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Hard core of German society clings to far-right views

Updated: 08/Nov/2006 17:21

The Brandenburg Gate in Berlin

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BERLIN (AFP)--- A small but tenacious minority of Germans hold far-right views including deep skepticism about democracy, belief in their supremacy over other nations and suspicion of Jews, a poll released Wednesday indicated.

About 5,000 Germans were questioned for the survey conducted for the respected Friedrich Ebert Foundation, which is run by the Social Democratic Party, partner in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition government.

It found that nine percent of those polled believed "predominantly" or "completely" that under some circumstances a dictatorship can be a better system to run a state than a democracy.

Fifteen percent support an iron-fisted leader "to govern Germany for the benefit of all". One in four -- 26 percent -- said they favored a single party in Germany "that would embody the national community as a whole".

About 15 percent said they believed the Germans were "by nature" superior to other cultures while one in 10 said they believed that some human beings were unworthy to live.

Difference between east and west

	Neo-Nazi demonstrations banned from synagogue opening
	Neo-Nazism already widespread in eastern Germany’s Communist era
	German Jewish leader: neo-Nazi attacks just like in Hitler era
	Anti-Fascists clash with police over Nazi rally in Hamburg
	Anti-Semitic incident in German school

Sociologist Oliver Decker of the University of Leipzig, who conducted the study for the Usuma opinion research institute, said he noticed key regional differences. Easterners, he said, were more likely to express xenophobic views while westerners were more anti-Semitic.

Forty-four percent of those in the former communist east said that foreigners came to Germany to exploit the generous social welfare system, versus 35.2 percent in the west.

Meanwhile 15.8 percent of westerners agreed with the statement "Jews use dirty tricks more than other people", against six percent in the east.

Westerners were also more likely to play down the importance of the Nazi era, with nine percent saying they thought the focus on this period was exaggerated versus five percent in the east.

Decker said that unemployed Germans expressed right-wing extremist views most often, followed in second place by pensioners. And more men held far-right opinions than women.

Far-right parties have made major inroads in the economically depressed east and are represented in three state legislatures, although none has captured seats in the national parliament.