West German foothold of far-right AfD shows challenge for Merz
Once a bastion of the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) in Germany's industrial heartland, the town was a rare example of the Alternative for Germany (AFD) topping the vote outside its strongholds in the former East Germany.
Despite its designation as extremist by the country's intelligence services, the AfD's growing strength poses an immediate challenge to incoming conservative chancellor Friedrich Merz, who takes office on Tuesday.
In the doorway of the pizza delivery service where he works, Mehmet -- who asked that his real name not be used -- puts the AfD's popularity in Gelsenkirchen down to immigration.
Opposite his workplace is a building housing many recent migrants from Romania and Bulgaria, who Mehmet says typify the challenges in integrating new arrivals.
A graffiti of football club FC SChalke 04 is seen at an abandoned house in the Schalke neighbourhood, where southern Europeans used to live, in Gelsenkirchen, western Germany on April 28, 2025. (Photo by Ina FASSBENDER / AFP)
"The number of immigrants has gone up, there are people who don't speak German, who are very different culturally," he said.
"When you go out at night, you see very few Germans. In some places, it's better to not leave home after 8 pm," Mehmet added.
For Brigitte, 77, making her way through town with a walking frame, agreed that the town was not as secure as it used to be.
Advertisement
"I've had my purse stolen three times," she said, adding that she no longer felt safe going out in the evenings.
'Difficult to live together'
Gelsenkirchen's former prosperity was built on the coal and steel industries, as in cities and towns across the Ruhr region.
But in contrast to many of its neighbours, Gelsenkirchen was not able to reinvent itself as heavy industry dwindled.
It now has Germany's highest unemployment rate, at 14.8 percent, almost three times the national average.
Half of all children are at risk of poverty, compared to one in five nationally.
An abandoned house in the Schalke neighbourhood, where southern Europeans used to live, is pictured in Gelsenkirchen, western Germany on April 28, 2025. (Photo by Ina FASSBENDER / AFP)
Its population has fallen from 400,000 in the early 1960s to just 272,000 now, 75,000 of whom do not have German nationality.
When Germany lifted employment restrictions on Bulgarians and Romanians in 2014, many of those who moved to Gelsenkirchen ended up in cheap but neglected apartment buildings and struggled to find work.
"They don't have any chance of finding a job and so it becomes difficult for everyone to live together," said the town's SPD MP Markus Toens, who won direct election rather than the party list vote won by the AfD.
As EU citizens, Romanians and Bulgarians have the same rights to welfare support as Germans, and Toens would like to see the rules on this toughened at a national level.
Advertisement
'People are unhappy'
The AfD, which won just over 20 percent of the vote nationwide and will be the biggest opposition party in the next parliament, has been quick to capitalise on people's frustrations.
Its lead candidate in municipal elections in September, Norbert Emmerich, is standing on a platform of "cleanliness, order and security".
"Our success is a reflection of the fact that people are unhappy," Emmerich told AFP.
Laura Rosen, Christian Democratic Union (CDU) candidate for Lord Mayor for the 2025 local elections, poses for a photo in the city of Gelsenkirchen, western Germany on April 28, 2025. (Photo by Ina FASSBENDER / AFP)
The lead candidate from Merz's CDU, Laura Rosen, also said the town "hasn't been able to cope with integrating" recent immigrants.
Rosen, 32, remembers that when she was at school, "there were seven immigrant children out of 25. Now it's 24 (out of 25)."
The town has a long history of immigration, from Poles to Turks such as Mehmet's ancestors, and more recently refugees fleeing wars in Syria, Afghanistan and Ukraine.
The latest waves of immigration have coincided with a worsening in the job market.
"There are barely any good jobs left in Gelsenkirchen," said Darko Manojlovic, president of the works council at the BP refinery that employs 2,000 people in the area.
