West Germany Blitzkrieg by the Ultra-Right

Protest votes give xenophobic extremists a strong showing

Beneath the picture of the smiling mayoral candidate, the three words set in large print boasted a confident message: BERLIN WANTS HIM. Smugly sure of a re-election triumph, Mayor Eberhard Diepgen and his Christian Democratic Union were ready to settle back down with their loyal coalition partner, the liberal Free Democrats, and get on with the business of governing West Berlin. So when the early returns began flashing on the electronic monitors in West Berlin's city hall, ruling party politicians could only groan and shake their heads in disbelief. Berlin, it appeared, did not want Diepgen after all.

But a greater...

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