bavaria yacht factory germany

Sign up now for our WhatsApp newsletter and receive a FREE set of SVB playing cards!

Get the latest SVB news via WhatsApp!

• Product Selection Tool
• SVB@Youtube
• My SVB Account 0
• Compare list

Are you missing items that you have already placed in your shopping cart? Log in to see your saved items.

Bavaria Spare Parts for Sailing and Motor Yachts

Welcome to the world of bavaria.

• Control Panels
• Shore Connection Panels
• Navigation Lights
• Interior Lighting
• 230 Volt Technology
• Socket Frames & Housings
• Cables, Cable Clamps & Accessories
• Battery Switches
• Battery Accessories

• Locks & Latches
• Furniture Accessories
• Tables & Chairs
• Interior Furnishings
• Stoves, Ovens & Grills
• Refrigeration on board
• Gas Accessories
• Cabin Furnishings
• Merchandising
• Stickers & Logos
• Miscellaneous Equipment

• Bilge Pumps
• Deck Wash Pumps
• Pump Spare Parts & Accessories
• Marine Toilets
• Marine Toilet Accessories
• Tanks & Accessories
• Tank Sensors
• Tank Filler Necks
• Shower Fittings
• Tubing Systems
• Valves & Fittings
• Hot Water Boilers & Accessories
• Duschzubehör

• Helmsman Seats
• Halyard Stoppers
• Winches & Accessories
• Winch Handles
• Traveller Systems
• Carabiners & Eye Plates
• Sail & Mast
• Canopy & Tarpaulin Accessories
• Compasses & Accessories
• Miscellaneous

• Replacement Panes
• Inner Frames
• Fly Screens & Blinds
• Gas Pressure Springs
• Handles & Latches
• Ventilation

• Propellers and Accessories
• Steering Wheels & Accessories
• Shift & Steering Systems
• Upper Rudder Bearings
• Lower Rudder Bearings
• Instruments & Accessories
• Autopilots & Accessories
• Shaft Seals & Rings
• Miscellaneous Motor Accessories

• Anchors, Windlasses & Accessories
• Boarding Ladders, Bathing Ladders & Accessories
• Swimming Platforms & Accessories
• Skirting Boards & Accessories

• NC Series Rail Tracks
• Match Series Rail Tracks
• Rail Tracks June 2001 - 2013
• Rail Tracks 1998 - June 2001
• Rail Accessories
• Bow Pullpits
• Bow Fittings
• Bow Sprit Profiles

A wide range of competencies!

Exclusive partnership between market leaders, bavaria and svb.

Keep your BAVARIA in its original condition

Genuine bavaria spare parts at svb.

Genuine BAVARIA spare parts ensure that your yacht remains original . Therefore, having the right equipment with genuine components is top priority. Original BAVARIA spare parts are essential to retaining the value of your yacht and guarantee the best fit, functionality and optimal safety on board. Find your original spare part - whether it be for a BAVARIA sailboat or motor yacht.

• Original BAVARIA spare parts
• Exclusive cooperation
• Find spare parts easily
• Genuine shipyard parts

Favourite BAVARIA products at SVB

BAVARIA support form

Please fill in the form below. we will get back to you as soon as possible..

• Competitions
• British Yachting Awards
• Southampton Boat Show
• Print Subscription
• Digital Subscription
• Single Issues
• Advertise with us

Your special offer

Subscribe to Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting today!

Save 32% on the shop price when to subscribe for a year at just £39.95

Subscribe to Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting!

Save 32% on the shop price when you subscribe for a year at just £39.95

Inside the Bavaria factory

St editor sam fortescue goes on a tour inside the bavaria factory, which makes 1,000 boats a year.

Even back then, industrialisation was key to the business. A large purpose-built hangar housed hull after hull, busy with workers. As Bavaria CEO Lutz Henkel tells me: “Herrman was the Henry Ford of boatbuilding”.

Today, automation and process are the beating heart of Bavaria, and the 70,000m 2 halls of Bavaria Yachtbau, which turns out over 1,000 boats per year with the input of workers from 14 different countries, resembles none other that I have ever visited. The first thing I see is a row of bikes, which Bavaria’s 600 production workers use to save valuable minutes getting around the factory.

