L | A (Translated with DeepL)
By Thomas Jansen
There are many Catholics in Eichsfeld - and the AfD cannot get past the CDU here. Could one have something to do with the other?
The map of the districts in Thuringia was almost completely blue after the European elections: the AfD had won in 16 districts. There was only one deep black spot: Eichsfeld. Here in the north-west of the state, on the former inner-German border, the CDU won with a whopping 40.4%. It had otherwise only achieved this in the cities of Jena, Weimar and Erfurt, albeit with much worse results.
The AfD is not a splinter party in Eichsfeld either; it received 26.9% of the vote in the European elections, four percentage points less than in Thuringia as a whole. But the same applies to all elections in this district: The AfD cannot get past the CDU.
Anyone wondering why the AfD has a harder time here than in other regions in eastern Germany will soon come across another peculiarity: Eichsfeld is the only district in Thuringia where Catholics are in the majority, making up more than 65% of the population. This raises the suspicion that one might have something to do with the other.
Are Catholics loyal to the church more resistant to the AfD and still a safe bet for the CDU/CSU parties? Does a firmly established Catholic world view make them immune to political extremism and ethnic nationalism?
Gregor Arndt is cautious. He would not readily subscribe to the idea that the election results are directly linked to the faith of the people of Eichsfeld. When the priest of St. Mary Magdalene in Leinefelde-Worbis talks about Eichsfeld, he doesn't start by talking about steadfastness in the face of political extremes, the Christian image of man or Catholic doctrine.
He talks about family, solidarity and fairs - and it almost sounds like he's talking about Italy: “Even for young people here, family doesn't mean father-mother-child. It also includes grandma and grandpa, uncles and aunts. The godparents also play a special role,” says Arndt. “Young people tell me here: 'I'm going to the funfair on Friday, but first I'm going to visit grandma'. That goes without saying. And of course, this family cohesion was decisively shaped by the church.”
In Leinefelde, the fair is a day that people look forward to. On the feast of St. Mary Magdalene in July, people come together between bumper cars, carousels and bratwurst stands. A third of the bridal couples who come to him met at a funfair, says Arndt. “Kirmesburschen clubs” play a major role, as does club life in general, voluntary fire departments and church choirs. Arndt's parish has around 8,000 Catholics and five church choirs alone.
The life of Eichsfeld's people is also still strongly influenced by Catholic tradition, as a married couple from the parish, both around fifty years old, who Arndt invited to his rectory for a chat, reports. “Community life is synchronized by the church holidays,” says the woman. “That doesn't mean that everyone necessarily goes to church. But at Easter, for example, we wash the windows and clean the street. And you meet the neighbors and get talking.”
Pastor Arndt would not stand in the pulpit and tell the faithful that a Christian cannot vote for the AfD. “I find it difficult to incorporate that into a sermon. But I'm glad that the bishops have taken a clear stance. It had to be said,” says the priest. Arndt neither read out nor displayed the declaration of the German Bishops' Conference entitled “Nationalism and Christianity are incompatible” from February of this year. In it, the Catholic bishops explicitly stated for the first time that the AfD was not electable for Christians.
The couple in the vicarage think the bishops are right. The husband says: “In principle, the Christian view of humanity and the commandment ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ are incompatible with the poor treatment of people of other origins.” But in everyday life, people try to avoid open conflict, even in the church.
His wife agrees with him: “In GDR times, my mother always said before family celebrations: 'We don't talk about illnesses and certainly not about politics', because there was an uncle who was an SED man. It's the same today with the AfD, even in the parish, without it being said openly.”
Anyone walking through Leinefelde-Worbis quickly realizes that Eichsfeld is not only more Catholic than other districts. There are plenty of stores, doctors' surgeries and children in the small town, and even the prefabricated buildings look like they've been wiped over with a feather duster. “The problems that make the AfD big don't exist here,” says the man in the vicarage. “The issue of migrants doesn't play a big role here and people are doing well.”
