Reporter's Notebook: In Eastern Germany, The Far-Right Has Found A Foothold
German leaders have dismissed the rise of the far-right as an electoral fluke that can be overcome by shifting policies a bit to the right. But if polls are to be believed, the approach isn't working.
This past week is hardly the first time I've seen far-right groups marching on eastern German streets using forbidden Nazi imagery or slogans.
Long before Chancellor Angela Merkel decided in 2015 that Germany would unequivocally welcome the largest refugee wave in her country's modern history, neo-Nazis and other right-wing nationalists used World War II anniversaries to spread fear and clash with counter-demonstrators.
The difference back then was that few of those protestors were from the communities they demonstrated in.
That wasn't the case in Chemnitz on Saturday, where many — if not most — of the far-right marchers were from the city itself or the state of Saxony where it's located. What I observed backed