Bavaria’s output has fallen from its 2007 peak of 3,000 boats per year. But it’s not all spare capacity – the boats take longer to complete now.

Bavaria CEO Lutz Henkel explains: “I would say that we are nearly at the same capacity as before – it’s just that our boats are more complicated.

“They have a wider variety of interiors now, whereas before it was ‘take it or leave it’.”

Within a year, all Bavaria boats will be manufactured using vacuum infusion.

Production line

An unbroken production line stretches from the moulding hall through fit out to finishing, each boat on a wheeled cradle which moves from station to station on narrow railway tracks.

Machine-operated

One of the two five-axis milling machines hard at work cutting out ports, hatches and holes for fittings.

A fortnight's build

It takes just two weeks to get a Cruiser 46 gets from being just tubs of epoxy and boxes of screws to a gleaming, finished article.

Changes in processes and options have led to more premium products. A decade ago, the yard’s entry-level Cruiser 33 cost €65,000 (£51,000) ex-VAT; today, the new 34 starts at €89,000 (£70,000).

Laying up the hulls

Laying up is still a very manual task at Bavaria. It is the job of one man to dunk precut strips of glass mat in epoxy resin before they’re collected by colleagues in hazard suits and respirators. They swarm all over the mould with rollers and and in this way, it takes just a day to lay up each hull or deck before it is gently cooked at 60° in a large oven.

info heading

info content

RELATED ARTICLES MORE FROM AUTHOR

America’s Cup Boats: What it’s like helming an AC75

Boat Test: New Luxurious Multihull Lagoon 60

Cornish Crabber Revived: Boatbuilders Staying Afloat

Offering a wealth of practical advice and a dynamic mix of in-depth boat, gear and equipment news, Sailing Today is written cover to cover by sailors, for sailors. Since its launch in 1997, the magazine has sealed its reputation for essential sailing information and advice.

• Telegraph.co.uk

ADVERTISING

© 2024 Chelsea Magazine Company , part of the Telegraph Media Group . | Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy | Cookie Policy

Yachting Monthly

• Digital edition

Buyer confirmed for Bavaria Yachts

• Katy Stickland
• September 17, 2018

Hundreds of jobs have been secured following the announcement that a buyer has been found for Bavaria Yachts

Understand boat statistics Credit: Bavaria Yachts

17 September 2018

Bavaria Yachts has been bought by a private equity fund advised by the German investment company CMP Capital Management-Partners.

The move secures 800 jobs in Germany and France.

The yacht builders went into self-administration in April, allowing the firm’s management to remain operational while new investors were sought. This also meant Bavaria could continue to build and deliver 220 yachts during that period.

The private equity fund will also acquire all shares in the French subsidiary Bavaria Catamarans SAS.

‘All 550 employees of BAVARIA YACHTS in Giebelstadt and all 250 employees of BAVARIA CATAMARANS in Rochefort will transfer to the purchaser,’ said Bavaria in a statement.

The purchase will be completed after merger control clearance by the German Federal Cartel Office, which is expected in a couple of weeks. The parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price.

CMP Capital Management-Partners is a German investment company that has specialised in the acquisition of companies in distress in Germany, Austria and Switzerland since its foundation in 2000.

With the investment in a company, CMP employees assume operative management responsibilities on site. In the case of Bavaria, Dr. Ralph Kudla, restructuring expert and partner at CMP, will join the executive board.

Continues below…

Henri Lloyd to relaunch in 2019

The new owners of the Henri Lloyd brand have announced a new range for 2019 adapted for one design sailing,…

Buyer confirmed for Oyster: recruitment underway for staff

Gaming software entrepreneur, Richard Hadida announces he has bought Oyster Yachts and all of its subsidiaries after the luxury boat…

Commenting, the managing director ofCMP Capital Management-Partners, Kai Brandes, said: ‘We are convinced of Bavaria’s global market potential and will sustainably develop the company. The restructuring measures will focus on regaining market share and improving production costs.’

