Although most politicians hasten to criticize Thilo Sarrazin’s controversial new book blaming Muslims for dragging Germany down, his views have generated a mass following from the general German population. The book, published this month, claims Germany is being overwhelmed and made “more stupid” by Muslim immigrants, and it has struck a nerve in the Fatherland.

Sarrazin’s publisher is scrambling to print more copies of Abolishing Germany—How We’re Putting Our Country in Jeopardy to meet the surging demand. Based on advance orders, the book has shot to the number-one slot on Germany’s sales charts. The influential Spiegel magazine said that Sarrazin’s book “is not convincing, but it has convinced many people.” This week, Spiegel has Sarrazin on its cover, and calls him a “people’s hero.”

Germany’s center-left Social Democratic Party (spd) to which Sarrazin belongs has received an onslaught of letters, phone calls and e-mails lambasting the central bank board’s discussions about ousting him.

“Listen to the voice of the people for once,” Spiegel quoted one of nearly 4,000 e-mails as saying.

The spd’s efforts to get rid of Sarrazin are damaging the party’s image, according to a September 8 Forsa poll for Germany’s Stern magazine. The survey concluded that over half of the 1,005 voters polled oppose spd attempts to expel Sarrazin, with only 22 percent of respondents saying Sarrazin’s views are unacceptable.

A separate survey, conducted by Emnid pollsters of Germany’s Bild am Sonntag newspaper on September 5, revealed that nearly one in five Germans would vote for a political party led by Thilo Sarrazin.

Agence France-Presse’s Simon Sturdee wrote this about the Emnid poll:

[T]he survey raised fears that a charismatic right-wing populist in Germany, like anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders in the Netherlands, could win considerable political support.

An impressive 220 readers have written reviews for Sarrazin’s book on its Amazon.de webpage, with overwhelmingly positive feedback. Its average score is 4.8 stars out of a possible five on the webpage. The mountains of reader comments posted with nearly every article on the subject tell the same story: Germans who feel strongly enough about the issue to comment on it largely share in Sarrazin’s concerns about Muslims in Germany.

Another study from Bielefeld University shows that 50 percent of Germans feel there are too many foreigners in the country.

Support Among Leaders

The controversy stirred up by Sarrazin’s book has also prodded some leading politicians to call for a more open discussion of Germany’s integration policy. Some have criticized German Chancellor Angela Merkel for her dismissive stance regarding Sarrazin’s comments, and even voiced some measure of support for the Bundesbank board member.

Bavaria state Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann said, “It would be wrong to now damn everything that Sarrazin says.” Some of Sarrazin’s theories were awful, he said, “But where there are problems, we clearly have to address them.”

Peter Hauk, head of Baden-Württemberg state’s Christian Democratic Union (cdu) parliamentary party, said that many cdu supporters strongly agreed with Sarrazin’s views, and that it would not be acceptable to simply criticize him. Hauk said he believes Berlin cdu leadership should clearly identify the immigration problem and take resolute action on integration policies.

Even German Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg called for an intensive investigation into Sarrazin’s theories, saying the issue required a broad and open discussion. Guttenberg said the issues Sarrazin’s book describes are important to people in Germany.

Sarrazin has made clear that he has no intention of going quietly if the moves to oust him gain support, and has threatened to appeal in the courts if federal President Christian Wulff kicks him out in a “show trial.” Sarrazin said that the letters, e-mails and calls he has been receiving at the Bundesbank are simply too much to process. “It’s 99 percent support and letters of congratulation,” he said proudly.

In the politically restrained atmosphere that has dominated Germany since the end of World War ii, the broad support for Sarrazin’s remarks is significant.

Europe has been tolerant of the steady growth of Islam’s presence in society for decades. But it is obvious that the tolerance is rapidly evaporating. Bible prophecy makes plain that tensions between Europe and Muslims will rise in the months and years ahead, and eventually culminate in a seismic blitzkrieg clash. Anti-Islamic ideas from German leaders like Sarrazin will steadily amplify and find increasing support among the German people. For more, read The King of the South and Germany and the Holy Roman Empire.