The German far-right finds a new bastion in Bavaria and is expensive for Merkel: NPR

German support for Chancellor Angela Merkel and her conservatives is at a very low level, and in a few places it is more obvious than Bavaria.

A thriving economy and fewer and fewer migrants crossing the border into the rich Alpine state has not mitigated the populist reaction against the Christian Social Union (CSU), the ally the closest to Merkel's party, the Christian Democrats (CDU). The CSU has ruled Bavaria for almost every year since 1946, with the exception of three years, mostly by absolute majority.

But his future is uncertain, with Bavarian conservative voters being in full swing towards an alternative to Germany (AfD). Just 5 years old, the far-right party is currently the main opposition to the German parliament and is expected to win seats in the Bavarian legislature for the first time in Sunday's regional elections.

Ingolstadt is one of the Bavarian cities where the AfD is particularly popular, which is hardly a fortress for the far-right faction that traditionally plays with the German working class in the less affluent, formerly communist east.

Luxury cars abound in the cobblestone streets of Ingolstadt and the 137,000 inhabitants of the medieval city, where the automaker Audi is located, enjoy the highest per capita income of Germany. But as numerous as the inhabitants of Ingolstadt are, many fear for their future.

Enter the AfD, who excels at stirring up such fears.

The party candidate in Ingolstadt is Johannes Kraus von Sande, 48, who adopts the same campaign line as AFD, which won 13% of the vote in the national elections of last October: the migrations Uncontrolled threats to German identity, security and the economy, as well as the parties do nothing about it.

"As indicated by our campaign posters: The AfD fulfills the promises of the CSU. The fact that the CSU has not kept its promises has defined the whole history of this party. ", said Kraus von Sande in an interview with NPR.

But what the AfD intends to do to fulfill the promises of the campaign – or to solve the problems that it raises – said the candidate is still being drafted.

"The city has changed a lot," said Kraus von Sande, recalling that when he went to high school in Ingolstadt, everyone knew each other by name.

Now, the city and its lucrative job market are much bigger and more international. City officials in Ingolstadt, where the population has grown by more than a third over the past four decades, estimate that at least two in five residents are immigrants or immigrants. A large number of these immigrants are Muslims who, until recently, considered Ingolstadt as a place of welcome for the faithful of their religion.

Kraus von Sande said he had no problem with all Muslim immigrants: "We have the Turks and I must say that they are highly integrated into German society and that some of them criticize the fact that they are not. ;Islam".

But he added that migrants from the Middle East and Africa since 2015 – when the war and poverty, associated with Merkel's policy on refugees at the open door, led to more than 15,000 refugees. one million newcomers to Germany – cause more problems.

He said that the first arrivals he addresses do not want newcomers who do not integrate or can not integrate or fail to contribute to the German economy. . The law must change, and they rely on AfD to help, said Kraus von Sande.

"It must happen very quickly."

The CSU candidate in Ingolstadt, a 53-year-old member of the CSU – Chief of Police Alfred Grob – also worries about the more efficient management of asylum seekers who come to Germany and the guarantee of the integration of newcomers.

He said it would be better for his city – and his political party – than the German government does not run a large refugee processing center for asylum seekers on the outskirts of Ingolstadt. The center, which had welcomed about 1,400 migrants last year, was transformed in August into a center "AnkER" – a mix of German words for arrival, decision and repatriation – and is home to newcomers who do not are not likely to benefit from asylum. can be treated and expelled more quickly.

But Grob blamed the AfD for capitalizing on fears rather than facts. Even though crime has increased by 11% in Ingolstadt, "the reality is that our crime rate has not been as low in 20 years," Grob told NPR. "On the other hand, refugees are proportionally overrepresented in crime statistics."

It is easy to explain, he said: most asylum seekers are young men and, as a demographic group, they are more likely than anyone to know their racial origin to commit crimes. Grob said that many crimes committed by asylum seekers occur at the transit center. He added that the reaction of German voters against CSU and other traditional parties is much more than asylum seekers or AfD. He called it "German anguish".

"People are afraid of the decline of society," said Grob. "We are doing very well here, we feel so good that many people think that it can not get better and that in fact it will go down and maybe faster."

A scandal over diesel emission tests and other problems at Audi have exacerbated these concerns, he said. The same goes for rents skyrocketing in the city. Older residents also have pension problems that are not up to the rising cost of living in Ingolstadt.

Another reason AFD is doing well in Ingolstadt is that it is not a university town, said Luzia Grasser, editor-in-chief of the daily newspaper Ingolstadt. Augsburger Allgemeine. "Ingolstadt has a relatively conservative voter class, so Protestant voters can not vote in the middle of the left" compared to what is happening in the rest of Germany, where the Green Party respectful of the environment, left, climbed to second place poll opinion.

Much of the support for AfD in Ingolstadt comes from a large community of German-born Russians who, after the fall of communism, immigrated to the region in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Candidates here have said that these immigrants were less likely to vote in Ingolstadt in the past, but now worry about their jobs, unemployment benefits and pensions being swallowed up by new immigrants – fears that the AfD s & # 39; He is seized.

The far right party has placed billboards around Ingolstadt, warning many Muslim hordes depriving Bavaria of its Christian identity, pensions and benefits and promoting insecurity. One of these billboards shows a white woman looking behind her in fear of two hooded men, and urging voters to vote for AfD to "protect our women and children", which is in front of a grocery store frequented by the many German Russians in the neighborhood. working-class district of Piusviertel.

The neighborhood, with its residential buildings, pristine parks and playgrounds, is home to many immigrants from Turkey and the Middle East of Ingolstadt, who report more harassment and abuse – especially women wearing headscarves. – since AfD began to campaign here. The community center offers a wide range of programs to help residents find jobs, integrate into German society, culture and language. Yeser Saygili, one of the volunteers, immigrated from Turkey to Ingolstadt a quarter of a century ago and is fluent in German.

"I'm helping a lot of immigrant women looking for a job." An office looking for a housekeeper recently asked me if the applicant was wearing a headscarf, "he said. Saygili. "I was like" Hello, how far have we regressed? "In the end, she did not get the job."

Saygili fears a victory of the far right in Bavaria Sunday will only make things more difficult for the Muslims in Ingolstadt. Political observers believe that this could also lead to a reshuffle or a deterioration of Ms Merkel's cabinet, her Minister of the Interior, Horst Seehofer, being the co-leader of the CSU party and would feel obliged to resign as a result of A bad election result.