Are Catholics perhaps happier people? The woman wouldn't go that far, but she says: “The sermon at church on Sundays helps us. When you go out with an optimistic feeling. You have everyday problems, and then the sermon, the gospel, the songs, and you leave the service with a strengthened trust in God.” Perhaps there is more of that in Eichsfeld than elsewhere. And if you have a feeling like that, then you can't see the world so badly.
12.6 percent of all Catholics in Eichsfeld attend a church service on Sundays on average. According to statistics from the German Bishops' Conference, that is almost twice as many as the average for all dioceses. Other priests would envy Marcellus Klaus for such figures, who bears the title of “Episcopal Spiritual Commissary for the Eichsfeld”, an antiquated title even by Catholic standards.
This makes him the person responsible for this region in the diocese of Erfurt, based in Heiligenstadt, the center of the Eichsfeld. However, he takes a sober view of the well-attended church services: the numbers in Eichsfeld have also plummeted since the coronavirus pandemic, which has shocked him.
Leinefelde Worbis Eichsfeld, a view of Bahnhofstraße and the church
Klaus is unable to say how many AfD voters there are among Catholics in Eichsfeld: “Nobody says that they vote for the AfD, you can only assume it based on certain statements.” But he does not expect there to be significantly fewer Catholics among AfD voters. The issue has not yet become virulent. “I'm glad that we don't have such discussions on the church council,” he says. “After the bishops' declaration of incompatibility, the number of people leaving the church increased, not significantly, but it was noticeable.”
Even pollsters have no reliable findings on the voting behavior of Catholics in Eichsfeld. For Germany as a whole, the Election Research Group found that practicing Catholics are significantly less likely to vote for the AfD. According to the post-election survey, nine percent of Catholics who go to church every Sunday voted for the AfD; overall, the party received 15.9 percent. The Union parties received 64% of this group of voters. In contrast, the pollsters found almost no difference in the state election in Hesse in October 2023.
Andrea Wolf from Forschungsgruppe Wahlen nevertheless says: “In general, Catholics in the East, but also in the West, vote more heavily for the CDU than the average, while the AfD, BSW and Die Linke receive fewer votes than the average.” The denomination plays less of a role than it used to, says Wolf. “Nevertheless, it is still the case that there is a Christian set of values that links Catholics more strongly with the CDU/CSU parties; this also applies to Protestants, but to a lesser extent.”
However, Catholic churchgoers only make up two percent of voters across Germany and are not particularly significant.
Things are different in Eichsfeld: Marion Frant owes her office to Catholic voters. The CDU politician and Catholic has been District Administrator of Eichsfeld since July and has her workplace in the former residence of the governors of the Mainz bishops in Heiligenstadt.
Anyone who asks Frant whether her district is particularly Catholic will hear the following story: During the election campaign, someone wanted to visit a company with her on a Sunday. She said that this was not possible because people here go to church on Sundays, and the appointment was postponed. It's not like it used to be, says Frant, there are also people leaving the church in Eichsfeld. But the people here are already “a bit proud of the Eichsfeld and their Catholic faith and also know that they are connected”.
Frant doesn't think much of the theory that Catholics are more resistant to the AfD than others: “I suspect that there are just as many Catholics in the AfD in relative terms.”
However, Catholics do make a difference in terms of political culture. “When there were demonstrations against right-wing extremism across Germany, we also demonstrated in Heiligenstadt, but there was always an ecumenical service beforehand,” she explains. ”The older people were in the church, the younger people waited outside. So we took everyone with us, including the riotous element.” That was different from “when the Antifa demonstrated in Leipzig”.
The tone is set: Anti-AfD demonstration in the district town of Heilbad Heiligenstadt
There is no longer any widespread election campaign support for the CDU from Catholic priests, as was common in Eichsfeld, but also in Germany in the post-war period, says Frant. “But if you sit across from a priest at an eightieth birthday party, he'll give his opinion, which is very CDU-heavy.” The CDU is not more Catholic or more conservative here than the national average. What sets it apart is its regional roots.