Restructuring expert Dr. Tobias Brinkmann, managing director of Bavaria Yachtbau since insolvency proceedings began in April 2018, said Bavaria was an ‘outstanding company with a strong brand, compelling products and a highly dedicated team.’

‘We are pleased to have found a well-known and experienced buyer in CMP who will lead Bavaria into the future. The entire management would like to thank our employees, yacht dealers, customers and suppliers,’ he stated.

‘ They have all supported Bavaria Yachtbau during the insolvency proceedings. The fact that Bavaria has been able to successfully build and deliver 220 yachts during the last five months shows how committed and reliable our staff is,’ added Dr Brinkmann

22 May 2018

Bavaria Yachts has announced it is in the process of securing new investment and hopes to make an announcement in July.

The German yacht builder is continuing to take orders and deliver new boats.

‘Production has been stabilised and deliveries are continuing: more than 30 yachts have left the shipyard over the past two weeks and have been handed over to customers,’ said Bavaria in a statement.

‘All 600 employees are on duty, and agreements were reached with all major suppliers for further delivery against short payment terms,’ it added.

Bavaria went into self-administration last month. This allowed the firm’s management to remain operational while new investors are sought.

It only affected operations at Bavaria’s German operations. Nautitech – Bavaria’s catamaran arm – was unaffected.

The German shipyard said management and administrators have started an ‘investor process’ to rebuild Bavaria Yachts for the future.

‘The objective is to be able to present an investor in July 2018,’ said Bavaria.

The firm, which recently celebrated its 40th anniversary, was sold by its founder, Winfried Herrmann to the private equity group, Bain Capital in June 2007 for around €1.1 billion.

The American investment firms, Oaktree Capital and Anchorage Capital Group then became creditors post financial crisis in 2008.

As part of restructuring, Oaktree and Anchorage waived a substantial majority of their loans and became majority shareholders, investing ‘significant resource’.

‘Unfortunately, Bavaria Yachtbau was unable to recover operational profitability,’ said a spokesman for Oaktree and Anchorage.

As a result, Bavaria went into self-administration, and restructuring expert, Dr Tobias Brinkmann was appointed to find new investors.

‘We are continuing the operation and want to go into the coming order season with a new investor,’ stressed Dr Brinkmann.

‘The first expressions of interest have already been received, and we are also actively approaching potential investors,’ he added.

24 April 2018

Bavaria Yachts has confirmed that is has now gone into self-administration.

The German shipyard said boat production and deliveries will continue until June 2018. Wages and salaries for Bavaria’s 600 workers are also secure until then.

The self-administration, which allows the firm’s management to remain operational while an investor for the company is sought, only affects operations at Bavaria’s German operations.

Nautitech – Bavaria’s catamaran arm – remains unaffected and trading, delivery and after sales service at its base in Rochefort, France continues as normal.

‘In the current situation, we want to supply our customers with the usual high quality, stressed Bavaria’s chief operating officer, Erik Appel.

Dr. Ing. Tobias Brinkmann, specialist lawyer for insolvency law and partner in the law firm Brinkmann & Partner, joins the management team. Bavaria’s previous CEO, Lutz Henkel, left the management board last week.

Bavaria said its ‘top priority is now the search for an investor’

‘We have years of experience building high-quality yachts and are industry leaders in many areas,’ said Appel.

Bavaria said that against the background of a good market positioning, the aim was to ‘put the operation on a sound financial basis’.

Bavaria was founded in 1978 and is considered one of the market leaders in European yacht building. In January, it announced the new flagship C65 as well as the C45 models at Boot Düsseldorf.

Payment of wages and salaries for the months of April to June 2018 will be secured by bankruptcy pre-financing.

In a statement, Nautitech Catamarans, said: ‘To this day, the catamaran business remains in Rochefort France. It is an independent French company with its own employees, suppliers and bank accounts. Seen as the “jewel in the crown” of the Bavaria group, the well managed and profitable catamaran business is already attracting interest from potential buyers.

‘Whilst we understand that both the catamaran division and the struggling German operation will probably soon be under new ownership, or indeed ownerships, the operation of the catamaran business is completely unaffected by the situation in Germany. Therefore trading, delivery and after sales service continue as before.’

