Germany's Demographic Death Spiral That Mainstream Parties Refuse to Address

Millions of Germans disagreed. They didn't oppose migration to fill gaps in the labor force. They opposed migration that threatened the national identity and character of the German nation.

Because of Germany's past, red flags went up all across the establishment, warning about the "Nazification" of opposition to immigration. The new party, Alternative für Deutschland (Alternative for Germany), was immediately branded as the resurrection of National Socialism for its opposition to immigration. There were also some AfD nutcases who actually wanted to resurrect the Nazis, given loving attention by the German media. 

Compared to the Christian Democrats (CDU) and the Socialists, the AfD is, in fact, radical, especially on the migration issue. Now, 10 years after a million refugees from nations with no concept of Western freedoms or culture arrived in Germany, the AfD is making huge strides because the evidence for the loss of the German national character is plain to see.

Local elections in Saxony-Anhalt, a key region in the old East Germany, could give AfD a majority in state government. "Polls have the CDU at around 23% at the moment, down from 37% at the last election," writes UnHerd's Katja Hoyer. "By contrast, the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), whose Saxony-Anhalt branch has been classified by domestic intelligence as “Right-wing extremist”, is currently at 43%. With the election on September 6, the AfD has a chance for a true majority.

The regions of old East Germany are where the demographic death spiral is felt most keenly.  After reunification, nearly a quarter of East Germans moved West or abroad. Most of the departed are young, well-educated women. 

"That’s left behind a region that is now Germany’s oldest, with its birth rate among the lowest, and with many of its communities watching schools, playgrounds, clubs and traditions slowly disappear," notes Hoyer.   

 “Germany suffers from massive depopulation,” AfD writes in the first sentence of the first chapter of its 'manifesto'. “What in political debate is referred to as ‘demographic change’ is nothing less than the ageing and extinction of the German people.” 

This is going for the jugular in German politics, as it evokes all kinds of Nazi imagery that the major parties make sure the German media takes note of. 

UnHerd:

The AfD’s language may be stark, but the party is not wrong to suggest that the established parties are deeply uncomfortable with the idea of discussing explicitly pro-natal politics. As with many other topics, debates around demography are fraught with uniquely German anxieties. The country where Nazis once pinned medals on the chests of particularly fertile mothers doesn’t want to be seen to be doing anything like it ever again. 

Indeed, there was public outrage when the popular German news anchor Eva Herman started talking about it in 2007. Arguing in books and TV appearances that the German people was on the brink of extinction because feminism was eroding traditional family models and causing low birth rates, she referenced Nazi family policy. Hitler’s Germany, Herman claimed in a press conference, “was a cruel time”, one which ultimately led the country to its downfall. But, Herman added , “then we also abolished what was good, and that was values, children, mothers, families, solidarity”. Facing massive public criticism, and despite trying to back-track, Herman was fired from her job as a newsreader.

No wonder most German politicians tip-toe around the pro-natal issue. Any hint of nationalism, or raising the birthrate as something patriotic, brings swift denunciations. 

Nationally, the party polls significantly higher in the former East Germany, regularly exceeding 35% to 40%+ in states like Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Saxony. Support in the western federal states is lower but notable, generally hovering between 15% and 20%.

Despite strong polling numbers, mainstream parties maintain a political "firewall" (Brandmauer), refusing to form governing coalitions with the AfD at both federal and state levels. That may change in Saxony-Anhalt next month if the AfD can achieve a near-majority.

They're running on a platform that promises a "Welcome" payment of about $2,700 for a family's first two children, and then about $5,400 for each additional child if at least one parent is German.  

The manifesto blames what it calls a “perverted Left-wing, radical feminist and individualist” spirit in German institutions, including schools and other institutions, for the demographic collapse. 

“Rising abortion rates and declining birth rates,” the party claims, “are also connected to the fact that sexual deviance and non-reproductive lifestyles are now enjoying more acceptance and are more aggressively advocated than the normal family consisting of a man and a woman from which children are born.”

Germany is one of the most liberal cultures in Europe, and AfD will make very little headway in the West if they make that argument. Even if they have a point, their claim is unproven.

"The primary aim of these policies is not to ensure a sufficient workforce for economic stability and growth: but sustaining the German population as an ethnic and cultural entity," writes Hoyer. "Or, to quote analysis in Die Zeit, population decline is something “most parties view as a danger to the labor market and to pensions — the AfD senses a threat to the nation.” 

Indeed, Germany is not now and never has been a "melting pot." AfD's fears are justified to anyone who cares about the German nation as a historical and homogeneous cultural entity. Why not demand that newcomers assimilate and learn German? Why not try to maintain an identity that, minus the first half of the 20th century, was the envy of the world in science and culture? 

As older Germans die out, something vital is being lost. That the German political parties refuse to try to save it means that Germany will disappear and be replaced by something alien and un-Western.