Carolin Würfel is right to see the success of AfD in the eastern states of Germany as a way to protest against west German dominance (I know why many east Germans vote AfD. And no, it’s not an inherited longing for dictatorship, 15 September).
But she overlooks the fact that the “takeover” of 1990 could not have been done much differently. Any path more resembling those of other east European nations would have led to mass migration to West Germany. In that sense the current situation is not the fault of western politicians and industrialists. One thing could and should have been done differently, though. An attempt to build a conservative-centrist party representing the east would have been important, instead of just transferring the western parties. Die Linke fulfilled such a role for some time, but from the left, not the centre. Now AfD fulfils this role from the right.