20 April 2018

The German yacht building giant Bavaria is expected to issue a statement later today, explaining that it is entering administration.

It is thought that the administration will apply to the Bavaria monohulls, but not to Bavaria catamarans. The company, which announced the new flagship C65 as well as the C45 models at Boot Düsseldorf earlier this year, is expected to continue construction and delivery of all current orders and will not be closing its factory.

Bavaria Yachts

Yachts estranged from any navigable waters sounds perplexing at first. But the answer lies in Bavaria Yachts’ history; because revolution often happens where you least expect it. Bavaria Yachts, located in the small town of Giebelstadt in Würzburg, has not always manufactured yachts. With no navigable waters in sight, Winfried Herrmann’s idea to turn his company for plastic windows into a top-notch shipyard sprung from seeing a grand opportunity for true innovation. In 1978, Herrmann realised his ambitious plan and started to specialise in building yachts. The primary difference to other shipyards? Herrmann’s optimised manufacturing process.

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Receive our monthly newsletter by email

Please leave this field empty.

I accept the Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy

Related articles

CSMM – The Effect of Resilient Architecture

Russell Hobbs – The combination of technology and design

A pioneer in the world of hi-fi: Pro-Ject Audio Systems

Dedicated to Design: September 2024

Read germany, switzerland and austria online..

If you have missed the printed version of Germany, Switzerland and Austria, you can read the magazine online by visiting our Magazine section.

Join Our Newsletter

Are you a fan of Germany, Switzerland and Austria? So are we! Sign up to our newsletter now to stay up to date on the most exciting news, events and destinations.

Privacy Overview

• Bavaria Yachts

Bavaria Yachts

Bavaria Yachts

“german engineered, sailor inspired”.

Hidden away in Northern Bavaria, miles away from any major body of water, is the largest boatbuilding facility in the world. Since 1979, Bavaria has been leading the way in boating engineering and craftsmanship. In 2008 Bavaria Yachts built over 2,000 boats, each craft made to order, using the most innovative production line in boatbuilding.

The Dream Factory

Building out boats beam-to-beam rather than bow-to-stern, means Bavaria can fit 31 stations on the assembly line, with fewer functions at any one station. This limits overcrowding and prevents any installation problems. This way of assembly also means that a Bavaria 31 and a Bavaria 50 can be produced on the same production line.

Cutouts for hatches, drilling and taping for would normally take two Bavaria employees four hours. A robotic CNC machine can do it all in 20 minutes - with improved accuracy.

Hull and deck lamination is still completed by hand, but the Bavaria factory’s chain drive mold movement system allows drying ovens and molds to be rotated on their cradles, reducing labour time.

Cruiser Series

German boat builders pride themselves on the unique individuality of the crafts they build. If you’re looking for a boat which is unique, robust and beautiful then you should definitely consider a Bavaria cruiser.

A Bavaria cruiser is a steady performer, reinforcing a reputation for yacht building with amazing results. All lines on a Bavaria cruiser are led to the cockpit for easy sail handling. The newly restyled Cruiser series offers a large salon illuminated by skylights and fixed hull ports. The placement of numerous opening ports and hatches offer a natural cross ventilation.

The Bavaria 34 Cruiser is 35 feet and offers increased interior volume which creates a large entertaining area. A generous L-shaped galley, navigation table, large cabins and lots of natural light and ventilation all contribute to liveable yacht below deck.

With the 55 Cruiser, Bavaria have conjured up the epitome of superior design and technology with style and function. Featuring the performance and design that is Bavaria.

Vision Series

Bavaria's new vision offers increased standard equipment, added speed potential by way of new hull designs, a ballast ratio above 35% and increased sail areas.

For cruising comfort, standard features include large galleys, stylish side windows, a vast amount of storage, solar-powered stainless steel vents, spinnaker winches and dual steering wheels. Bavaria’s vision deck salon series symbolises the features that make Bavaria Yachts the fastest growing sailboat manufacturer in the world.

