The strength of the far right in the formerly socialist states has allowed the rest of the country to distance itself from the resurgence of extremism. After all, democratic norms were never so thoroughly embedded in the formerly socialist part of the country; the West, in contrast, was supposed to be a stronghold of democratic sentiment. What’s more, an active culture of Vergangenheitsaufarbeitung, or “dealing with the past”, is supposed to help Germans grapple with the nation’s history, dampening nationalistic impulses before they appear.