AfD uses East German mopeds to rally support ahead of eastern state elections
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The Alternative for Germany (AfD) organized a Simson moped convoy in Quedlinburg, invoking nostalgia for the former East Germany as it seeks to boost its poll lead in upcoming Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania elections.
Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) staged a Simson moped rally in the eastern town of Quedlinburg on Sunday, aiming to tap into nostalgia for the former East German era ahead of state elections. Party representative Ulrich Siegmund led a convoy of blue Simson mopeds, a brand produced in the former German Democratic Republic, followed by hundreds of riders displaying German flags.
Siegmund told the crowd that the Simson symbolised “individual freedom of movement” and a time when “we stuck together,” framing the event as a call to return to perceived simpler days. The gathering was organized before the September 6 vote in Saxony-Anhalt, where the AfD leads in polls and hopes to secure governing authority for the first time since its 2013 founding. A second election in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania on September 20 also shows the party ahead.
Participants expressed a desire to revive aspects of life under the former regime. One rider, Martin Krause, said he wanted “a bit of freedom, a bit of East Germany” and linked his nostalgia to opposition to post-reunification migration, calling for deportations of those he described as “troublemakers.”
Historian Stefan Wolle noted that the far right is now co-opting East German memories, using them to foster a distinct eastern identity and to criticize the current German government as a continuation of authoritarian control. Surveys indicate that 43 % of residents in the former East see more differences than similarities with western Germans, reflecting enduring regional grievances over economic disparities and demographic decline.
The Simson brand’s descendants have objected to the political use of the name. Dennis Baum, the grandson of the company’s founder, protested the AfD’s appropriation, urging that the brand be kept out of politics. Siegmund dismissed the criticism, questioning why an overseas observer should influence German domestic issues.
The event underscores the AfD’s strategy of leveraging regional nostalgia and identity to broaden its electoral appeal in eastern Germany.