The Eichsfeld district association has 1,300 members, making it by far the largest in Thuringia. The party still benefits today from the fact that many people from Eichsfeld joined the CDU during the GDR era because they did not want to become members of the SED, but at the same time wanted peace from the state. The SED even made an exception for the Eichsfeld region: it was possible to be a member of the CDU and the SED at the same time.
After all, the Catholics in Eichsfeld had always been a rebellious lot. This impressed Benedict XVI so much that he paid them a visit in September 2011. The German pope praised them for having defied “two godless dictatorships”.
In March 1933, when the National Socialists were already in power, the Catholic Center Party won an absolute majority in the Reichstag elections here. In the only halfway free election in the Soviet-occupied zone in 1946, the CDU received more than sixty percent of the vote and the SED achieved one of its worst results. After reunification, the CDU was able to seamlessly build on this with results of more than sixty percent.
“Under the rule of the Protestant Prussians and the pressure of two dictatorships, the Catholic milieu developed particularly strongly here,” explains historian Christian Stöber, who runs the Grenzlandmuseum Schifflersgrund. “Eichsfeld is often compared to the Gallic village of Asterix and Obelix, and there is a lot to be said for that.” However, this should not be misunderstood as rebelliousness, says Stöber: “It's more of a silent resistance, a massive attitude of refusal.”
The Catholic enclave was created through the vicissitudes of medieval politics: Eichsfeld belonged to the secular dominion of the bishops of Mainz until 1802. And they ensured that the Eichsfeld soon became Catholic again after the Reformation - in contrast to the neighboring territories. Stöber is less pessimistic about the future of the Catholic milieu here than many church people. “Thirty years ago, the Catholic milieu was already being sung out, and it is still there, a little less than before, but still strong.”
The fact that Heiligenstadt is still more Catholic than other towns today cannot be overlooked. Where else does a photo of a Palm Sunday procession with altar servers, priests and a statue of Christ adorn the city buses that drive through the main shopping street? This is where the AfD and Catholics meet. Björn Höcke has his constituency office in the city - in the midst of a Catholic infrastructure with an almost Vatican-like density.
The church towers of St. Mary's and St. Aegidien rise up within a few hundred meters of the office of the leading candidate of the Thuringian AfD, as well as a Catholic vocational school, a Catholic grammar school, an educational building of the diocese of Erfurt, a statue of St. John Nepomuk and the religious headquarters of the Sisters of St. Mary Magdalene Postel.
The nuns make it unmistakably clear what they think of Höcke and the AfD: “Against extremism. Together at eye level. Living diversity. So that life succeeds,” reads a poster at the vocational school they run.
The window of Höcke's office is decked out in AfD blue. Not far away, a different, darker blue dominates the scene this afternoon, a blue that has always stood for heaven and immaculacy: the cloak of the Blessed Mother. A small group has erected a knee-high statue of the Virgin Mary in front of a raised bed. The sound that has characterized the Eichsfeld region for centuries can be heard: “Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.” The Hail Mary.
Höcke, who wanted to “storm the Eichsfeld” ahead of the 2019 state elections, was clearly not entirely comfortable with this Catholic place. This March, he announced that he would no longer be standing in the Eichsfeld I constituency, where he is at home, but in Greiz II. His party is in a much better position here. In the 2019 state election, the AfD received 21% of the constituency vote in Eichsfeld, while the CDU received 49%.
When asked why the AfD is having such a hard time in Eichsfeld, the AfD in Heiligenstadt answered the F.A.S.: “In Eichsfeld, election results are generally not based on rational decisions, but on tradition. Because father, grandfather and so on have always voted CDU and people believe they are part of a close-knit community in church on Sundays, it stays that way.” Catholics in Eichsfeld are also counting on this. But the rest of Thuringia? They wouldn't put their hand in the holy water for that. One churchgoer says: “My trust in God no longer helps.”
