Since the meeting between AfD officials and right-wing extremists, the political mood in Germany has also spread abroad. For some foreign skilled workers, moving to the Federal Republic is no longer an option. This development is not just a concern for medium-sized companies.
German companies are desperately looking for skilled workers. However, increasing xenophobia makes it more difficult for them to recruit employees from abroad. Some companies are even having to let employees who moved here leave because of the harsher political climate.
“Two of our foreign employees left Germany because they said they no longer felt comfortable and safe here,” reports Detlef Neuhaus, head of the Solar company SolarWatt from Dresden. “These are direct consequences of the deteriorating mood here in the country. In both cases there were no concrete threats, but the atmosphere in the country simply heated up.”
At Chemnitz Chemical company CAC Engineering In the past twelve months, around five of the 40 foreign employees have resigned due to discrimination and xenophobia, reports managing director Jörg Engelmann. “We do what we can. But we can’t be bodyguards. There are parts of the population who don’t recognize that they are foreign skilled workers who want to make a real contribution in Germany.”
Also Karsten Schulze, managing director of the Chemnitz software provider FDTech, reports on the layoffs of foreign employees. “Yes, we have a problem with xenophobia here. But we don’t just have it here in Saxony, in Chemnitz, we have it all over Germany. And by the way, all over Europe too.”
At Community4You, another Chemnitz software company, some employees have moved to other parts of the republic. This also includes the boss responsible for day-to-day business, Lavinio Cerquetti. “In Chemnitz I sometimes had the feeling that the fact that I had to be careful was also due to the fact that I was a foreigner,” says the Italian. He now lives near Leipzig, which he considers to be more cosmopolitan.
Word of the shift to the right has already spread abroad, reports Deniz Ates, who runs the recruitment agency that specializes in IT staff Who Moves? directs. He was first asked about the political mood in Germany at an information event in India last year. For some of the participants, moving to the Federal Republic is no longer an option. “The most important factor when deciding whether to apply is: Do I feel safe? Do I feel welcome?”
Shift to the right in East Germany
Indian lawyer Romy Kumar has put on hold his planned move to Europe, even though he spends several months of the year there, because of growing xenophobia. “That reduces the willingness to take risks to jump on the next plane and build something there. That’s why I’m taking it slowly and trying to estimate where the journey is going.” According to a survey by the Organization for Economic Cooperation (OECD) from 2022 and 2023, Germany remains attractive for foreign skilled workers. However, many of the 30,000 respondents reported experiences of discrimination after moving.
According to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, the number of crimes with a xenophobic background more than tripled to a good 10,000 between 2013 and 2022. At the same time, due to demographic change, according to official estimates, companies will lack seven million skilled workers in 2035, with a total of 46 million employees.
The shift to the right is particularly noticeable in East Germany, where a large proportion of the younger population emigrated due to company closures after reunification in 1990. The population of Chemnitz, the former Karl Marx City, has since shrunk by around 20 percent to 250,000. At the same time, the proportion of foreigners has risen to 14 out of two percent, according to an evaluation by the local FOG Institute for Market and Social Research.
The main beneficiary of this mood is the AfD
Similar to other places, around 250 people meet in Chemnitz every week for demonstrations, at which nationalist songs were recently sung and Russian flags were waved. The 84-year-old Christine Willauer from Chemnitz complains that asylum seekers receive financial benefits that older people are withheld. “When I’m in the city, some days I have the feeling that not many people speak my native language anymore.”
The main political beneficiary of this mood is the Alternative for Germany (AfD), which is sometimes classified as right-wing extremist and is monitored by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution. It could become the strongest party in the upcoming state elections in three eastern German states. Leading members of the organization repeatedly spread racist conspiracy theories such as the “Great Exchange”, according to which political elites want to replace the white European population with non-white immigrants.
In January 2024, a report by the research network Correctiv about a meeting between AfD officials and right-wing extremists caused a stir. Among other things, the mass expulsion of immigrants was discussed. One of the speakers was Martin Sellner, who is classified as a right-wing extremist and has been propagating so-called remigration for years. Immigrants should be pushed to adapt, he says. This could include incentives for voluntary return. Germany should become more German again.
Top managers position themselves against the right
This development is now not only causing concern for smaller and medium-sized companies. Top managers of large corporations from Germany and the Netherlands are also increasingly positioning themselves against the right. They fear falling behind in the competition for foreign talent. However, the AfD does not fear economic damage from tightened isolation. The government is distracting attention from its home-made problems and using the AfD as a scapegoat, the party tells Reuters, pointing to the high energy prices that are being exacerbated by Germany’s nuclear phase-out and the expansion of renewable energies.
In the event of a mass exodus of foreign workers, Chemnitz would “fall apart,” warns Matthias Nowak, spokesman for the city. 40 percent of the clinic staff are migrants. In any case, the majority of citizens are against extremism. The community is trying to activate this “silent middle” with various initiatives. Since 2018, when xenophobic demonstrations ended in riots, aid for anti-racist and democracy-promoting projects has been increased. Chemnitz is thus preparing to be named European Capital of Culture in 2025.
The right-wing extremist party Pro Chemnitz, on the other hand, wants to make the birthplace of the writer Stefan Heym the “capital of remigration”. “We have certainly had enough of the culture that has spilled over into Germany since 2015 – all you need to do is look into the city center,” writes Pro Chemnitz on the messenger service Telegram. The party could not be reached for comment.