This is what depopulation looks like: my home town stands as a warning to the West -- The Telegraph (UK)
East Germany lost nearly a quarter of its population after the fall of the Iron Curtain. Now it is among the far right's strongholds.
The vast majority of the emigrants were young, and they took their education, labour and future families with them when they moved West in search of a better future. In the case of East Germany, young women were overrepresented among the leavers. I’m a classic example of this. I finished school and university, and then I left, never to return. During a recent school reunion, I discovered that most of my classmates had followed a similar path, even though many long to return “home” when their financial circumstances allow.
The impact of losing a generation became apparent when I visited Guben recently. When I was born there in 1985, it had 35,000 inhabitants. Now only 16,000 people live there. Local politicians told me they hope they have now halted the demographic decline. The mayor of the nearby village of Schenkendöbern proudly showed me a recently renovated primary school, but it currently has just 23 children studying in Year 1. Guben’s town librarian told me that the primary school she attended had long shut down.
While most locals don’t appear to have a problem with targeted labour migration, most don’t regard mass immigration as a solution to the demographic crisis. On the contrary, they worry that it accelerates the erosion of their culture and language and that this feeling isn’t being taken seriously by mainstream politicians and the media. People often say that populism feeds on fear, but that fear is too often dismissed. Such derision opens opportunities for the AfD.