Even those jobs are now under threat, as the British energy giant says it plans to reduce its refining activities in Germany.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
DW
an hour ago
- DW
Germany: 1 in 4 immigrants doesn't want to stay – DW – 06/17/2025
Why are immigrants leaving Germany? A new study shows that other countries are more attractive to economically successful foreigners. Discrimination also plays a major role. The German economy is weakening — and yet many sectors desperately need skilled workers, including the medical professions, especially nursing, as well as IT, and construction. Germany also has a shortage of educators, cooks and people who can drive trucks and buses. At the end of 2024, there were around 1.4 million unfilled positions in German companies nationwide. At the same time, more and more immigrants are coming to Germany to work. In 2024, the proportion of foreign employees was just over 16%. It has more than doubled since 2010. Employment in medical professions is disproportionately high. More than one in six doctors is a foreign citizen. In nursing, employment growth since 2022 has been exclusively attributable to foreign personnel. Currently, one in five workers in this sector is an immigrant. But do these people actually want to stay in Germany in the long term? The Institute for Employment Research (IAB) at the Federal Employment Agency has now presented a study on this issue, based on a representative online survey of 50,000 people born abroad who immigrated to Germany between the ages of 18 and 65. The survey excludes asylum seekers who do not yet have recognized residence status in Germany. The survey period ran from December 2024 to April 2025. "Twenty-six percent, or around 2.6 million people, say that they actually considered leaving Germany last year, i.e., they thought about leaving the country," said Yuliya Kosyakova, head of the Migration, Integration, and International Labor Market Research Division at the IAB, as she summarized the figures at the presentation of the study in Berlin. "Around 3%, or 300,000 people, already have concrete plans to leave." To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video About half of those who do not want to stay would like to return to their country of origin, while the other half want to move to another country. Poland and Romania are the most popular destinations among those who want to return. And for those immigrants who wish to move on to a third country, people expressed Switzerland, the US, or Spain as top envisaged destinations. "A key finding of our survey is that it is precisely those who moved to Germany to work or study, who are better educated or more economically successful and who have a better command of the German language, who are more likely than average to consider leaving or express concrete plans to emigrate," said IAB researcher Katia Gallegos Torres. Immigrants with a master's degree or doctorate and higher earners in particular have considered leaving Germany in the last twelve months. "In knowledge-intensive service sectors such as IT, finance, and business-related services, between 30% and 39% of those surveyed are considering emigrating," said Gallegos Torres. There are also "significant" emigration trends in healthcare, manufacturing, and logistics. "In summary, these are precisely the people that Germany urgently needs to secure its skilled labor force. This selective emigration poses considerable risks for Germany's economic future." But what are the reasons? Family reasons play a major role for those returning home, while immigrants who want to move to another country are primarily looking for better career opportunities and higher earnings. Taxes and social security contributions and too much bureaucracy in Germany are frequently cited reasons for leaving. Added to this are experiences of discrimination. "Almost two-thirds of immigrants report perceived discrimination, for example at work, on the housing market, in public spaces or in contact with the police," says Gallegos Torres. "A third of immigrants also feel either not at all or only slightly welcome. These are factors that significantly increase the tendency to emigrate." The study shows that the political atmosphere in Germany has also played a role. "In 2024, the debate was very much dominated by the issue of migration, and social acceptance was not particularly high," noted Kosyakova. Just over a quarter of people in Germany have some kind of a migration background. Some 21 million people have either come to Germany themselves since 1950 or have parents who