For years, it has always been the case that Germany’s populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party does very well in elections in the eastern regions of the country. One town in the west, however, proves that the party can make gains in this region as well.
Pforzheim, which is in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwestern Germany, is a small city of approximately 130,000 inhabitants. In last year’s European parliamentary elections, the AfD won 23.3 percent of the votes, which was higher than anywhere else in western Germany. And in the town’s local elections last year, it won nine seats on the city council – more than any other party.
It is perhaps not coincidental that the proportion of foreigners living in Pforzheim is 31.2 percent, which is more than double the national average of 15.2 percent.
26-year-old Diana Zimmer is the leader of the AfD’s parliamentary group on Pforzheim’s municipal council. She hopes to be elected to the Bundestag in the national elections on February 23.
— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) February 10, 2025
Young German woman explains why voters are turning to the AfD
"I’m afraid to travel by train, afraid to go into town, afraid to do anything in public. And they talk about people being afraid of the AfD. The AfD has done nothing to anyone, unlike other people." pic.twitter.com/hYlQVKXb1Q
While frustration with the problems stemming from mass immigration are fueling the rise in the AfD’s popularity across Germany, Zimmer, who is the daughter of ethnic Germans from Russia, has made it clear that neither she nor the party she represents has a problem with immigrants in general.
“Without migrants and guest workers, Germany would not be what it is today,” Zimmer recently told the news outlet Die Welt. She emphasized that the problems in Germany are the result of illegal migration, not immigration in general. She believes the AfD’s position on this is often misunderstood.
Zimmer also said that Pforzheim has not seen much improvement in recent years under the leadership of Mayor Peter Boch, who belongs to the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), currently the second-largest party in the Bundestag. She emphasized that real change in the municipality is coming from the AfD, such as when her party made it possible for a reduction in sales tax to be enacted.
Leon Mayer, a local politician for the Greens, told Die Welt that the AfD’s success in the area may also be attributable to its clever election campaigning. He pointed out that the AfD concentrated its advertising in areas where pedestrians walk, whereas the other parties mainly campaigned in the market, which is frequented by people whom Meyer believes already know who they are voting for. The pedestrian area, however, sees traffic from a cross-section of society.
Another reason for the AfD’s success in Pforzheim may be the city’s high rate of unemployment. Nicknamed the “Golden City” due to its long tradition of jewelry and watchmaking since the eighteenth century, the city remains Germany’s center for these industries. But the number of workers has dropped sharply. While at its peak 37,000 workers were employed in these fields in Pforzheim, today that number is only 3,000. The city’s unemployment rate is today the second-highest in Baden-Württemberg.
Pforzheim’s suburb of Haidach is also notable for being home to a large number of ethnic German immigrants from Eastern Europe. Over 40 percent of voters in Haidach voted for the AfD in last year’s European elections. Zimmer, who is herself the daughter of such immigrants, believes that this unique heritage may be ideal given current tensions between East and West in Europe.
“We are the only group of Germans who have a relationship with both the West and the East on the world stage,” she said, saying that this puts them in a position to act as “brokers” in Europe’s current conflicts.
The AfD will surely be looking to Pforzheim for lessons in how to win over western Germany in the final days of its campaign for next week’s national elections.