Comfort and space are two of the ingredients which make the Bavaria 40 vision the best of both worlds. The well proportioned sail plan allows for increased performance and stability which translates into a sailing experience not often found in a production cruising boat.

The flagship of the Vision series, the Bavaria 50 Vision does not disappoint. Rugged yet elegant, the 50 Vision will meet the needs of the most demanding sailor. Yet another example of Bavaria technology exceeding expectations.

Share this article

You might like.

Sign up to our newsletter

By submitting this form, you agree to our Privacy & Cookie Policy

Change units of measure

This feature requires cookies to be enabled on your browser.

Show price in:

Show lengths, beam and draft in:

Show displacement or weight in:

Show capacity or volume in:

Show speed in:

Show distance in:

Zur Darstellung der VR-Version (Virtual Reality) wird ein kompatibles Endgerät und eine dazu passende VR-Brille benötigt.

Es wurde festgestellt das Ihr Gerät nicht WebVR fähig ist. Möchten Sie dennoch den WebVR-Modus starten?

Ja! WebVR Modus starten

iOS: Apple iPhone 5, 5s, 5c, 6, 6 plus, 7, 7 plus, 8, 8 plus, X Android: Samsung Galaxy S6, S7, S8, S9, Sony Xperia Z3, Z3 Compact, Huawei Mate 9, ZTE Axon 7

Der besten Ergebnisse erzielt man unter iOS mit Apple Safari oder Google Chrome und unter Android mit Google Chrome. Die List der kompatiblen Geräte hat keine Garantie auf Vollständigkeit.

• Google Cardboard
• Samsung Gear VR
• Zeiss VR One
• Homido VR Headset
• Oculus Rift
• ColorCross VR Headset

Bavaria Yachtbau GmbH Bavariastraße 1 97232 Giebelstadt Germany Phone: +49 9334 942 0 Fax: +49 9334 942 1160 Email: info(at)bavariayachts.com Internet: www.bavariayachts.com Represented by the Board of Management: Jens Abromeit, Michael Müller, Dr. Ralph Kudla Registered at court: Frankfurt a. Main Register number: HRB 112933 VAT‐Identification according to § 27 a German Umsatzsteuergesetz: DE320301233 Responsible for this website according German § 6 MDStV: Bavaria Yachtbau GmbH, represented by the Board of Management

Privacy Policy

1. an overview of data protection.

The following gives a simple overview of what happens to your personal information when you visit our website. Personal information is any data with which you could be personally identified. Detailed information on the subject of data protection can be found in our privacy policy found below.

Data collection on our website

Who is responsible for the data collection on this website?

The data collected on this website are processed by the website operator. The operator's contact details can be found in the website's required legal notice.

How do we collect your data?

Some data are collected when you provide it to us. This could, for example, be data you enter on a contact form.

Other data are collected automatically by our IT systems when you visit the website. These data are primarily technical data such as the browser and operating system you are using or when you accessed the page. These data are collected automatically as soon as you enter our website.

What do we use your data for?

Part of the data is collected to ensure the proper functioning of the website. Other data can be used to analyze how visitors use the site.

What rights do you have regarding your data?

You always have the right to request information about your stored data, its origin, its recipients, and the purpose of its collection at no charge. You also have the right to request that it be corrected, blocked, or deleted. You can contact us at any time using the address given in the legal notice if you have further questions about the issue of privacy and data protection. You may also, of course, file a complaint with the competent regulatory authorities.

Analytics and third-party tools

When visiting our website, statistical analyses may be made of your surfing behavior. This happens primarily using cookies and analytics. The analysis of your surfing behavior is usually anonymous, i.e. we will not be able to identify you from this data. You can object to this analysis or prevent it by not using certain tools. Detailed information can be found in the following privacy policy.

You can object to this analysis. We will inform you below about how to exercise your options in this regard.

2. General information and mandatory information

Data protection.

The operators of this website take the protection of your personal data very seriously. We treat your personal data as confidential and in accordance with the statutory data protection regulations and this privacy policy.

If you use this website, various pieces of personal data will be collected. Personal information is any data with which you could be personally identified. This privacy policy explains what information we collect and what we use it for. It also explains how and for what purpose this happens.

