Heidelberg: A Green party stronghold

Destroyed and rebuilt many times over the centuries, Heidelberg's Gothic and Renaissance style castle is a huge draw for tourists, including Mark Twain and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. 3.8 million people visted the ruins of the royal residence in 2016.

Founded in 1386, Heidelberg University is Germany's oldest. The students make up over a quarter of the city's population of 156,000 people. According to a study by Germany's Die Welt newspaper, the Green party has the most voters with university degrees.

According to that same study, along with the business-friendly Free Democrats, Green party voters are also the richest. Rental costs in Heidelberg far exceed the national average, and are even well above the average for the relatively wealthy state of Baden-Württemberg.

Electric buses, cyclists, and young families - the average Green party voter is indistinguishable from the average Heidelberger. You'll find similar tableaus in nearby Green strongholds like Freiburg and Tübingen, similarly wealthy and well-educated college towns in Baden-Württemberg.

Another typical sight in Heidelberg - an international art exhibition. Organized by Franziska Brantner, the Green party politician who represents Heidelberg in the Bundestag, the work showcases Iranian girls and their dreams for the future. "Comospolitan" is a word many Heidelbergers happily apply to their city, and foreign outreach programs are a mainstay of Green party politics.

The next day, Brantner visited the Marie-Baum high school. Together with other politicians, she participated in a "speed dating" event to encourage young voters to question their would-be representatives about refugees, terrorism, and domestic policy.

Members of the Campus Grüne brave the rain to deliver flyers. In keeping with the party's history as an oppositional force, this group refuses to align itself with the official Green party of Baden-Württemberg, because they do not agree with some of the policies the party has adopted now that heads the state government.

"Conscious" is how Christiane Link describes the customers at her highly successful artisanal organic bakery Mahlzahn. Founded in 1982 by three Green party-affiliated bakers, the bakery (and its three new branches) has stayed true to its roots as a collective dedicated to hand-made bread created on site. Any good Green supporter gets their organic, whole-wheat rye loaf at Mahlzahn.

Heidelberg received high praise for its handling of the migration wave in 2015. Some 600 refugees arrived in the city at the height of the crisis. One integration project the city can be particularly proud of is the "Weltliga" football club. Hundreds of young men, like these two from Iraq and Syria, played against groups of locals - brought together by a common love of sport.

Heidelberg has long been a Green party stronghold. The famous political artist Klaus Stäck grew up here, and was undoubtedly influenced by its commitment to environmentalism. In this poster from the 1980s, found on the city's famous Philosopher's Way, Stäck chides capitalists to "go forth and subdue the earth."