Latest / DEEP INSIGHT / Germany's AfD breakthrough 'What voters in Saxony-Anhalt really think'

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Germany's AfD breakthrough 'What voters in Saxony-Anhalt really think' · DEEP INSIGHT

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: What we've learned from history is that we've learned nothing.
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: I'm pleased with the result. For me, it signals a
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: fresh start.
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  Speaker 3: We've had terrible experiences and we're afraid that these experiences
• 0:11
  Speaker 3: will become more frequent.
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  Speaker 4: Just under 44% for the far-right AFD. In Saxony-Anhalt, the
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  Speaker 4: party achieved its best result yet. And for the first time,
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  Speaker 4: its candidate could become state premier. While hundreds of thousands
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  Speaker 4: celebrate the AFD's success, others wonder if they still have
• 0:30
  Speaker 4: a future in Saxony-Anhalt. We travel across the state and
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  Speaker 4: meet people who are experiencing the same election in completely
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  Speaker 4: different ways. An entrepreneur, an AFD supporter and a doctor
• 0:41
  Speaker 4: from Saudi Arabia. It's Monday morning. The election results came
• 0:48
  Speaker 4: in just a few hours ago and Jürgen Sperlich is upset.
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  Speaker 4: He's a business owner in Schkopau in southern Saxony-Anhalt. His
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  Speaker 4: company recycles metal waste. Anyone who works here is surrounded
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  Speaker 4: by noise and dust all day long. Not a job
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  Speaker 4: many people want to do. Sperlich relies quite heavily on
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  Speaker 4: workers with migrant backgrounds.
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  Speaker 1: I employ 10 Syrians. That's 25% of my workforce. And
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  Speaker 1: they're incredibly hardworking. I've joked that they're my Arab Prussians.
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  Speaker 1: They're punctual and industrious. So this whole re-migration thing just
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  Speaker 1: can't be right.
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  Speaker 4: Deportation from the first minute is one of the AFD's
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  Speaker 4: election pledges in Saxony-Anhalt. Just a few weeks ago, Sperlich
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  Speaker 4: lost one of his employees. The man was detained when
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  Speaker 4: visiting a government agency and immediately put on a plane.
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  Speaker 4: Word of this spreading among his other employees as well.
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  Speaker 2: I'm not afraid for myself because I'm German by naturalization.
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  Speaker 2: I have my job, but I'm a bit afraid for
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  Speaker 2: the others. That's how I feel about my mother, for example.
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  Speaker 2: She doesn't work and she's almost 60 now. Yeah, it's
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: possible that my mother might have to leave and then
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  Speaker 2: I'd have to go back too.
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  Speaker 4: Jürgen Sperlich doesn't think much of the AFD more generally either.
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  Speaker 4: He sees the party as a threat to the entire state.
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  Speaker 1: They are to a large extent confirmed right-wing extremists. We
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  Speaker 1: should have learned from history. But I quote my wife,
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  Speaker 1: what we've learned from history is that we haven't learned anything.
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  Speaker 1: So here we are again. running after another saviour without
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  Speaker 1: any critical questioning.
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  Speaker 4: Silvio Beck is one of the 43.8% who voted for
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  Speaker 4: the AfD. The election is also a topic of conversation
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  Speaker 4: with his neighbour.
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  Speaker 1: What do you think?
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  Speaker 2: Are you satisfied?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it's OK.
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  Speaker 2: Now we have to see what comes next.
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  Speaker 3: To be honest, I didn't think the AfD would get
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  Speaker 3: that high a percentage. I guess they would maybe get
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  Speaker 3: 38 or 40 percent, but not this much.
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: In that case, I would have been disappointed.
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  Speaker 4: The neighbor didn't vote for the AfD. But both men agree,
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  Speaker 4: something has to change. Time and again, we hear exactly that.
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  Speaker 4: People want to teach the current state and federal governments
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  Speaker 4: a lesson. And then there are issues on which Beck
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  Speaker 4: finds the AFD convincing, such as its pro-Russia stance.
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  Speaker 2: We've sent so many billions to Ukraine. We really need
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  Speaker 2: to take stock first. What has it achieved? Where did
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  Speaker 2: the money go? We need to somehow force both sides
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  Speaker 2: to the negotiating table. But that's not possible right now
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: with all these sanctions packages against Russia. We're really just
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  Speaker 2: hurting ourselves with that. After all, we have that great
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  Speaker 2: natural gas and the pipeline infrastructure. I think that once
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  Speaker 2: the war there has settled down and peace has been restored,
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  Speaker 2: we should start buying gas from Russia again.
