#Sonneberg

[unfug-bilder]

[doolsandtoys]

Allemagne vers 1950, poupées de la fabrique de jouets à Thuringe, Sonneberg.

[froschperspektiven]

Die noafd braucht keine 

hidden agenda, 

um Wahlen zu gewinnen. Sie kann dem 'einfachen Volk' unverblümt  sagen, was ihm blüht, wenn sie drankommt, und wird von jeder*m Zweiten gewählt ... —  Ein Tag der Schande!

Wie sagt A. v. Lucke mit Leonhard Cohen: First we take Sonneberg, second Erfurt and  then — we take Berlin.

[bopinion]

2023 / 25 (Short Holiday Edition)

Aperçu of the Week:

"The rule of used up parties and elites must be replaced and we will replace them. The country is upside down. We have to put it back on its feet."

(Björn Höcke, far-right leader of the AfD in Thuringia)

Bad News of the Week:

Sonneberg is a small town in the Thuringian Slate Mountains that used to be known as "Santa's workshop" because of its tradition of toy-making. That has changed today, because with Robert Sesselmann, a candidate of the AfD (Alternative für Deutschland / Alternative for Germany) was elected district administrator there for the first time ever. In Thuringia, of all places, whose state association, led by scandalous politician Björn Höcke, is "securely extreme right-wing" according to the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. In a runoff election in which all democratic parties showed strong support in favor of the CDU candidate and previous incumbent. It's hard to imagine if the "I don't like politics in general, so I'll vote for the maximum opposition in protest" model were to catch on. Holy shit.

Good News of the Week:

The Family and Justice Department's Equality Act is coming. It is primarily aimed at transgender, intersex and non-binary people, who will be able to determine their own gender and first names and change them in a simple procedure at the registry office. Fortunately, the opposition could not prevail with specious arguments that, for example, men would pretend to be women in order to be able to gape in women's saunas - no joke. It's fitting that half a million people of all orientations celebrated Christopher Street Day in Munich yesterday. It's nice when a society becomes more colorful.

Personal happy moment of the week:

This week I spent a wonderful vacation time in the mountains of Austria. With various premiers: for example, the first mountain bike trail with a (borrowed) e-bike and 53 km/h downhill pace. Then also discovered new and good wheat beers: Steinle Weiße and Edelweiß. First time using a public electric car charging station. Closed all activity rings on the Apple Watch for the first time for a whole week. Been to the supermarket without a mask for the first time in well over three years - to buy sunscreen. Life can be beautiful!

I couldn't care less...

...that a district court had examined the proportionality after allowing the surveillance of members of the Last Generation. For one thing, the "initial suspicion of forming a criminal organization" is laughable. And on the other hand, tapping even telephone conversations with journalists, who after all, like lawyers, are professional secrets, contradicts the freedom of the press.

As I write this...

...I am laboriously recovering from the celebration of the St. John's fire last night. It got too late and I drank too much. And then tomorrow is also Monday. Whew...

Post Scriptum

The supposed coup d'etat of Yevgeny Prigozhin's mercenary Wagner troop was over as quickly as it began. What remains is a deep scratch on the image of Russian President Vladimir Putin - who does not have a firm grip on everything all the time. Despite extensive media control, word will get around among the (voting) people.

[videquod]

Bahnhof Sonneberg

[craft2eu]

WECHSELSPIEL(ZEUG): Oberammergau bis 03.11.2024

In dieser Ausstellung begegnen Exponate aus dem Erzgebirge Oberammergauer Objekten. Das Wechselspiel, die Möglichkeit zu vergleichen, sich in beide Regionen zu vertiefen, macht diese Ausstellung aus. Dank der vielfältigen Leihgaben privater Sammler können wir Exponate aus verschiedenen Regionen des Erzgebirges und aus mehr als 100 Jahren zeigen. Spielzeug bildet sozusagen die Welt im Kleinen ab…

[witekspicsoldpostcards]

SONNEBERG - GERMANY => a photo with litho dirigible.

[bauerntanz]

Rückblick

(M)ein #Sonneberg-Rückblick: Mehr als Protestwählende und das was #Monitor und #Wolf_Biermann analysieren. @georgrestle

Noch (m)ein Sonneberg-Rückblick: Der Monitor-Beitrag über die Landratswahl im thürinigischen Sonneberg ordnet das Geschehen richtig ein. Die Wahl des AfD-Politikers ist kein Ausdruck bloßen Protestes sondern viel mehr, wenn auch im zweitkleinsten Landkreis der Republik. Man muss Wolf Biermann nicht mögen um  seine Analyse hinzuzusetzen, dass zwei Diktaturen nacheinander und dann eine nach…

[oeffentlicheversicherung]

Für die Geschichtsbücher. Falls mal jemand nachfragt, wie #Sonneberg möglich wurde.

[unfug-bilder]

Binnen 1 Stunde 57 Drukos, die meisten äußern sich relativierend bzw. mit dem Verweis auf die früher "regierende" CDU. Die anderen 10 sind schlimmer.

