Another factor that brings on the high rate of right wing support in East Germany is a German term called vergangenheitsbewaltigung. It means coming to terms with the past. East Germany had been under dictatorship basically since 1933. West Germany has come to terms with the nazi past, and has strong feelings against such absurd beliefs. With forty years of democracy under their belt, West Germany approaches the issues with more maturity than their eastern counterpart. Meanwhile, East German communism bottled up such beliefs and mentalities, and they may be reemerging. The leader of German?s Jewish community, Ignatz Bubis, warns, ?One cannot only look to the glorious sides of history and suppress the unpleasant ones. Those who are not prepared to address this aspect of history and try to look away or forget, must accept the fact that history can be repeated.? Having history repeated in Germany is the last thing anyone wants.
The right wing extreme values that are being adopted are an example of the poor civic fabric in East Germany. The outlook for Germany is bleak with youths accepting such ridiculous values. Luckily, there are things being done to curb the extremity. Chancellor Schroeder, the first Chancellor not to have been alive during WWII, led the proceedings of Kristallnacht this year as 70,000 Jews marched through Berlin on November ninth. He proclaimed, ?sixty years later, we look forward, without forgetting the past.? Jewish leaders didn?t think the proceedings were getting across to citizens, and decided to parade in rememberance.
Other positive gains in the fight against racism, anti-Semitism, ?gay bashing?, and xenophobia have been made by bands. Anti-racist bands like WAR (white Aryan resistance) have made their stand clear through their lyrics. Hopefully these rock bands will help to curb the problem.
Poland
The right wing extremism in Poland doesn?t gather nearly as much support as do Germany?s parties. There are a number of possible reasons for such outcomes. First, unlike Germany, the workers are content with their economy. They don?t feel as big a need for change in the current system. Second, Poland has a huge religious affiliation with the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church plays a major role of enforcing Christian values in the writing of laws. The Church looks down upon violence and acts against humanity. Third, the right wing parties that are alive in Poland are very extreme, which discourages many Poles from joining.
There are two major right wing parties in Poland: the Polish National Party and Polish National Commonwealth (PWS-PSN), and the Polish National Front (PNF). Both parties have a strong skinhead core (Szayna: 120). Both parties are also ultra-nationalistic. They want a ?pure Poland?, and believe only where economic and political rights are reserved solely for Poles will the Polish culture flourish.
The leader of PWS-PSN is Boleslaw Tejkowski. He was ordered to a psychiatric exam by Polish courts in 1992. The party is strongly anti-Semitic and believes Jews to be the route of all their troubles. They claim there is a Jewish conspiracy to gain wealth for themselves. They believe Jews have taken over the Solidarity movement, have always controlled communism, and even go as far to proclaim the Jews direct the Catholic Church. PWN-PSN is approximately 15,000 strong. In the 1993 elections, though they had much trouble getting on the ballots, they accounted for .11 percent of the total votes. In polls conducted in May of 1992, 24 percent of the polish population reported to be familiar with the party, and 60 percent of those people chose to have the party prosecuted.
The NFP is an extreme right wing party that believes in militarism and holds deep hostilities to all ethnic minorities. Their ultra-nationalistic beliefs go as far as to claim that everything non-Polish should be eradicated. They also had trouble getting on the ballots in the 1993 election. The votes totaled to a meager 565, a .004 percent of the country?s votes.
It is a good sign to see that despite unemployment levels of about 15 percent and even reaching as far as 20 percent in some regions, that the Polish are not resorting to these ridiculous organizations. The Poles are reacting to their new democracy with a maturity and knowledge that extremism is going nowhere