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  Speaker 4: Silvio Beck retired early. The 63-year-old has plenty of time
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  Speaker 4: for his hobbies, such as cycling. He says he's doing
• 4:02
  Speaker 4: very well financially, but fears that could change. And he, too,
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  Speaker 4: is concerned about the issue of migration.
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  Speaker 2: I'm expecting that when it comes to this illegal migration,
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  Speaker 2: the government will get rid of all these pull factors.
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  Speaker 2: People who are truly skilled workers and are currently working here,
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  Speaker 2: I don't think the AFD would have any objection to that.
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  Speaker 2: No one has ever said that we should send them
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  Speaker 2: back because then our healthcare system would probably collapse.
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  Speaker 4: The AFD, in fact, talks about culturally alien skilled workers
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  Speaker 4: who pose a security risk.
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  Speaker 2: The AfD has a bit of a point there, you know.
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  Speaker 2: We've never had a problem with the Asians.
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  Speaker 4: Are they also culturally alien?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, but it's more meant to the Arab direction.
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  Speaker 4: Beck says he used to vote for the conservative CDU,
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  Speaker 4: but he feels the party has broken too many campaign promises.
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  Speaker 4: a problem that the AfD doesn't have, since it has
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  Speaker 4: never held office at state or federal level. The AfD's
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  Speaker 4: nationalistic rhetoric frightens many people, and the Saxony-Anhalt chapter of
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  Speaker 4: the party has been classified as confirmed far-right extremist by
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  Speaker 4: the region's domestic intelligence agency. But that doesn't bother Silvio Beck.
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  Speaker 2: That doesn't convince me. To me, that's just a fairy tale,
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  Speaker 2: and the domestic intelligence agency, as we all know, reports
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  Speaker 2: directly to the Ministry of Interior. I'm an AfD sympathizer
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  Speaker 2: myself and no one needs to be afraid of me.
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  Speaker 2: Most of the people here who voted for the AfD
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  Speaker 2: and the party officials I've met and spoken with, I
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  Speaker 2: can guarantee they're all Democrats.
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  Speaker 4: However, many people in Saxony-Anhalt are afraid. We see this
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  Speaker 4: time and again on our journey through the state. They
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  Speaker 4: refuse to be interviewed because they say they fear repercussions
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  Speaker 4: if the AfD forms the government. Saleh Bin Salman is
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  Speaker 4: one of those who want to talk. He has been
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  Speaker 4: working as a neurosurgeon at the hospital in Stendhal for
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  Speaker 4: 13 years. As we are filming him, an elderly woman interrupts.
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  Speaker 4: We should be glad that we still have so many
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  Speaker 4: of them. Hopefully they won't all get frightened and scared
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  Speaker 4: away now. Is that something you are afraid of, I ask? Yes,
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  Speaker 4: I have already heard that also students are afraid. Bin
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  Speaker 4: Salman says the hospital is like his home. He adds,
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  Speaker 4: the well-being of my patients is my highest priority. How
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  Speaker 4: does he feel about the fact that about half of
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  Speaker 4: his patients could have voted for a party that views
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  Speaker 4: people from other cultures as a threat?
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  Speaker 3: I don't think these people actually read the election program.
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  Speaker 3: If they really had read it, they would have had
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  Speaker 3: to think twice or even three times. Of course, that's
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  Speaker 3: a serious accusation. And the patients themselves have to decide
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  Speaker 3: whether I, my other colleagues, the healthcare professionals who are here,
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  Speaker 3: who aren't from Germany, if we are really a threat.
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  Speaker 4: Bin Salman was born and raised in Saudi Arabia, and
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  Speaker 4: his children and wife in particular are repeatedly subjected to
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  Speaker 4: racist insults and, in some cases, even physical attacks. That
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  Speaker 4: is why he views the AFSD's strong showing with particular concern.
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  Speaker 3: We've been through some terrible experiences, on the street, of course,
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  Speaker 3: especially with my children and my wife, and we are
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  Speaker 3: afraid that these experiences will become more frequent, so that
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  Speaker 3: fear is always there. That is why I always keep
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  Speaker 3: my cell phone with me in my pocket at work,
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  Speaker 3: just in case something happens.
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  Speaker 4: The hospital would not let us film inside, but the
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  Speaker 4: management informed us that 120 of its 800 employees come
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  Speaker 4: from abroad. Saleh Bin Salman says some of his colleagues
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  Speaker 4: are considering leaving the state. For him, that's out of
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  Speaker 4: the question.
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  Speaker 3: I love Stendal and I would like to stay in
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  Speaker 3: Stendal and to die here too.
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  Speaker 4: Three people with very different perspectives on the election in
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  Speaker 4: a state that is more divided than ever after the
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  Speaker 4: AfD's historic win.