Björn Höcke of the AfD and Sahra Wagenknecht

There are local elections on Sunday in two different German states, both part of the former East Germany: Saxony and Thuringia. They are to elect the state legislatures (Landtag). Recent polls show a worrying trend for German democracy, two parties in ascendance that are either populist, nationalistic, and extreme right (the AfD or Alternative for Germany) or populist and based on a personality cult (BSW or Bündnis [Coalition] Sahra Wagenknecht). The New York Times recently profiled Sahra Wagenknecht, a former Communist who leads the new party bearing her name, that is only a few months old. Both parties are deeply suspicious of the federal government and tilt pro-Russian. Neither is seen as a friend of German democracy, as seen in a recent documentary on German TV entitled “Machen wir unsere Demokratie kaputt?” (Are we breaking our democracy?).

If the AfD wins in Thuringia, then the new prime minister of the state is likely to be Björn Höcke (profile in the New York Times), the controversial former history teacher who has been fined this year repeatedly for using Nazi slogans. The centrist parties, who are part of the coalition running the federal government (SPD, FDP, Greens) are way behind in the polls. Some of them may not even reach the 5% of the vote needed in Germany to be eligible to have elected representatives. Many Germans are deeply worried over the increasing popularity of parties that threaten democracy and possibly the rule of law in Germany. One of the groups fighting extremism is called “Omas Gegen Rechts” (Grandmothers fighting right extremism), which originated in Austria and has now spread to a number of cities in Germany. Then group was profiled recently on NPR. They worry about whether there will be a democratic Germany for their grandchildren. Given the fact that the Nazi party gained power legally through winning elections, the grandmothers may be right to worry.