Please note that data transmitted via the internet (e.g. via email communication) may be subject to security breaches. Complete protection of your data from third-party access is not possible.

Revocation of your consent to the processing of your data

Many data processing operations are only possible with your express consent. You may revoke your consent at any time with future effect. An informal email making this request is sufficient. The data processed before we receive your request may still be legally processed.

Right to data portability

You have the right to have data which we process based on your consent or in fulfillment of a contract automatically delivered to yourself or to a third party in a standard, machine-readable format. If you require the direct transfer of data to another responsible party, this will only be done to the extent technically feasible.

SSL or TLS encryption

This site uses SSL or TLS encryption for security reasons and for the protection of the transmission of confidential content, such as the inquiries you send to us as the site operator. You can recognize an encrypted connection in your browser's address line when it changes from "http://" to "https://" and the lock icon is displayed in your browser's address bar.

If SSL or TLS encryption is activated, the data you transfer to us cannot be read by third parties.

Information, blocking, deletion

As permitted by law, you have the right to be provided at any time with information free of charge about any of your personal data that is stored as well as its origin, the recipient and the purpose for which it has been processed. You also have the right to have this data corrected, blocked or deleted. You can contact us at any time using the address given in our legal notice if you have further questions on the topic of personal data.

Opposition to promotional emails

We hereby expressly prohibit the use of contact data published in the context of website legal notice requirements with regard to sending promotional and informational materials not expressly requested. The website operator reserves the right to take specific legal action if unsolicited advertising material, such as email spam, is received.

3. Data collection on our website

Some of our web pages use cookies. Cookies do not harm your computer and do not contain any viruses. Cookies help make our website more user-friendly, efficient, and secure. Cookies are small text files that are stored on your computer and saved by your browser.

Most of the cookies we use are so-called "session cookies." They are automatically deleted after your visit. Other cookies remain in your device's memory until you delete them. These cookies make it possible to recognize your browser when you next visit the site.

You can configure your browser to inform you about the use of cookies so that you can decide on a case-by-case basis whether to accept or reject a cookie. Alternatively, your browser can be configured to automatically accept cookies under certain conditions or to always reject them, or to automatically delete cookies when closing your browser. Disabling cookies may limit the functionality of this website.

Cookies which are necessary to allow electronic communications or to provide certain functions you wish to use (such as the shopping cart) are stored pursuant to Art. 6 paragraph 1, letter f of DSGVO. The website operator has a legitimate interest in the storage of cookies to ensure an optimized service provided free of technical errors. If other cookies (such as those used to analyze your surfing behavior) are also stored, they will be treated separately in this privacy policy.

Server log files

The website provider automatically collects and stores information that your browser automatically transmits to us in "server log files". These are:

• Browser type and browser version
• Operating system used
• Referrer URL
• Host name of the accessing computer
• Time of the server request

These data will not be combined with data from other sources.

The basis for data processing is Art. 6 (1) (b) DSGVO, which allows the processing of data to fulfill a contract or for measures preliminary to a contract.

Contact form

Should you send us questions via the contact form, we will collect the data entered on the form, including the contact details you provide, to answer your question and any follow-up questions. We do not share this information without your permission.

We will, therefore, process any data you enter onto the contact form only with your consent per Art. 6 (1)(a) DSGVO. You may revoke your consent at any time. An informal email making this request is sufficient. The data processed before we receive your request may still be legally processed.

We will retain the data you provide on the contact form until you request its deletion, revoke your consent for its storage, or the purpose for its storage no longer pertains (e.g. after fulfilling your request). Any mandatory statutory provisions, especially those regarding mandatory data retention periods, remain unaffected by this provision.

4. Analytics and advertising

Google analytics.

This website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service. It is operated by Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA.

Google Analytics uses so-called "cookies". These are text files that are stored on your computer and that allow an analysis of the use of the website by you. The information generated by the cookie about your use of this website is usually transmitted to a Google server in the USA and stored there.

Google Analytics cookies are stored based on Art. 6 (1) (f) DSGVO. The website operator has a legitimate interest in analyzing user behavior to optimize both its website and its advertising.

