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The Harz as a CDU miracle? Sven Schulze’s PR clip exposes the grand self-glorification of those in powerThis is pure election campaigning, packaged as “direct exchange.” Sven Schulze, CDU Minister-President of Saxony-Anhalt, posted an edited video on Facebook on April 17, 2026, showing visits in the Harz: cheerful images of company tours (which companies? names? not a chance—it all stays conveniently vague), handshakes, engineering chatter about railway technology. Accompanied by text that sounds like a CDU campaign ad: “Here in the Harz, you can see what is possible when politics, business, and local people work together.” And at the end of the clip, the kicker: “Make Saxony-Anhalt stronger! Only with us! CDU.” 
Let’s take apart this syrupy self-staging—not with soft words, but with a knife. Because Schulze provides the perfect blueprint here for how government policy turns into self-promotion while the state continues to struggle with real problems. “Here in the Harz, you can see what is possible when politics, business, and local people work together.”Oh really? As if the Harz was a hopeless wasteland before Schulze and only became a “strong economic region” thanks to his “clear decisions.” The truth: after reunification, the region struggled with catastrophic unemployment of over 15–20 percent in Saxony-Anhalt (and similarly in the Harz)—a consequence of the collapse of the GDR, not a lack of CDU wisdom. The decline to around 6.4 percent in the Harz district today (as of February 2026) is not a Schulze miracle, but the result of decades of billions in transfers from the Solidarity Pact, EU funding, and natural structural change. But no: “This development does not happen by itself. It is the result of clear decisions, reliable policy.” Translation: everything good is thanks to us, the CDU. The citizens and entrepreneurs? Mere props.“The Harz shows how structural change can succeed when it is actively shaped.”“Actively shaped” structural change? The Harz has always been a tourism hotspot—thanks to its nature, UNESCO World Heritage sites like Quedlinburg, and a tradition dating back to the 19th century. Overnight stays in the Harz/Harz foreland (Saxony-Anhalt portion) currently stand at around 2.9 million per year (2025: 2.95 million, a slight decline of 1.9 percent), accounting for over a third of all overnight stays in Saxony-Anhalt. No boom thanks to Schulze, but decades of continuity—despite weather, كورونا, and competition. Tourism plus economy? “The Harz has created this,” he says in the clip. As if he invented it. In reality: small and medium-sized businesses and nature make it possible, despite years of outmigration and demographic collapse in eastern Germany.“That is exactly why we are out and about in the Harz district—in direct exchange with candidates, members of parliament, and companies.”This is where it gets really brazen. “We”—that is Schulze and his CDU troupe—“in direct exchange.” With candidates? Four months before potential elections? This is not an official state visit; it’s a campaign tour at taxpayers’ expense. The clip: a montage of anonymous company visits, Schulze as an “engineer” showing interest in “technology” when it comes to railways. “For me, it is important that I do not make my policy from a desk in Magdeburg, but that I am out in the state as Minister-President.” How heroic. As if a Minister-President who occasionally goes outside were a revolutionary. In reality: a photo op with entrepreneurs hoping for subsidies. Not a word about the real problems: shortage of skilled workers despite a “strong location,” declining overnight stays in 2025, ongoing outmigration of young people.“It’s about jobs, skilled workers, investments, and the future of an entire region.”Sounds like a grand vision. Reality: the Harz district unemployment rate in 2026 is 6.4 percent—better than the state average (around 8 percent), but still twice as high as in some western regions. Long-term unemployment, low wages in tourism, crumbling infrastructure—none of this is mentioned. “My goal is that people here can live safely. Also security for their jobs.” Nicely said, Mr. Schulze. But if the CDU has been governing for years and the Harz “shows how it’s done,” why the constant calls for help from Berlin and federal funds? Because real structural change does not come from “reliable policy,” but from money from the West and the fact that the Harz is simply beautiful.Demographics and the blow of the corona measuresWhile the Harz has lost around a quarter of its population since reunification—from over 280,000 to only about 205,000 inhabitants in 2024—and continues to shrink and age relentlessly, Sven Schulze celebrates “successful structural change.” The reality is a demographic hemorrhage: young people are leaving, villages are dying out, and CDU policy clearly has no concept to stop or even reverse this trend.Tourism, which the CDU government sells as a success story, turns out upon closer inspection to be a fragile house of cards. Overnight stays in the Harz and Harz foreland stagnated for years at a high level—until the corona lockdowns of 2020/2021, supported and co-imposed by the CDU, shattered everything. From around 3.4 million overnight stays in 2019, the sector collapsed to about 2 million or less—a catastrophic drop that pushed hotels, guesthouses, and restaurants to the brink of ruin. Ironically, the CDU, which has been co-governing in Saxony-Anhalt for years, played a key role in the harsh measures that nearly paralyzed Harz tourism: accommodation bans, closed businesses, lost seasons. Instead of reducing the region’s vulnerability through real investment in infrastructure and year-round tourism, the government’s lockdown policy brutally exposed its dependence on weather and weekend visitors even more. To this day—overnight stays in the Harz were only around 2.95 million in 2025—the pre-crisis level has not been reached again. The end!The clip ends with the CDU slogan—crude, direct, cynical. No facts, no figures, just emotions and a minister staging himself as a man of the people. While villages in Saxony-Anhalt are emptying, schools are closing, and the economy lags behind despite all “successes,” the government celebrates itself with a video that uses companies as props.This is not policy for the Harz. This is CDU advertising at taxpayers’ expense. The Harz is developing—despite, not because of such staging. And citizens are slowly realizing: “Only with us” actually means: only for us.
Here in the Harz, you can see what is possible when politics, business, and local people work together. A region that once struggled with high unemployment has developed in recent years into a strong economic location—supported by small and medium-sized businesses and committed entrepreneurs. Author: AI-Translation - АИИ | |
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