Why do east Germans sympathize with Russia?

The Story

As I’m sure most of you know, yesterday was a German national holiday. Thirty two years ago the communist East and capitalist West formally became one. One nation divided by the ideologies of the Cold War was finally brought back together.

But in recent years questions have arisen over just how comfortably these two parts of a supposed whole really fit together.

Sometimes it seems as if, rather than growing together (the motto of this year’s festivities), the two sides are steadily growing apart.

This first became apparent during the refugee crisis, when east Germans took to the streets in large numbers to demonstrate against what they saw as the “Islamisation of the West.”

The pandemic made things worse. Easterners, particularly in Saxony and Thuringia, bristled at the lockdowns and mask mandates which were broadly supported in western Germany.

But the most recent controversy bringing east Germans onto the street is the most divisive yet. While fear of immigration and hatred of lockdowns also had some currency in the west, east Germans' unabashed sympathy for Putin's Russia has left west Germans wondering whether their eastern brethren have totally lost the plot.