Photo: DPAA study into the causes of heightened right-wing extremism and xenophobia in formerly communist eastern Germany has sparked an angry backlash and charges of sloppy academic methods. Kauder argued that basing the study, "Causes of right-wing extremism and xenophobia in East Germany", on just 40 interviews was "more than dubious," speaking to mass-circulation Bild daily on Wednesday. He said the research paper "which severely condemns parts of the East German population", fell short of accepted academic standards and should never have been published. CDU lawmaker Arnold Vaatz from the eastern city of Dresden told the Frankfurter Rundschau daily that the reputational "damage for eastern Germany is enormous". She said the research needed to be conducted "openly, without taboos, because xenophobia and right-wing extremism are a serious threat to social peace and economic development in East Germany".

Source: The Local May 24, 2017 10:41 UTC