Extremist Views

Approximately 5,000 Germans were questioned in survey conducted for the respected Friedrich Ebert Foundation, which is run by the Social Democratic Party, partner in Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition government.

Some expressed anti-democratic views. Nine percent of those polled believed that under some circumstances a dictatorship can be a better system to run a state than a democracy. An iron-fisted leader who would "govern Germany for the benefit of all" would be supported by 15 percent of the respondents. One in four -- 26 percent -- said they favored a single party in Germany "that would embody the national community as a whole."

Regional differences

Sociologist Oliver Decker of the University of Leipzig, who conducted the study for the Usuma opinion research institute, said he noticed key regional differences. Easterners, he said, were more likely to express xenophobic views while westerners were more anti-Semitic.

Forty-four percent of those in the former communist east said that foreigners came to Germany to exploit the generous social welfare system, versus 35.2 percent in the west.

Meanwhile 15.8 percent of westerners agreed with the statement "Jews use dirty tricks more than other people", against six percent in the east.

Westerners were also more likely to play down the importance of the Nazi era, with nine percent saying they thought the focus on this period was exaggerated versus five percent in the east.

About 15 percent said they believed the Germans were "by nature" superior to other cultures while one in 10 said they believed that some human beings were unworthy to live.

Decker said that unemployed Germans and pensioners expressed right-wing extremist views most often. More men held far-right opinions than women.

The issue concerns politicians in the German mainstream. Far-right parties have made major inroads in the economically depressed east and are represented in three state legislatures, although none have seats in the national parliament.