Nachtrag von 19.00 Uhr:

Quelle für die Graphik sind die "Omas gegen rechts" und in den mittlerweile fast 200 Drukos äußern sich nun auch Menschen, die mit 99 % Sicherheit nicht im Landkreis Sonneberg leben (und wahrscheinlich in ihrem Leben auch niemals dort waren), um zu erklären, dass sie sehr zufrieden seien.

[politikwatch]

Wählerbeschimpfung 🤔❓

Jetzt fühlt sich mal wieder Keine #Partei für #Sonneberg & das Erstarken der #AFD #verantwortlich & schiebt es auf die #Wähler❗Kommt aus euere scheiß #Bubble raus und #wacht endlich #auf. Ich sag euch warum alle zur #AFD rennen:

[froschperspektiven]

... und ich bin nicht überrascht.

Zeiten, da sich die Krisen nur so ballen

[benkaden]

Ansichtskarte

Schleusingen Museum in der Bertholdsburg Pädagogische Abteilung des Spielzeugmuseum Sonneberg

Bad Salzungen: Auslese-Bild-Verlag / 62 Bad Salzungen (V 11 50 S 1/80/2073 09 11 08 223)

1980

[lovenderghost]

⋆｡°✨•👁️ ˚ ༘ * DDR Plüschtier Bär mit Gummigesicht (~1970) ˚ ༘ *🧸⋆｡°🫀⋆⭒˚｡⋆

Mysterious teddy bears from DDR by VEB Sonni Sonneberg. I couldn’t find any information about these, not even a series name or manufacturing date. The best part about them is that they were not intended to be this spooky but they are, I love them

[gutachter]

Nur die konkrete Beschädigung muss der Mieter beseitigen!

1. Der Vermieter ist verpflichtet, nach Beendigung des Mietverhältnisses über die Kaution abzurechnen und die Kaution, sofern keine aufrechenbaren Gegenansprüche vorliegen, an den Mieter zurückzuzahlen. Zudem hat er die angefallenen Zinsen, die durch Spareinlagen der Kaution angefallen sind, an den Mieter auszuzahlen. 2. Die Rückgabeverpflichtung des Mieters beinhaltet auch die Räumung der…

[mariacallous]

SONNEBERG, GERMANY—First, in true German fashion, the rules were outlined: no alcohol on site, flagpoles capped at three meters, no protesting past 8 p.m. The demonstration followed, with hundreds congregated in the town square shouting insults at the incumbent government; cracking jokes at the expense of refugees, the LGBTQ+ community, and the media; and waving a sea of German flags, with a few Russian ones dotted among them.

“Anyone who dares call us Nazis will be reported to the police,” one of the protesters shouted from a makeshift stage propped up outside Sonneberg’s City Hall, a white mansion built between the world wars. “Germany first,” the protester continued, beckoning the crowds to join in singing the national anthem under a rainy, dark sky.

At 8 p.m. sharp, the crowd quickly dispersed—but they’ll be back next Monday, as they are every week. During the COVID-19 pandemic, they rallied against lockdowns. Now, they call for the overthrow of the current government coalition, and in recent months, the numbers of agitators have started to swell. Many are affiliated with the right-wing party Alternative for Germany (AfD), and although members say they strongly reject what Nazi Germany stood for, a regional chair of the party, Björn Höcke, is on trial for concluding a 2021 speech with the phrase “Everything for Germany”—a slogan widely used by the Nazis. (Under German law, the use of speech, propaganda, and symbolism associated with the Nazi Party and other terrorist groups is prohibited.)

Sonneberg district, home to 56,000 people, is where AfD has celebrated its biggest success to date: Last year, Robert Sesselmann, 51, was elected as the district administrator in a runoff with 52.8 percent of the vote, making Sonneberg the first county in Germany to elect a far-right candidate since the Nazi era. But Thuringia’s AfD branch—where Sonneberg is located—has already been questioning the legitimacy of state institutions and asserted that the Federal Republic of Germany is not a sovereign state, but rather controlled by external powers.

The Thuringia branch of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution has legally classified the AfD’s Thuringia branch as “right-wing extremist,” and the federal office is now deciding whether the party may be classified as a suspected case of right-wing extremism on the national level.

The question is pertinent, since the AfD is gaining in popularity not just in Thuringia, but nationwide. This trend picked up around the time of Germany’s last federal elections in 2021. Nationally, the AfD’s support base has grown to 22 percent, compared to 10.4 percent in 2021. Three states in the east—Thuringia, as well as Brandenburg and Saxony—head to the polls this fall, and a win for the AfD looks likely, as it’s polling around 30 percent in all three states.

“This is a stress test for Germany, and 2024 is a defining year,” said Olaf Sundermeyer, an editor at the Berlin-Brandenburg Broadcast (RBB) and longtime expert on right-wing extremism in Germany. Sundermeyer said that since the AfD was founded in 2013, “the party has continuously radicalized.”

Initially starting out as a euroskeptic party that primarily criticized the European Union’s handling of the eurozone crisis, the party—and its leadership—have continuously shifted toward more nationalist and populist positions, especially since 2015, when former Chancellor Angela Merkel welcomed around 1 million refugees into the country.

