German ‘rust belt’ town spotlights growing appeal of far right

DUISBURG, Germany – Sporting a cap with the Trump-inspired slogan “Make Duisburg great again”, Alternative for Germany (AfD) candidate Alan Imamura was upbeat as he campaigned for the far-right party in Germany’s ailing industrial heartland.

“In the past, lots of people looked at us strangely or even insulted us – that has hardly been the case this year,” said the 51-year-old in the working class district of Duisburg North, as passing cars tooted horns in support.

The city in Germany’s western Ruhr region highlights how the far right has made progress beyond its traditional strongholds in Germany’s former communist east, helping propel the AfD to

a record nationwide result in the Feb 23 elections

.

Duisburg is a steel town and traditional symbol of Germany’s industrial might, and Duisburg North has long been a stronghold of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) of Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

But as the city went into industrial decline, so the political landscape has shifted, with many SPD voters saying they no longer feel represented by the party.

The upheaval was clear as election results rolled in late on Feb 23 .

According to a nearly complete vote count, the AfD more than doubled its share in Duisburg North from the last elections in 2021, hitting more than 24 per cent, just slightly behind the SPD, which shed around 10 points.

‘Mood is bad’

Mr Ludger Schulppen, a former SPD member who switched to backing the AfD, said the city is struggling with a growing number of migrants that it cannot support.

“So many companies are closing. It’s just not possible for people to come and just go and work,” the 63-year-old told AFP.

He works for steel titan Thyssenkrupp, which in 2024 announced it was cutting 11,000 jobs in the face of rising Asian competition.

“The mood is bad,” Mr Schulppen said. “Nobody knows who’s affected, which departments are affected, what comes next.”

Tax cuts and environmental deregulation backed by the AfD will help his industry, he argued.

Duisburg has a long history of welcoming newcomers, particularly after World War II when workers from Turkey and Italy arrived and helped power the country’s “economic miracle”.

Nowadays, 58.3 per cent of school children in Duisburg are migrants or the children of migrants, according to official data.

But 10 years after Middle Eastern migrants began arriving in large numbers under former chancellor Angela Merkel, attitudes have hardened in the face of high-profile attacks and problems with integration.

“The people who come here are not people who have good jobs in their own countries,” said Mr Schulppen.

“They’re people who come for the benefits on offer. I have plenty of Turkish colleagues who point out that they got nothing when they came over. They just came and worked.”

The AfD’s growing appeal highlights how the far-right party is making progress in western Germany.

Its advances were clear at the Feb 23 elections, with the party roughly doubling its support nationwide to around 20 per cent.

It came in second to the centre-right CDU, whose leader Friedrich Merz is set to become the next chancellor – although he insists he will not involve the far right in coalition talks, despite relying on its support for a parliamentary vote in January.

‘Can’t go on like this’

Duisburg has seen better days. Just 500,000 people call the city home, down from almost 600,000 in the mid-1970s.

Outside the town centre, abandoned buildings dot the cityscape.

In a housing estate nicknamed the “White Giants” – which hit the headlines in 2024 after postal firm DHL suspended deliveries there, citing threats to its staff – cleaner Manuela Spitzwieser said she has shifted to supporting the AfD from the SPD.

The 54-year-old complained that some residents “break everything and go on rampages”, and throw rubbish from the upper floors of tower blocks, pointing to the rubbish-strewn playground.

Most Germans in her circle are AfD supporters, she said, but insisted it is “not about chucking foreigners out”.

“It’s about deporting criminals, deporting illegal migrants. Things can’t go on like this.” AFP