Thuringia is traditionally a stronghold of the far-right AfD party, which polls suggest could become the second strongest in the state’s parliament.
More than 4,000 anti-far right protesters protested on Sunday in Erfurt, the capital of the German state of Thuringia.
The state is traditionally a stronghold of the right-wing Alternative for Germany party, known as the AfD, which polls suggest could become the second strongest in the Erfurt parliament.
“[It is frustrating] that despite our work, teaching history and politics, at the moment about thirty per cent of the people in Thuringia are prepared to vote for the AfD. But of course that cannot make us give up,” Jens -Christian Wagner, the director of the Buchenwald memorial, which is situated in the East German state, said.
Buchenwald was a labour death camp run by the far-right Nazi party in Germany during World War Two. Around 56,000 prisoner died there, most of them Jews.
The Christian Democratic Union of Germany, known as the CDU, currently ruling the state in a coalition with the SPD and the Greens, is two percent behind the AfD, a poll by INSA suggests.
And since a failed Syrian asylum seeker was arrested in connection with the deadly stabbing of three festival-goers in the city of Solingen on Friday, the far-right might receive more votes than 32% the poll suggests.
Saxony and Brandenburg are also due to hold state elections on the 1st and 22nd of September. They account for 10% of Germany’s population but their election results, together with Thuringia, are expected to have a bigger influence on national politics.
