In the interview, Kühnert talks about dissatisfaction in East Germany and says: For historical reasons, Thuringia lacks the revenue that makes Bavaria rich.
Erfurt – Away from the sparkling clean motorway, it sometimes looks like it used to. Houses stand on winding country roads that are still as grey-brown as they were before the fall of the Wall. The towns are called Großebersdorf, Kleinbocka or Lederhose. And at the intersections you see homemade signs with inscriptions like this: “We were promised blooming landscapes. And that without a bypass road?”
Before the Thuringia election: Kevin Kühnert hikes through forests
When you talk to people who live in villages in Thuringia, you often hear the word “disappointed”. They say they had hoped for more from reunification. Some people blame past and present politics for everyday worries and problems that only have a limited connection to reunification – such as the lack of a bypass road.
One person who is now involved in politics is Kevin Kühnert. The SPD general secretary has been in the Bundestag since 2021 and is on a summer tour ahead of the Thuringia election: hiking with citizens in the forest, through former uranium mining areas, in the national park. People also tell him what bothers them: still lower pensions than in the West, lower wages. And Kühnert listens carefully, arguing that there are improvements, tens of thousands of people in Thuringia are benefiting from the minimum wage alone. And the pension equalization is also coming faster than expected.
Many are deeply disappointed ahead of the Thuringia election
His counterparts don’t seem to be that convinced. Can he explain the disappointment of the people before the Thuringia election? “I was born four months before the fall of the Berlin Wall and I can’t give an authentic account of what it was like back then,” says Kevin Kühnert in an interview. “What I do know is that there was of course great euphoria and a desire for rapid alignment. But looking back, not everything went perfectly.”
The SPD politician believes that it is about injustices that cannot simply be eliminated: “Federal states such as Thuringia, Saxony and Brandenburg started out after 1990 with practically no assets, compared to the western German states, where many people were able to accumulate wealth. This is still the case today.” People notice this in their everyday lives. “Keyword: heating law, that involves major investments.”
The state budgets also started the reunification with different conditions than those of the old federal states. “An important issue: inheritance tax revenue,” says Kühnert. “For Bavaria, the tax is a major source of income. Here in Thuringia, however, this is lacking. Due to history, there are hardly any large inheritances. This leads to a backlog of investments.”
AfD voter: “My goal is for you to finally leave”
In fact, since 1990, over 1.6 trillion euros in public money have been transferred to the eastern German states: there were new motorways, money for new economic sectors, and badly run-down inner cities were extensively renovated – today many of the picturesque old towns look like postcard images from holiday paradises. Most people here recognize that. But it was not uncommon for huge sums to flow into flagship projects controlled by western companies, which quickly fizzled out. To this day, many communities are dependent on cash injections.
For some, disappointment has built up – so much so that they are voting for the AfD in the Thuringia election out of protest. The party with its top candidate Björn Höcke is at 30 percent in polls. “I once AfD-voter what she thought would change if the AfD were to govern,” says Kühnert. The woman replied: “I don’t care, my goal is for you to finally be gone.”
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