By Thomas Jansen
There are many Catholics in Eichsfeld - and the AfD cannot get past the CDU here. Could one have something to do with the other?
The map of the districts in Thuringia was almost completely blue after the European elections: the AfD had won in 16 districts. There was only one deep black spot: Eichsfeld. Here in the north-west of the state, on the former inner-German border, the CDU won with a whopping 40.4%. It had otherwise only achieved this in the cities of Jena, Weimar and Erfurt, albeit with much worse results.
The AfD is not a splinter party in Eichsfeld either; it received 26.9% of the vote in the European elections, four percentage points less than in Thuringia as a whole. But the same applies to all elections in this district: The AfD cannot get past the CDU.
Anyone wondering why the AfD has a harder time here than in other regions in eastern Germany will soon come across another peculiarity: Eichsfeld is the only district in Thuringia where Catholics are in the majority, making up more than 65% of the population. This raises the suspicion that one might have something to do with the other.
Are Catholics loyal to the church more resistant to the AfD and still a safe bet for the CDU/CSU parties? Does a firmly established Catholic world view make them immune to political extremism and ethnic nationalism?
Gregor Arndt is cautious. He would not readily subscribe to the idea that the election results are directly linked to the faith of the people of Eichsfeld. When the priest of St. Mary Magdalene in Leinefelde-Worbis talks about Eichsfeld, he doesn't start by talking about steadfastness in the face of political extremes, the Christian image of man or Catholic doctrine.
He talks about family, solidarity and fairs - and it almost sounds like he's talking about Italy: “Even for young people here, family doesn't mean father-mother-child. It also includes grandma and grandpa, uncles and aunts. The godparents also play a special role,” says Arndt. “Young people tell me here: 'I'm going to the funfair on Friday, but first I'm going to visit grandma'. That goes without saying. And of course, this family cohesion was decisively shaped by the church.”
Life here is characterized by tradition
In Leinefelde, the fair is a day that people look forward to. On the feast of St. Mary Magdalene in July, people come together between bumper cars, carousels and bratwurst stands. A third of the bridal couples who come to him met at a funfair, says Arndt. “Kirmesburschen clubs” play a major role, as does club life in general, voluntary fire departments and church choirs. Arndt's parish has around 8,000 Catholics and five church choirs alone.
The life of Eichsfeld's people is also still strongly influenced by Catholic tradition, as a married couple from the parish, both around fifty years old, who Arndt invited to his rectory for a chat, reports. “Community life is synchronized by the church holidays,” says the woman. “That doesn't mean that everyone necessarily goes to church. But at Easter, for example, we wash the windows and clean the street. And you meet the neighbors and get talking.”
Pastor Arndt would not stand in the pulpit and tell the faithful that a Christian cannot vote for the AfD. “I find it difficult to incorporate that into a sermon. But I'm glad that the bishops have taken a clear stance. It had to be said,” says the priest. Arndt neither read out nor displayed the declaration of the German Bishops' Conference entitled “Nationalism and Christianity are incompatible” from February of this year. In it, the Catholic bishops explicitly stated for the first time that the AfD was not electable for Christians.
The couple in the vicarage think the bishops are right. The husband says: “In principle, the Christian view of humanity and the commandment ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ are incompatible with the poor treatment of people of other origins.” But in everyday life, people try to avoid open conflict, even in the church.
His wife agrees with him: “In GDR times, my mother always said before family celebrations: 'We don't talk about illnesses and certainly not about politics', because there was an uncle who was an SED man. It's the same today with the AfD, even in the parish, without it being said openly.”
Anyone walking through Leinefelde-Worbis quickly realizes that Eichsfeld is not only more Catholic than other districts. There are plenty of stores, doctors' surgeries and children in the small town, and even the prefabricated buildings look like they've been wiped over with a feather duster. “The problems that make the AfD big don't exist here,” says the man in the vicarage. “The issue of migrants doesn't play a big role here and people are doing well.”
