Far-Right Politics in Eastern Germany: History, Legacies, and the Emerging Field of Eastplaining
On October 2nd, 2025, the Munk School’s Centre for European and Eurasian Studies (CEES) and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) sponsored a guest lecture by Dr. Marcus Böick, an Assistant Professor in Modern German History from the University of Cambridge. Dr. Marcus Böick is a historian specializing in modern German and European history, focusing on the German Democratic Republic (also known as “East Germany”), as well as Post-Socialism in Central Europe in the post-1990s context. His special interests include German privatization, neo-liberalism, and security.
In the first half of the event, Dr. Böick explained the grim topic of the increasing popularity of far-right politics in Germany, 35 years after unification. The far-right group, the AfD (Alternative for Germany) party has seen increasing votes in the past years, especially amongst the youth living in East Germany. He explains how there are three ways in which one can view East Germany: the first way is as perpetrators, as East Germany has a legacy of spying on its citizens, who have faced poverty and harsh conditions under communism. The second way is by seeing East Germany as Neo-Nazis, as racist and anti-immigrant ideologies have risen since the 1990s. The third perspective goes a complete opposite way, as Böick argues that East Germans can be seen as victims of capitalism and Western takeover, specifically after the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, which can be explained through socio-economic inequalities.
Böick explains that the reason why the AfD has gained popularity amongst voters is due to socio-economic inequalities, with the slow rise of right-wing violence gaining prominence between 1990 – 2013. Dissatisfaction in the 1990s in East Germany grew because of the Treuhandanstalt (also known as, Treuhand), which was a government agency that dealt with the privatization of companies in Eastern Germany. With many layoffs and closure of businesses, the working class was substantially affected, with socio-economic shocks still present 35 years later. There is a new trend of youth identifying as East Germans, with stickers being sold on Amazon with “manly” aesthetics, a sign of “strong symbolism” over the “weak West”, meaning West Germany and Europe.
With the growing field of “Eastplaining”, which Böick defines as a major public field in looking at East German politics and the East-West divide, he leaves the message that it is important to look at East Germany in a broader context, comparing modern German politics to those of Korea and Poland, as well as calling for broader discussions on regional identities, while keeping the long term legacies of socialism in mind. The session ended with a Q&A session, moderated by Professor Randall Hansen, Professor and Canada Research Chair in Immigration and Governance.