did. Some 6.5 million people have come to Germany since 2015 alone. The largest groups among them are Syrians and Ukrainians. In the federal elections in February, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which advocates for the deportation of millions of people with non-German roots, became the second-strongest political force in the country. Meanwhile, the conservative CDU won the election after promising a tougher immigration policy. Now in coalition with the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), the CDU's first migration policy measure was to extend border controls. Similarly, a plan to allow well-integrated immigrants to obtain citizenship more quickly, established by the last government, was immediately abolished. "These big debates about migration and migration policy have a negative impact on people, on the feeling of welcome, on experiences of discrimination," said Kosyakova. "These are reasons why people report thinking more often about emigrating or actually planning to leave Germany." Experts consistently calculate that Germany needs around 400,000 additional immigrants per year who will stay permanently in order to maintain its labor force. This, they argue, is also the only way to balance demographic trends. Germany is an aging country. There are more and more pensioners and fewer and fewer people in work. This not only leads to a labor shortage, but also to a lack of government revenue to finance pensions. Against this backdrop, the IAB study shows that "not only immigration, but also the long-term retention of immigrants is a key challenge," according to Kosyakova. Overall, there are many indications that government measures such as reducing bureaucracy, simplifying the recognition of qualifications, increasing digitalization, and providing tax breaks could reduce the tendency to emigrate, especially among professionally successful immigrants, say the IAB researchers. However, they add that "broad and honest" social acceptance is also needed. Meanwhile, the CDU is now calling for foreign medical students not to be allowed to leave so easily after graduating. Anyone who studies in Germany should follow their studies by working as a doctor for at least five years — preferably in rural areas of Germany, where there is a growing shortage of medical professionals. "Those who do not want to do so must repay the costs of this first-class education," said Sepp Müller, deputy chairman of the CDU group in parliament. The Health Ministry, also run by the CDU, has welcomed the proposal. "We must attract young doctors to work in Germany instead of watching them leave," explained Tino Sorge, state secretary in the you're here: Every Tuesday, DW editors round up what is happening in German politics and society. You can sign up here for the weekly email newsletter Berlin Briefing.
DW
an hour ago
- DW
Who's safeguarding the Middle East's cultural treasures? – DW – 06/30/2025
The recent Israel-Iran conflict saw both countries trading missiles and rockets that not only killed and injured civilians but also put the region's cultural heritage at risk. How can it be protected? The Paris-based International Council of Museums (ICOM) had issued an emphatic warning after the first bomb strikes: There was a "growing danger" for museums and their employees in Israel and Iran. The professional association, which consists of 8,000 museum professionals worldwide including members from Israel and Iran, had demanded that both sides adhere to international conventions for the protection of cultural heritage, even in the event of conflict. "However, we can do no more than admonish and warn," president of the German National Committee, Felicia Sternfeld, told Deutsche Welle. Did this appeal have an impact? The news situation on the ground is thin, with only sparse information coming out of Iran in particular, as it allows hardly any foreign journalists to enter and severely restricts press freedom. However, one thing seems certain: Contingency plans were activated in both countries at the start of the Israel-Iran conflict. As far as possible, experts worked to secure, remove and relocate cultural assets. It is currently unclear whether despite all the warnings there has been any damage. Iran has a rich cultural heritage. This includes 28 UNESCO World Heritage Sites and around 840 museums, 300 of which are under the administration of the Ministry of Culture. "Iran has a well-organized and professional heritage authority," Judith Thomalsky, the head of the Tehran branch of the German Archaeological Institute, said in an interview with Deutschlandfunk