The German far-right candidate Ulrich Siegmund campaigned on a light-blue Simson motorcycle from the former GDR, activating a phenomenon described as "nostalgia without memory." This symbol of East Germany was used to capitalize on the sentiment of a portion of the population that feels German reunification failed.
The article argues that the AfD grew not primarily because of immigration, but rather due to the trauma of poorly managed reunification and the deindustrialization that destroyed 2.5 million jobs. In a territory that is in mourning and a capitalist system that can no longer promise prosperity to the new generations, many people have stopped believing in the future.
The German left, the political and symbolic heir of the GDR that Siegmund took "out of the garage," has lost the ability to communicate with this electorate. The article suggests that the traditional political grammar of the left can no longer respond to the needs and anxieties of these communities.
The Simson motorcycle, a concrete object from former East Germany, thus became a powerful symbol of a forgotten regional identity, needing only to be recognized and appropriated by the radical right to mobilize a discontented electorate.
