As important and accurate as Tania Roettger’s portrayal is, it unfortunately fails to mention key factors in the unstoppable rise of fascists in Germany (In Berlin, I took an evening class on fascism – and found out how to stop the AfD, 24 December).
It is not only the unbearable pandering of conservatives and reactionaries to rightwing extremists and their positions, but, above all, the fact that the federal government, composed of precisely these conservatives and reactionaries together with the Social Democratic party, is doing everything it can to maintain and reinforce the main reasons for voters drifting towards Alternative für Deutschland: threats to living standards due to rising costs of living and, above all, rising rents, accompanied by increasing social inequality.
