ERFURT, Germany 鈥� Amid the throng and bustle of Saturday shoppers in the cathedral city of Erfurt, a group of women in their 70s has gathered on a medieval market square, holding signs that read 鈥� Grandmas against the far-right.
They are part of a nationwide movement of tens of thousands of retired women who鈥檝e had it with hatred, especially in the former East German state of Thuringia, where the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is ahead of state elections on Sunday.
With many German voters stuck in algorithm-driven echo chambers, these senior women have taken to the streets to reach out to AfD supporters 鈥� rather than simply protest against them 鈥� in a bid to reconnect, revive debate and maybe even change minds. So far, though, their efforts are an uphill battle.
Among them is 76-year-old Gabriele W枚lke-Rebhan, who cofounded out of sheer worry. She points out that this region is in 1930, in the Thuringian state government, before seizing power nationally in 1933.
Now it鈥檚 where 鈥� considered the AfD鈥檚 most extreme figure 鈥� is running to become the next state governor.
鈥淗itler happened because people stood by in silence,鈥� W枚lke-Rebhan warns. 鈥淚f I stay silent now, I鈥檓 no better than my parents were in the 1930s.鈥�
W枚lke-Rebhan says she鈥檚 not just here to speak up, but to listen as well. She wants to understand why nearly , even though Germany鈥檚 domestic intelligence agency tasked with protecting the constitution considers the party 鈥渆xtreme鈥� and has placed it under surveillance. (In the last state elections five years ago, the AfD came third, behind former Chancellor Angela Merkel鈥檚 Christian Democratic Union and Die Linke, the socialist party that is a successor to former East Germany鈥檚 Marxist-Leninist ruling party).
Yet few AfD supporters are interested in discussing their voting behavior with her. Not everybody is willing to stop and chat. 鈥淭he far-right ridicule us and think we鈥檙e just 鈥榮illy old women,鈥欌€� W枚lke-Rebhan says. 鈥淲hat they don鈥檛 seem to understand is that women become unflappable with age. It鈥檚 a mistake to underestimate us.鈥�
W枚lke-Rebhan says the invisibility that tends to come with age has actually worked in their favor. Nobody expects respectable grannies to speak up, she says, so when they do, some are surprised enough to listen. At least for a while.
One of the grandmas is talking to a well-dressed man in his 70s. After a couple of minutes, he loses his temper and walks off, cursing at her. A couple of onlookers raise their eyebrows but don鈥檛 seem shocked by the outburst.
W枚lke-Rebhan takes a deep breath and says she and her fellow grandmothers refuse to write anyone off as 别谤产盲谤尘濒颈肠丑 鈥� 鈥渄eplorable鈥� 鈥� even if it鈥檚 tough at times.
鈥淲e get a lot of encouragement from passersby, but we also get a lot of abuse,鈥� W枚lke-Rebhan says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 men of my generation who are the worst. They can be really below the belt. And they鈥檙e retirees, many of them living pretty comfortable lives.鈥�
At the nearby farmers market, 79-year-old Rudi 鈥� who says he doesn鈥檛 trust the press enough to give his full name but is eager to talk 鈥� is doing his weekly shopping, picking through organic summer produce.
The retired engineer avoids the grandmas. He says no amount of chatting will change his mind.
鈥淚鈥檓 voting AfD. It鈥檚 the only party that cares about us, the people who鈥檝e always lived here,鈥� Rudi says. 鈥淩ight now, the immigrants rule. They come first. They鈥檙e treated better by the state than most Germans."
Support for the AfD has grown steadily since 2016, when Germany took in more than 1 million refugees, primarily from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq. Initially, pictures of happy Germans welcoming refugees at train stations went viral but a backlash came as cities and local communities struggled to accommodate the new arrivals. The AfD has capitalized on this in the former East Germany, which, historically, has experienced less immigration than the former West Germany.