IP anonymization

We have activated the IP anonymization feature on this website. Your IP address will be shortened by Google within the European Union or other parties to the Agreement on the European Economic Area prior to transmission to the United States. Only in exceptional cases is the full IP address sent to a Google server in the US and shortened there. Google will use this information on behalf of the operator of this website to evaluate your use of the website, to compile reports on website activity, and to provide other services regarding website activity and Internet usage for the website operator. The IP address transmitted by your browser as part of Google Analytics will not be merged with any other data held by Google.

Browser plugin

You can prevent these cookies being stored by selecting the appropriate settings in your browser. However, we wish to point out that doing so may mean you will not be able to enjoy the full functionality of this website. You can also prevent the data generated by cookies about your use of the website (incl. your IP address) from being passed to Google, and the processing of these data by Google, by downloading and installing the browser plugin available at the following link: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en .

Objecting to the collection of data

You can prevent the collection of your data by Google Analytics by clicking on the following link. An opt-out cookie will be set to prevent your data from being collected on future visits to this site: Disable Google Analytics .

For more information about how Google Analytics handles user data, see Google's privacy policy: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245?hl=en .

Outsourced data processing

We have entered into an agreement with Google for the outsourcing of our data processing and fully implement the strict requirements of the German data protection authorities when using Google Analytics.

Demographic data collection by Google Analytics

This website uses Google Analytics' demographic features. This allows reports to be generated containing statements about the age, gender, and interests of site visitors. This data comes from interest-based advertising from Google and third-party visitor data. This collected data cannot be attributed to any specific individual person. You can disable this feature at any time by adjusting the ads settings in your Google account or you can forbid the collection of your data by Google Analytics as described in the section "Refusal of data collection".

5. Newsletter

Newsletter data.

If you would like to receive our newsletter, we require a valid email address as well as information that allows us to verify that you are the owner of the specified email address and that you agree to receive this newsletter. No additional data is collected or is only collected on a voluntary basis. We only use this data to send the requested information and do not pass it on to third parties.

We will, therefore, process any data you enter onto the contact form only with your consent per Art. 6 (1) (a) DSGVO. You can revoke consent to the storage of your data and email address as well as their use for sending the newsletter at any time, e.g. through the "unsubscribe" link in the newsletter. The data processed before we receive your request may still be legally processed.

The data provided when registering for the newsletter will be used to distribute the newsletter until you cancel your subscription when said data will be deleted. Data we have stored for other purposes (e.g. email addresses for the members area) remain unaffected.

This website uses the services of MailChimp to send newsletters. This service is provided by Rocket Science Group LLC, 675 Ponce De Leon Ave NE, Suite 5000, Atlanta, GA 30308, USA.

MailChimp is a service which organizes and analyzes the distribution of newsletters. If you provide data (e.g. your email address) to subscribe to our newsletter, it will be stored on MailChimp servers in the USA.

MailChimp is certified under the EU-US Privacy Shield. The Privacy Shield is an agreement between the European Union (EU) and the US to ensure compliance with European privacy standards in the United States.

We use MailChimp to analyze our newsletter campaigns. When you open an email sent by MailChimp, a file included in the email (called a web beacon) connects to MailChimp's servers in the United States. This allows us to determine if a newsletter message has been opened and which links you click on. In addition, technical information is collected (e.g. time of retrieval, IP address, browser type, and operating system). This information cannot be assigned to a specific recipient. It is used exclusively for the statistical analysis of our newsletter campaigns. The results of these analyses can be used to better tailor future newsletters to your interests.

If you do not want your usage of the newsletter to be analyzed by MailChimp, you will have to unsubscribe from the newsletter. For this purpose, we provide a link in every newsletter we send. You can also unsubscribe from the newsletter directly on the website.

Data processing is based on Art. 6 (1) (a) DSGVO. You may revoke your consent at any time by unsubscribing to the newsletter. The data processed before we receive your request may still be legally processed.

The data provided when registering for the newsletter will be used to distribute the newsletter until you cancel your subscription when said data will be deleted from our servers and those of MailChimp. Data we have stored for other purposes (e.g. email addresses for the members area) remains unaffected.