Are Catholics perhaps happier people? The woman wouldn't go that far, but she says: “The sermon at church on Sundays helps us. When you go out with an optimistic feeling. You have everyday problems, and then the sermon, the gospel, the songs, and you leave the service with a strengthened trust in God.” Perhaps there is more of that in Eichsfeld than elsewhere. And if you have a feeling like that, then you can't see the world so badly.
The churches in Eichsfeld are well attended
12.6 percent of all Catholics in Eichsfeld attend a church service on Sundays on average. According to statistics from the German Bishops' Conference, that is almost twice as many as the average for all dioceses. Other priests would envy Marcellus Klaus for such figures, who bears the title of “Episcopal Spiritual Commissary for the Eichsfeld”, an antiquated title even by Catholic standards.
This makes him the person responsible for this region in the diocese of Erfurt, based in Heiligenstadt, the center of the Eichsfeld. However, he takes a sober view of the well-attended church services: the numbers in Eichsfeld have also plummeted since the coronavirus pandemic, which has shocked him.
Leinefelde Worbis Eichsfeld, a view of Bahnhofstraße and the church
Klaus is unable to say how many AfD voters there are among Catholics in Eichsfeld: “Nobody says that they vote for the AfD, you can only assume it based on certain statements.” But he does not expect there to be significantly fewer Catholics among AfD voters. The issue has not yet become virulent. “I'm glad that we don't have such discussions on the church council,” he says. “After the bishops' declaration of incompatibility, the number of people leaving the church increased, not significantly, but it was noticeable.”
Even pollsters have no reliable findings on the voting behavior of Catholics in Eichsfeld. For Germany as a whole, the Election Research Group found that practicing Catholics are significantly less likely to vote for the AfD. According to the post-election survey, nine percent of Catholics who go to church every Sunday voted for the AfD; overall, the party received 15.9 percent. The Union parties received 64% of this group of voters. In contrast, the pollsters found almost no difference in the state election in Hesse in October 2023.
Catholics are more likely to vote for the CDU
Andrea Wolf from Forschungsgruppe Wahlen nevertheless says: “In general, Catholics in the East, but also in the West, vote more heavily for the CDU than the average, while the AfD, BSW and Die Linke receive fewer votes than the average.” The denomination plays less of a role than it used to, says Wolf. “Nevertheless, it is still the case that there is a Christian set of values that links Catholics more strongly with the CDU/CSU parties; this also applies to Protestants, but to a lesser extent.”
However, Catholic churchgoers only make up two percent of voters across Germany and are not particularly significant.
Things are different in Eichsfeld: Marion Frant owes her office to Catholic voters. The CDU politician and Catholic has been District Administrator of Eichsfeld since July and has her workplace in the former residence of the governors of the Mainz bishops in Heiligenstadt.
Anyone who asks Frant whether her district is particularly Catholic will hear the following story: During the election campaign, someone wanted to visit a company with her on a Sunday. She said that this was not possible because people here go to church on Sundays, and the appointment was postponed. It's not like it used to be, says Frant, there are also people leaving the church in Eichsfeld. But the people here are already “a bit proud of the Eichsfeld and their Catholic faith and also know that they are connected”.
Frant doesn't think much of the theory that Catholics are more resistant to the AfD than others: “I suspect that there are just as many Catholics in the AfD in relative terms.”
However, Catholics do make a difference in terms of political culture. “When there were demonstrations against right-wing extremism across Germany, we also demonstrated in Heiligenstadt, but there was always an ecumenical service beforehand,” she explains. ”The older people were in the church, the younger people waited outside. So we took everyone with us, including the riotous element.” That was different from “when the Antifa demonstrated in Leipzig”.
The tone is set: Anti-AfD demonstration in the district town of Heilbad Heiligenstadt
There is no longer any widespread election campaign support for the CDU from Catholic priests, as was common in Eichsfeld, but also in Germany in the post-war period, says Frant. “But if you sit across from a priest at an eightieth birthday party, he'll give his opinion, which is very CDU-heavy.” The CDU is not more Catholic or more conservative here than the national average. What sets it apart is its regional roots.
