The door that the AfD found open

The AfD (Alternative for Germany) has found a political strategy that does not require defending that the GDR (German Democratic Republic) was better than West Germany. Instead, the party uses the argument that reunified Germany after 1990 also failed to fulfill its promises. This approach allows the German right to explore nostalgia for the former East Germany without having to explicitly defend the socialist regime that existed there. The party capitalizes on the economic and social difficulties felt in the former East German territories since reunification, presenting itself as an alternative to the traditional parties that supported the reunification process. This strategy shows how the AfD manages to attract voters in the former GDR regions by combining criticism of the established political class with appeals to the memory of the socialist past.