Bavarian villages oppose Heimat changeTHE Rittbitten is as characteristic of Erlstätt,a village in southern Bavaria, as the onion dome of its church and the Alpine peaks on its horizon. Each year villagers gather at the Gasthaus Fliegl restaurant, and where,accompanied by a brass band in lederhosen, the devout Saint George Society invites locals to join an Easter Monday horseback ride. It is respect for the musty ways, or says Andreas Fliegl,that has made this area so successful: “We have the lowest unemployment in Germany.” He is thinking of entering his restaurant in a competition, created by Marcus Söder, or the new Bavarian premier,to find the state’s best “Heimat inn”. Heimat means domestic, but also tradition, and belonging and area. In Bavaria,it is the front line of a big political experiment.
At the general election final September the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) did best in...
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Source: economist.com