The Eichsfeld district association has 1,300 members, making it by far the largest in Thuringia. The party still benefits today from the fact that many people from Eichsfeld joined the CDU during the GDR era because they did not want to become members of the SED, but at the same time wanted peace from the state. The SED even made an exception for the Eichsfeld region: it was possible to be a member of the CDU and the SED at the same time.
After all, the Catholics in Eichsfeld had always been a rebellious lot. This impressed Benedict XVI so much that he paid them a visit in September 2011. The German pope praised them for having defied “two godless dictatorships”.
In March 1933, when the National Socialists were already in power, the Catholic Center Party won an absolute majority in the Reichstag elections here. In the only halfway free election in the Soviet-occupied zone in 1946, the CDU received more than sixty percent of the vote and the SED achieved one of its worst results. After reunification, the CDU was able to seamlessly build on this with results of more than sixty percent.
“Under the rule of the Protestant Prussians and the pressure of two dictatorships, the Catholic milieu developed particularly strongly here,” explains historian Christian Stöber, who runs the Grenzlandmuseum Schifflersgrund. “Eichsfeld is often compared to the Gallic village of Asterix and Obelix, and there is a lot to be said for that.” However, this should not be misunderstood as rebelliousness, says Stöber: “It's more of a silent resistance, a massive attitude of refusal.”
Catholicism meets the AfD in the city center
The Catholic enclave was created through the vicissitudes of medieval politics: Eichsfeld belonged to the secular dominion of the bishops of Mainz until 1802. And they ensured that the Eichsfeld soon became Catholic again after the Reformation - in contrast to the neighboring territories. Stöber is less pessimistic about the future of the Catholic milieu here than many church people. “Thirty years ago, the Catholic milieu was already being sung out, and it is still there, a little less than before, but still strong.”
The fact that Heiligenstadt is still more Catholic than other towns today cannot be overlooked. Where else does a photo of a Palm Sunday procession with altar servers, priests and a statue of Christ adorn the city buses that drive through the main shopping street? This is where the AfD and Catholics meet. Björn Höcke has his constituency office in the city - in the midst of a Catholic infrastructure with an almost Vatican-like density.
The church towers of St. Mary's and St. Aegidien rise up within a few hundred meters of the office of the leading candidate of the Thuringian AfD, as well as a Catholic vocational school, a Catholic grammar school, an educational building of the diocese of Erfurt, a statue of St. John Nepomuk and the religious headquarters of the Sisters of St. Mary Magdalene Postel.
The nuns make it unmistakably clear what they think of Höcke and the AfD: “Against extremism. Together at eye level. Living diversity. So that life succeeds,” reads a poster at the vocational school they run.
The window of Höcke's office is decked out in AfD blue. Not far away, a different, darker blue dominates the scene this afternoon, a blue that has always stood for heaven and immaculacy: the cloak of the Blessed Mother. A small group has erected a knee-high statue of the Virgin Mary in front of a raised bed. The sound that has characterized the Eichsfeld region for centuries can be heard: “Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.” The Hail Mary.
Höcke, who wanted to “storm the Eichsfeld” ahead of the 2019 state elections, was clearly not entirely comfortable with this Catholic place. This March, he announced that he would no longer be standing in the Eichsfeld I constituency, where he is at home, but in Greiz II. His party is in a much better position here. In the 2019 state election, the AfD received 21% of the constituency vote in Eichsfeld, while the CDU received 49%.
When asked why the AfD is having such a hard time in Eichsfeld, the AfD in Heiligenstadt answered the F.A.S.: “In Eichsfeld, election results are generally not based on rational decisions, but on tradition. Because father, grandfather and so on have always voted CDU and people believe they are part of a close-knit community in church on Sundays, it stays that way.” Catholics in Eichsfeld are also counting on this. But the rest of Thuringia? They wouldn't put their hand in the holy water for that. One churchgoer says: “My trust in God no longer helps.”
