New Territories, Old Enemies

In 2013, during President Barack Obama’s visit to Berlin, former German Chancellor Angela Merkel declared “Das Internet ist für uns alle Neuland” (“The internet is new territory for all of us”). Overnight, the internet did what it does best: it simplified the context and turned her comment into a meme. The younger generation, including myself, was amused by our Mutti’s (“Mommy’s”) analog confusion of navigating our country through a digital world. Our world, as we thought.

Fast-forward a decade, and the digital landscape in Germany has undergone a significant transformation. Incidents such as the 2019 “Hackerangriff”, a teenager’s cyberattack that leaked personal data of over 1,000 politicians and other public figures, as well as criticisms about the COVID-19 contact tracing app, brought long-standing concerns about privacy in the digital space to the forefront. While Merkel’s wording might have seemed meme-worthy, her message was not. The internet has never been merely a space for pure entertainment but a potential gateway for malign influences to infiltrate our offline lives.

With the dawn of the COVID-19 pandemic, two dynamics significantly transformed my perspective on what I had deemed a humorous comment ten years ago: disinformation and radicalization. During this time, I observed that those generations who were not digital natives often perceived the unregulated nature of the internet as a modern outlet for free speech, especially in times of crisis. Fear, uncertainty, and a lack of media literacy provided fertile grounds for conspiracy and hate. This strengthened radical movements like QAnon, Reichsbürger, and Querdenker, with the latter’s members attempting to storm the Reichstag in 2020 - an eerily reminiscent preview of the U.S. Capitol riots.

Suddenly, there were fewer reasons to be amused by the Muttis of our countries clumsily attempting to convert a Word file into a PDF, with dangerously real events showcasing how the inability to navigate through the digital realm could turn into a hub for radicalization. Our country's past made these dynamics particularly complicated in terms of identity and belonging. Lingering questions about a shared understanding of nationality, a prevailing nostalgia for simpler times (such as the so-called Ostalgie, a sentimental longing for life in East Germany), and a fear of the unknown brought those together who were already prone to simplistic solutions and polarizing political statements.

Real-life consequences followed. In the 2024 federal elections, the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) secured 20.8% of the vote, emerging as the second-strongest party nationwide. In Thuringia, the AfD became the first far-right party since the Nazi Regime to win a state election. To be frank, I was shocked but not surprised. Now, the uncles, neighbors, and teachers we used to roll our eyes at during holiday dinners or other (involuntary) encounters, had found a political outlet for their sentiment of “Es war ja nicht alles schlecht” (“Not everything was bad back then”). The AfD has been strategically appealing to sentiments of belonging and returning to a greater Germany through online media, underlining demands of “returning to better times” such as by leaving the European Union and reinstating the Deutschmark (former German currency).

But it is not only the uncles who feel represented by the AfD’s party program and simplistic claims. It is we, the young people, who have become more prone to radical ideas as well. Amongst 18–24-year-olds, a strong polarization has been noted during the last federal election, where our age group notably drifted away from the political center, gravitating either toward the left-wing Die Linke or the far-right AfD.

While Germans have always dealt with hardships morbidly, we call it Galgenhumor (“gallows humor”), perhaps we young people should not have laughed so quickly. A lack of media literacy and perceived sense of belonging bears dangerous ground for online radicalization and consequent political action taking across all generations. While those sentiments are often cultivated online, we are talking about real people with real voting power.

Polarization is no longer just a problem of unequipped boomers. It is a national crisis.   With news being delivered as swipe posts and former influencers, such as Attila Hildmann, becoming the face of conspiracists, extremist ideas have long permeated our lived realities. Finding the balance between engaging with contesting views as a means of building diverse, democratic societies without normalizing extremist narratives is a Herculean task. Especially since even we, who thought we had it all figured out, seem to be steering off track in the territory we once deemed ours.

Nevertheless, I believe that the normalization of conspiratorial thinking among older generations has helped pave the way for the radicalization of younger ones. What unites us across generations is a shared vulnerability: a lack of media literacy, starting in elementary school, and a dangerous absence of consequent regulation in the digital sphere. It is tempting to keep pointing fingers at those who came before us and those who are coming after us. But even though it might seem counterintuitive to tell a German to be more serious about something, maybe, if our generation had laughed less and educated more, we could have taken the first step toward facing this crisis together.

________________ Pia-Katharina Pallasch is a Maastricht University graduate, holding a B.Sc. in Global Studies. With a heightened interest in Security Studies, specifically in the dynamics of radicalization, populism, and extremism, Pia is currently interning at the Kosovar Centre for Security Studies (KCSS) in Pristina, Kosovo. Originally, Pia is from Schleswig-Holstein, Germany