As far right rises in Germany, firms struggle to attract foreign workers

When electrical engineer Preetam Gaikwad first moved to Jena in 2013, she was smitten by what the eastern German city had to offer: a prestigious university, top research institutions, and cutting-edge technology companies, global leaders in their field.

Eleven years later, the Indian native takes a more sober view.

I'm really worried about the development of the political situation here, Gaikwad, 43 said. Jena is in the eastern German state of Thuringia, which has elections on September 1.

The far-right Alternative for Germany party, or AfD, is currently leading the polls with about 30 per cent support, far ahead of the centre-right Christian Democrats (21 per cent) and the centre-left Social Democrats of Chancellor Olaf Scholz (7 per cent).

The AfD's anti-foreigner stance is the cornerstone of its campaign, raising concern among businesses like Jenoptik, Gaikwad's employer. The company, which supplied lens assemblies for Perseverance, the NASA remote vehicle on Mars, employs 1,680 people in Jena and more than 4,600 globally.

Jenoptik, one of the few internationally successful businesses in Jena,depends on being able to attract and retain a highly skilled workforce, much of it from outside Germany. The rise of the AfD is making that more difficult, says Jenoptik CEO Stefan Traeger.

More and more prospective employees tell Traeger that while they would love to work for Jenoptik, they won't take a job there because they don't want to live in a state dominated by a hard-right party that ostracizes migrants or other minorities such as members of the LGBTQI+ community.

Traeger, a Jena native who studied in the US, told the AP he hopes that after the election we will still be as open, free and democratic a country as we are now. That's what we need in order to move the company forward.