Fringe politics, of either the left or the right, has rarely counted for much in staid and cautious postwar West Germany. But last week, to the shock of the country's political establishment, that dictum was punctured in both directions. In two major cities, West Berlin and Frankfurt, left-wing alliances of Social Democrats and environmental-activist Greens became majority factions. Both cities have also seen a resurgence of ultra-right parties: anti-immigrant Republicans in West Berlin and National Democrats in Frankfurt. The National Democrats, once a refuge of unreconstructed Nazis, gained 6.6% of the vote and representation in the legislative council of the country's...
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