The legacy and shame of Nazi Germany continue to influence the nation’s politics, and until the AfD’s rise, German society strongly rejected far-right ideologies. But the economic impact of both the 2008 financial crisis and the 2015 refugee crisis have—at least partially—resulted in shifting public perceptions.

“The AfD has successfully managed to alter people’s perception of right-wing extremism, moving it away from its historically charged stigma of Nazism and thus effectively rendering it socially acceptable,” Sundermeyer told Foreign Policy. This, he said, is exactly what has happened in Sonneberg.

The AfD’s new heartland, a remote part of the countryside, was part of the communist German Democratic Republic until reunification in 1990. Surrounded by hills in the Thuringian Forest, Sonneberg’s cobblestone main street and stately houses date back to the Wilhelminian era before the First World War. The nearest major highway is about a half-hour’s drive.

Since reunification, scores of people have migrated westward, leaving many homes empty. Residents say that young people here struggle with drug abuse; that there are few places for them to hang out; and that public transport isn’t adequately connecting the district’s farther, remote villages, making it more difficult to access educational and job opportunities. Since reunification, the country’s east has been catching up to the former West Germany in terms of economic opportunities, but in Sonneberg—and throughout former East Germany—many people continue to feel acutely disadvantaged.

A group of young men lingering after the demonstration echoed these complaints as they chain-smoked Marlboros and packed up whistles and flags. They had opted to move into practical professions—such as construction work, plumbing, and roofing—one explained, to help “build Sonneberg, and Germany overall.”

Attending the demonstration wearing their company uniforms—grey overalls and work pants—the men were initially hesitant to speak to the Lügenpresse, or “lying, mainstream press,” as they described it. “No names please,” they asked politely after agreeing to talk. (“Lügenpresse,” a term used by the Nazis, has resurfaced in Germany’s right-wing circles, as well as among allies of former U.S. President Donald Trump.)

“People call us ‘rats,’ just because we support the AfD,” one of the men said. “There’s no freedom of speech here, no freedom of thoughts. Our country gets involved in wars we don’t want to be part of. The government manipulates the press, our German culture, and our traditions are vanishing due to mass immigration—food and energy prices have skyrocketed. It’s worse than during the German Democratic Republic, and we desperately need change—we need an alternative.” He paused to take a long drag on his cigarette, then added: “Germany is for Germans first—we can’t help others if we’re not helping ourselves.”

“It’s a possibility that the party drifts too far to the right,” he said, “and that’s certainly not what we want. We don’t want a return of Nazi times, but we need change.”

The party’s policy platform is unabashedly far right. For instance, AfD’s stance on immigration is that “the ideology of multiculturalism is a serious threat to peace and to the continued existence of the nation as a cultural unit.” The party advocates for a “German dominant culture” based on the values of Christianity instead of multiculturalism. Africa, the party’s website states, is a “house of poverty,” arguing that migration from the continent needs to be capped.

During a covert meeting last November, uncovered by independent German investigative outlet Correctiv, AfD politicians, together with neo-Nazis and several wealthy business owners, discussed the “remigration” of millions of people—including German citizen—on the basis of racial and religious criteria.

The group of young men in Sonneberg who spoke with Foreign Policy talked about the need for the “remigration” of immigrants, too, and some even had written it on signs. After the rally, though, they headed to dinner at the only restaurant still open: a kebab house owned by an Iraqi Kurd. Their waiter was a Syrian man who arrived in Germany three years ago.

According to the Federal Statistical Office, at least 28.7 percent of Germany’s population—more than 1 in 4 people—have a migration background, meaning that they immigrated to Germany themselves or were born into families with a history of migration. Migration is on the up, with 2.1 million people arriving in Germany in 2015, and 2.6 million in 2022. Germany’s coalition government has said it aims to attract 400,000 qualified workers from abroad annually to tackle labor shortages and demographic imbalances.

The desire for strong leadership is also on the rise in Germany as Russia’s war in Ukraine continues. Several of the AfD’s members have called for a separation from NATO and even the EU; many have turned to Russia, at least rhetorically, arguing that Germany needs to work with its neighbors. Sundermeyer told Foreign Policy that “the AfD is deeply anti-American but pro- Russian; anti-NATO and -EU, but in favor of turning toward alternative government structures such as authoritarianism.”

Meanwhile, German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser continuously calls right-wing extremism the “greatest extremist threat to Germany’s democracy.”

Still, for all the Sonneberg residents who voted for the AfD’s candidate, Sesselmann—who did not respond to interview requests by Foreign Policy—there are almost as many people who did not. And unless it’s during the weekly Monday demonstrations, people don’t usually flaunt their political opinions. The day after the weekly protest, at a food stall selling bratwursts during the lunch hour, conversations revolved around work, the weather, increased food and energy prices, and even Germany’s reunification—“before it, everything was better,” several people agreed.

“In Sonneberg, many voted AfD out of spite, while others don’t take an interest in politics but cast their votes for the AfD regardless,” said Regina Müller, a 61-year-old Green Party voter who owns an organic store decorated with anti-war slogans.

But, she added, “what many here don’t see is that [the AfD] are wolves in sheep’s clothing.”