The party鈥檚 anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim rhetoric stokes fear in voters that newcomers are after their houses, jobs and daughters. This has only intensified since 2022, when more than a million Ukrainian refugees came to Germany. The AfD 鈥� which is against sending weapons to Kyiv and wants Germany to return to using Russian gas, which it stopped doing after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine 鈥� exploits the historic affinity with Russia in formerly Communist East Germany.
Following last weekend, the AfD is expected to do even better in Sunday鈥檚 elections. The suspect is a 26-year-old Syrian man who turned himself in to authorities. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the knife attack, which killed three people. German authorities failed to deport the man last year after his asylum application was rejected.
Rudi insists that AfD voters are given a bad rap. 鈥淚鈥檝e read what the mainstream media writes about us,鈥� he says, referring to coverage of . 鈥淚t鈥檚 all lies. I鈥檝e stopped reading it.鈥�
He says he now gets his news from Telegram and YouTube.
Rudi is exactly the kind of voter , a reporter for Der Spiegel, is trying to reach. His publication, Germany鈥檚 biggest news weekly, is one of the news sources Rudi now avoids.
R枚hlig grew up in this region, shortly after German reunification in 1990. Now he writes about it, asking the questions he feels a journalist from western Germany couldn鈥檛 without seeming condescending. His articles focus on how many in the region feel left behind and never really adjusted to life in reunified Germany, and how those too young to remember Communist East Germany have almost inherited a feeling of resentment.
He says not all AfD voters have stopped reading his articles. 鈥淚 used to receive anonymous threats, but with the rise of the far-right, people have become more brazen and now send me hate mail from their work addresses, cell number included,鈥� R枚hlig says. 鈥淪o I鈥檝e started calling them back!鈥�
R枚hlig says this takes his hate-mailers by surprise. 鈥淐onfronting people takes the sting out of their hatred,鈥� he says. 鈥淢ost of the time, we find a way to talk to each other in a civil manner 鈥� and often end up chatting about personal issues and everyday worries.鈥�
But R枚hlig says it doesn鈥檛 always work and when he鈥檚 out reporting in the former East Germany 鈥� where his family still lives 鈥� he hears again and again the notion that Germany is not a democracy.
Gabriele W枚lke-Rebhan, a grandma against the far-right who was in her 50s when East Germany ceased to exist, says she too is astonished when people her own age tell her that today鈥檚 Germany is a dictatorship. She laments that they鈥檙e simply repeating what the AfD claims, and questions whether they鈥檝e forgotten what it was like in East Germany with the Stasi 鈥� the intrusive, oppressive secret police 鈥� and without democratic elections.
鈥淲hen somebody complains they鈥檙e not free to say what they want, I ask them if they remember what it was like here before the Berlin Wall came down,鈥� W枚lke-Rebhan says. 鈥淚f you鈥檇 railed against the party on the town square in those days, you鈥檇 have ended up in 鈥� the local Stasi prison.鈥�
She says this is why she takes to the streets every other weekend in an attempt to engage with passersby. She believes that many are simply lost in their digital silos dominated by hatred.
As she speaks, a passerby spouts abuse at the Grandmas, calling them 蝉肠丑别耻脽濒颈肠丑 鈥� hideous.
This time, barely an onlooker bats an eyelid. W枚lke-Rebhan says Erfurt, her native city, has become more and more aggressive and people are used to it. She blames the AfD鈥檚 fear-mongering for the increased hatred, adding that it has become almost acceptable to mouth off in public the way many do online.
A by the Berlin Social Science Center surveying more than 5,000 Germans between 2019 and 2021 found that 鈥減eople who support the AfD are less satisfied with their personal and financial situation than supporters of other parties ... By contrast, those who turn away from the party feel an improvement in their well-being.鈥� The researchers blame the AfD鈥檚 鈥渘egative rhetoric,鈥� saying, 鈥淭hose who turn to the party are more exposed to this negativity, and that is detrimental to their well-being.鈥�
This can鈥檛 be said of W枚lke-Rebhan and the other grannies, who, despite their worries, seem pretty happy with democracy. In this part of the country, they remember all too well what it was like to live without it.
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