just out of protest. All you have to do is ask around." The NPD has taken hold "because the long-established parties have failed." It's not just Bergemann who says this out of a will to criticize; people say the same thing on the street. The NPD won because the other parties have done nothing.

A youth club here, a bonfire there -- little achievements earn the NPD credit. In Zirchow, near the middle of the island, a muscle-packed young man with a bald head claims that "over the past 15 years," people have tried every party. None did enough. "So they voted for the NPD, who doesn't do any less than the others." He voted for the Greens. "The fact that I am bald is purely a coincidence."

Another native who prefers to remain anonymous says that "half of the people stayed home because they were frustrated. The other half went to the polls for the exact same reason." Unmet expectations, palpable neglect -- these are the issues in Western Pomerania. "It's no solution that our youth has to go to Norway or Bavaria to find work," complains a Lassan woman. In this small village, the conservatives got 158 votes, the social democrats got 138, and the NPD got 129. "Someone has to take care of us."

The first NPD mayors?

Indeed, many people leave the region, above all the well-educated, the young, and the women. What remains are the old "and the young men with relatively meager educations. This is an ideal breeding ground for the NPD," the PDS politician Bergemann says.
 

Western Pomerania's problems are difficult to solve. On the one hand, there's uncertainty about the future and the social decline of the older generation, who lost their jobs after German reunification. On the other is the lack of prospects for a young generation of Germans who listen to right-wing identity-branding -- with words like 'pride' and 'honor' -- and whose self-esteem swells when large parts of society become afraid of them. The same principles are at work in urban street gangs -- but in the case of gangs, an organized party can't make political capital out of the kids.

Bergemann looks skeptically at the years ahead. The next election is scheduled for 2009. Mayoral and district executive positions will be at stake, and Bergemann fears that the NPD's current grassroots work will pay off. "In some villages, the NPD today already has 30 percent of the vote. It is possible that they will soon gain a foothold with mayoral positions," he says. "I am afraid of that."

Hotel director Jutta Arnold puts it this way: "If nothing happens, things will get bad for us. And as far as I can see, nothing is going to happen."

Propagandistic powerlessness

Anti-nazi poster in Erfurt(south-east Germany)