German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier:

We must ask ourselves, without sparing ourselves, what governments at the federal and state levels have failed to do over the past three and a half decades if so many people are turning away and extremists are finding so much resonance.

We have long known that this political upheaval is not confined to one part of the country. We know that it is East German just as much as it is West German. It affects us all.