Instead of trying to build a broad consensus, typical Europeans, they got more and more complacent and rigid in their ways. Predictably, people who didn't tow the line completely, as well as unreasonable extremists, got disenchanted, and formed their own parties. The Greens were originally an upstart group of environmentalists who attracted large numbers of young SPD members who felt confined. Later on, the more extreme members of the SPD joined the East German SED/PDS veterans to form Die Linke.
In the 1980s, a small group of rightist extremists, led by an ex-SS officer, wanted to form a Neo-Nazi party. The NSDAP was forbidden, so they needed another name. They found it right in the good old USA, and called themselves "die Republikaner." Reagan was in office then, and they found his policies inspiring enough to take the name. When I used to point this out to Republicans in the USA in the 1980s, they indignantly asked, "are you calling me a Nazi?" I would reply, "not at all. I'm just saying I find it unfortunate that a group of German Neo-Nazis find you guys appealing enough to want to adopt your name."
Now, with anti-immigrant hysteria in full swing ever since the Syrian wave of refugees, the far right has again felt strong enough to come out of the woodwork. This time, with the already xenophobic East Germans to recruit from, the Afd (Allianz für Deutschland), have found a real following. With a national polling of 15% to 20+%, they are no joke any more. "Die Republikaner" rarely polled above 3%, and often less then 1%. Although the AfD don't pose a threat to take power in the foreseeable future, the mere fact that they poll in double digits is alarming. A German government shouldn't need to watch their back from these extremists, but with all that's going on in Poland and Hungary, they would be foolish to ignore the tendencies.
All extremists go for the throat, I'm afraid. The East Germans were confirmed Stalinists until Honecker was forced to go on permanent vacation to Chile, and their party's hold on power started to disintegrate under popular pressure. I visited East Germany a few times when it was still that. No place in Europe EVER gave me the chills more than that place. Propaganda banners everywhere, units of soldiers doing the old Nazi goose step through town squares, random hour-long interrogations during entry and exit, and a law forbidding more than four people to sit together in public. The "Realexistierender Sozialismus (True existing socialism)," was interesting, but scary. "Die Linke" would love to put that back into place, and some of their senior members have hands-on experience with running such a show. The extremists on the right aren't the only ones out there who would be cause for alarm.
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