The GDR exists in different political culture although young people have never heard of it. Not surprising really, apparently people are still healthier and happier on the Roman side of the Limes.
Maps shape how people think about politics, and the problem with maps that exaggerate differences is that they simplify narratives. Instead of a historical legacy exerting a visible but diffuse effect, it appears to be exerting a powerful and all-determining one.
We see the same problem after every Polish election, where clashing blue and orange is used to show how the legacy of Partition somehow still *determines* Polish politics, rather than being one among many influences on it.
None of them ever seem to know where Wrocław or Mazury were before 1945, so they end up arguing that just being around German architecture magically makes people nice liberals
And what then follows from that is the broadly internalised notion that those Eastern primitives vote for the nasty party, while enlightened Westerners vote for the nice ones. By exaggerating differences, those stereotypes then start to take force. The Mauer in Kopf becomes one we build.
This is not to say that the past doesn’t exert effects. Clearly it does. How could it not? But the simpler a map of this kind gets, the more it stands to contribute to stereotyping and mistrust on both sides, rather than usefully depict reality.
It may also contribute to complacency by creating the impression of a regional “ringfencing” of support. When PiS returned to power in 2015 many observers seemed shocked that the party had been able to make substantial inroads into PO “bastions”. This reflected a narrative of “Poland A versus
Poland B” that had flourished since the last time PiS won a parliamentary election in 2005. Colour-coded maps reinforced this sense of bifurcation, leading to a conviction in some parts of the commentariat that “well, those hayseed primitives in the east and south-east may give PiS its 25%, but at
Yes, shows some variations within the old BRD, but also downplays the east problem by capping at 25%. It's almost everywhere way worse, and worse than almost everywhere in the west.
AFD is very strong in the East. More worrying are the attacks from Russians on industrial leaders. Putin needs to be stopped and all of Europe needs to step up. Now.
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https://bsky.app/profile/campact.bsky.social/post/3lj3k6nyd5k2k
https://www.bundeswahlleiterin.de/bundestagswahlen/2025/ergebnisse/wahlatlas.html#(wahlatlas-4f511b16-bb62-403b-860c-68eb306c5540/thema_WAHLBETEILIGUNG_/haeufigkeiten/bundeslaender/bund-99)
(you can select different views using the triple stacked logo and switch between state / electoral circle views on the right side)
https://bsky.app/profile/historyned.bsky.social/post/3liye7fslrk24
AfD, like all the far right parties, is capitalising on the economic discontent that inequality creates.
https://www.sueddeutsche.de/projekte/artikel/politik/bundestagswahl-2025-ergebnis-analyse-daten-e044415/