Monika Maron: AfD dilemma could have been avoided

In the opinion of writer Monika Maron, the rise and radicalization of the AfD could have been stopped early on. The 83-year-old told the Berliner Zeitung that the state elections at the weekend were "a bit worse than we thought".

A blocking minority for the AfD in Thuringia could have serious consequences, and the CDU could only form a government there with the BSW and SPD and the toleration of the Left. "This dilemma could have been avoided if the much more moderate versions of the AfD from the early years had been dealt with differently," said Maron.

AfD founder Bernd Lucke had already been insulted on talk shows. Lucke's AfD was primarily concerned with the monetary policy of the European Union. Later, more moderate members of the AfD left and more radical members joined. "If you look at how other countries in Europe have dealt with their right-wing parties and how they moderated themselves when they came into power - they did better than we did," said Maron.

Maron was already a writer and journalist in the GDR. Her book "Flugasche" (Fly Ash) was not allowed to be published there and she moved to West Germany in 1988. She later won prizes, but also repeatedly sparked controversy.

The author said in the interview that political developments paralyzed her writing. "The current chaos forces its way into every topic, every thought I want to deal with, I'm constantly caught up in these things and everything I actually want to write about suddenly seems unimportant. And I'm not very gifted at pulling myself back from that."