radio. Thomalsky's office has been operating from Berlin since 2023, when thousands of Iranians protested the mullah regime and the German Federal Foreign Office withdrew staff from German institutions as a precaution. The Institute itself continues its work on the premises of the German Embassy in Tehran with local staff, and Thomalsky maintains as much contact as possible with her Iranian network. Barbara Helwing, director of the Museum of the Ancient Near East in Berlin and Thomalsky's predecessor from 2000 to 2014, is also an expert on Iran. She told German regional broadcaster RBB that she was in contact with her colleagues at the National Museum until recently; there has been occasional radio silence because the Iranian regime had shut down the Internet. "We know that the museum and its two large buildings near the Foreign Ministry have been emptied," said Helwing, adding that she has seen photos showing empty display cases. The Iranian National Museum is not only the oldest but also the most important museum in Iran. Comprising two buildings with three halls each, it houses more than 300,000 archaeological finds from pre-Islamic [before 7th century CE: Eds.] and Islamic times, including many objects made of stone, ceramics, glass and metals. "In Iran, the relationship with cultural heritage is very close," Helwing said. The country's cultural identity is based on a long history and the awareness that the first real-world empire in history, the ancient Persian Empire (around 550 to 330 BCE), originated in Iran. According to Helwing, all portable museum objects were hastily transported into the cellars. The non-movable artifacts, mainly stone objects, were covered with sandbags to protect them from strikes and flying debris. Unlike in Israel, there are no bunkers in Iran — neither for people nor for valuable art treasures. Protecting archaeological sites that are often located in open areas has proven to be far more difficult: "You can't really protect them," Helwing said, "You can only hope that they are far enough away from potential targets." According to the English-language , Taq-e Bostan, an archeological complex from the era of the Sasanian dynasty (224-651 CE) that includes a one-of-a-kind monumental rock relief, faces particular danger. The newspaper reported that the Israeli Air Force bombed a weapons depot just two kilometers away from the complex. The resulting shock waves and vibrations may have damaged the site, Helwing fears, though she lacked more precise information. "Iran's Department of Antiquities knows what it needs to do," says Judith Thomalsky, a historian who focuses on prehistoric times and who has spent over 20 years working in Iran. She also believes it isn't possible to protect open archeological sites like the Persepolis complex, the Bisotun inscriptions and Takht-e Soleyman, or "Throne of Solomon," an archeological site. She told the Berlin daily that while she doesn't believe cultural assets face an acute threat, it is impossible to know how things may develop. Institutions in Israel, for their part, activated emergency plans following the first Iranian counterattacks. For instance, the Tel Aviv Museum of Art secured its collection of Israeli and international art in underground storage, the French Magazine reported. It is planning to reopen its doors on July 3. It is already possible to visit Jerusalem's Israel Museum again, which with its 500,000 objects is one of the largest in the Middle East. The museum website informs visitors that it is equipped with safe rooms that are located in the museum in case of emergency. Israel is currently home to nine UNESCO World Heritage Sites, including the White City of Tel Aviv, a neighborhood with numerous buildings in the Bauhaus architectural style, the Masada mountaintop fortress and the Old City of Acre. "To our knowledge there has been no damage to archeological artifacts under the management of Israel Antiquities Authority, nor to objects in museums," the authority has stated, as reported by both and . World heritage sites are under formal protection of the international community. The 1954 Hague convention regulates the protection of cultural material in armed conflict, while the 1972 UNESCO World Heritage Convention governs conservation of cultural assets among nations. From July 6-16, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee will be holding its 47th session in Paris. Among other things, experts will discuss potential future UNESCO cultural heritage sites. The session will be live-streamed. The Israel-Iran conflict was not on the agenda as at June 30.
