Local Election Sends Ominous Signal
Extremist parties gained more than half the vote in local elections held in the German state of Thuringia on October 27. German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party, the Christian Democratic Union, and its coalition partner, the Social Democrats, face a major setback.
For these extreme parties to be doing so well is remarkable. Die Linke, or the Left, is the most popular party, with 31 percent of the vote—its best result ever and first time to come out on top in a state election. It is the successor of East Germany’s Communist Party that presided over a decades-long reign of terror. The party wants to end nato and embrace socialism. “Some political scientists still see the Left as a radical party that ultimately seeks to overturn the capitalist economic order,” Deutsche Welle wrote earlier this year.
The second-most popular party is the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), with 23.4 percent. The AfD consistently downplays the Holocaust. Its leaders have said Germans should be proud of the achievements of their soldiers in the two world wars.
In the wake of the vote, several Jewish leaders spoke about how scary the AfD’s success is.
Charlotte Knobloch, former president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, said the AfD’s success “shows that our whole political system is coming apart at the seams.” She said she was worried that so many supported a party that has “downplayed the horrors of the Nazi era, who are openly nationalistic and have spread messages of hate against minorities, including the Jewish community.”
Christoph Heubner, vice president of the International Auschwitz Committee, sounded a similar warning, saying, “For survivors of German concentration camps, this massive increase in votes for the AfD in Thuringia is another menacing signal that right-wing extremist attitudes and tendencies are consolidating in Germany.”
The rise of these parties show massive discontent in Thuringia and across all Germany. And it’s leading to some massive changes.
“The last time we saw something of this kind in Germany was in the Weimar Republic where political life was polarized between the Communists and the National Socialists,” political scientist and commentator Werner Patzelt told the Local. “This is quite uncommon.”
The Trumpet has warned for many years that a weak German government could provide ideal conditions for a strong leader to seize control of the European Union. This leader will take advantage of division and crisis to gain power—and will not enter by democratic process.
The election in Thuringia shows that Germany is ready for such a strongman.
We’ve given these warnings based on Bible prophecy. Scriptures in Daniel 8 and Daniel 11 warn of this strongman. You need to understand what they say, because this man will be on the scene very soon.
Our free booklet A Strong German Leader Is Imminent will help you understand these passages. It shows what the Bible says about modern Germany, the dangerous time ahead, and the massive hope behind all this disturbing news.