DW
an hour ago
- DW
Can Taiwan help Germany ease its reliance on Chinese drones? – DW – 06/30/2025
Germany is hoping to buy more drones from Taiwan as an alternative to China, but many financial and political hurdles stand in the way of Berlin reaching out to Taipei. For German companies looking to diversify their supply of drones beyond China and bypass its dominance of the global drone market, Taiwan is starting to look increasingly attractive. A report published this month by DSET, a Taiwanese think tank focusing on democracy, society and emerging technology, shows that Germany has become the second-largest importer of Taiwan-made drones in the first quarter of 2025. "We are trying to become more independent from China [regarding drones]," Verena Jackson, a researcher at the Center for Intelligence and Security Studies (CISS) at the University of the Armed Forces of Germany, told DW. Beijing sees Taiwan, a self-ruled island, as a breakaway province, and is actively discouraging diplomatic and trade ties between Taipei and other nations. Due to Germany's close economic cooperation with China, Beijing is likely to bristle at the idea of Berlin turning to Taiwan-made drones or key components as alternatives to Chinese ones. Although China still dominates the drone market with an estimated 70-80% share of worldwide production, Taiwan is emerging as "a rising star" in the supply chain, Jackson said. "The advantage for Taiwanese companies is that we are trying to do everything China-free. That has a very big attraction for our European partners," Hong-Lun Tiunn, Deputy Director of the National Security Program at DSET, told DW. Since 2022, Taiwan has stepped up its efforts to develop its own drone industry and build a "non-red" supply chain, a reference to manufacturing networks that are independent of China's influence. This is part of Taipei's defense strategy against a potential invasion by Beijing. In a wartime scenario, Taiwan could be subject to a Chinese blockade with no shipping access. "So we need to have our own capacity to manufacture all kinds of (drone) components," Tiunn said. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Since the second half of 2024, Europe has overtaken the United States as the primary export destination for Taiwanese drones, according to the DSET report. This shift came as China tightened export controls on drones and components, particularly those with military or dual-use capabilities, citing its own national security concerns. But many analysts believe the shift is largely driven by mounting pressure from the West over China's ties to Russia. "Europeans are trying to reach defense autonomy and they want to manufacture their own weapons or drones," Elizabeth Sun, a Berlin-based research fellow at DSET, told DW. In December, the European Union announced sanctions on four Chinese firms for "supplying sensitive drone components and microelectronic components" to the Russian military. During her visit to Beijing last year, former German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock warned that drones from Chinese factories "attack peace in the middle of Europe" and "hurt our central security interests." CISS researcher Jackson also pointed out that since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Germany has come to realize "there is an imminent risk coming from China when it comes to cybersecurity or drones." However, Berling does not share Taipei's ambition of establishing a fully China-free drone supply chain. "We are very reliant on Chinese drones as a whole, as full drones, but also on parts," Jackson said. She added that cutting China ties entirely would be unrealistic, especially given the country's dominance in raw materials like rare earth elements, which are crucial components in drone technology. Instead, Germany is attempting to diversify key components such as software, sensors, and chips — areas that carry higher national security risks. Software updates, for instance, are subject to data leaks. "There's basically an open door where all information can go out of Germany and then go to foreign intelligence services," Jackson said. This is where Taiwan — home to some of the world's most advanced chip manufacturers and a strong IT sector — could step in. Although Taiwanese companies only hold a small share of the German drone market, "the components we are trying to provide are motors and chips, the very key parts, and our system integration experience to Germany," Tiunn said. While established corporations have long-standing ties with Chinese suppliers, drone production is now surging across southern Germany and startups are increasingly open to partnering with Taiwan, Jackson pointed out. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Earlier this month, Taiwan signed a partnership deal with US and German-based Auterion for drone software that has been battle-tested in Ukraine to help step up its defenses against growing military threats from China. As it aims to provide drones and key components to other democracies, Taiwan is struggling to meet its own demand. The island set a goal for domestic manufacturers to produce 180,000 drones per year by 2028. But the current annual production capacity — between 8,000 to 10,000 units — falls well short of that target. This gap is due to the high cost of "China-free" drones, low domestic procurement, and minimal foreign government orders, according to the DSET report. Cathay Fang, a policy analyst in the National Security and Economic Security Research Program at DSET, noted that the current priority is improving the cybersecurity of Taiwanese drones in line with US security initiatives for Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS). This focus could help open up the European market. "When we see that the United States and Taiwan are collaborating closely, German companies would certainly follow," Jackson said. But Germany is facing its own challenges in reducing its reliance on Chinese drones and key components. "Our procurement laws are really cost-focused. And China is still the most cost-effective country," Jackson said. "It takes time to implement also cybersecurity or security aspects." Last year, the German army reportedly eased procurement procedures for small commercial drones from Chinese companies, including DJI, the world's largest consumer drone manufacturer. This shows that, despite growing concerns from security analysts, the political will in Germany to address the potential risks of using Chinese drones remains limited. "It's developing — the awareness here and the urge to do something about it. But it's certainly not at the point where it's sufficient," Jackson said. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