For details, see the MailChimp privacy policy at https://mailchimp.com/legal/terms/ .

Completion of a data processing agreement

We have entered into a data processing agreement with MailChimp, in which we require MailChimp to protect the data of our customers and not to disclose said data to third parties. This agreement may be viewed at the following link: https://mailchimp.com/legal/forms/data-processing-agreement/sample-agreement/ .

CleverReach

This website uses CleverReach to send newsletters. The supplier is CleverReach GmbH & Co. KG, Mühlenstr. 43, 26180 Rastede. CleverReach is a service which organizes and analyzes the distribution of newsletters. The data you provide (e.g. your email address) to subscribe to our newsletter will be stored on CleverReach servers in Germany.

Sending our newsletters with CleverReach enables us to analyze the behavior of newsletter recipients. Among other things, we can find out how many recipients have opened the email containing the newsletter and how often various links contained therein are clicked. With the help of conversion tracking, we can also analyze whether a predefined action (such as the purchase of a product on our website) takes place after clicking on the link in the newsletter. For more information on how data is analyzed by CleverReach, please visit https://www.cleverreach.com/de/funktionen/reporting-und-tracking/ .

If you do not want your usage of the newsletter to be analyzed by CleverReach, you will have to unsubscribe from the newsletter. For this purpose, we provide a link in every newsletter we send. You can also unsubscribe from the newsletter directly on the website.

The data provided when registering for the newsletter will be used to distribute the newsletter until you cancel your subscription when said data will be deleted from our servers and those of CleverReach. Data we have stored for other purposes (e.g. email addresses for the members area) remains unaffected.

For more information, see the privacy policy of CleverReach at https://www.cleverreach.com/de/datenschutz/ .

Completion of an outsourced data processing contract

We have entered into an agreement with CleverReach for the outsourcing of our data processing and fully implement the strict requirements of the German data protection authorities when using CleverReach.

6. Plugins and tools

Our website uses plugins from YouTube, which is operated by Google. The operator of the pages is YouTube LLC, 901 Cherry Ave., San Bruno, CA 94066, USA.

If you visit one of our pages featuring a YouTube plugin, a connection to the YouTube servers is established. Here the YouTube server is informed about which of our pages you have visited.

If you're logged in to your YouTube account, YouTube allows you to associate your browsing behavior directly with your personal profile. You can prevent this by logging out of your YouTube account.

YouTube is used to help make our website appealing. This constitutes a justified interest pursuant to Art. 6 (1) (f) DSGVO.

Further information about handling user data, can be found in the data protection declaration of YouTube under https://www.google.de/intl/de/policies/privacy .

Our website uses features provided by the Vimeo video portal. This service is provided by Vimeo Inc., 555 West 18th Street, New York, New York 10011, USA.

If you visit one of our pages featuring a Vimeo plugin, a connection to the Vimeo servers is established. Here the Vimeo server is informed about which of our pages you have visited. In addition, Vimeo will receive your IP address. This also applies if you are not logged in to Vimeo when you visit our website or do not have a Vimeo account. The information is transmitted to a Vimeo server in the US, where it is stored.

If you are logged in to your Vimeo account, Vimeo allows you to associate your browsing behavior directly with your personal profile. You can prevent this by logging out of your Vimeo account.

For more information on how to handle user data, please refer to the Vimeo Privacy Policy at https://vimeo.com/privacy .

Google Web Fonts

For uniform representation of fonts, this page uses web fonts provided by Google. When you open a page, your browser loads the required web fonts into your browser cache to display texts and fonts correctly.

When you call up a page of our website that contains a social plugin, your browser makes a direct connection with Google servers. Google thus becomes aware that our web page was accessed via your IP address. The use of Google Web fonts is done in the interest of a uniform and attractive presentation of our website. This constitutes a justified interest pursuant to Art. 6 (1) (f) DSGVO.

If your browser does not support web fonts, a standard font is used by your computer.

Further information about handling user data, can be found at https://developers.google.com/fonts/faq and in Google's privacy policy at https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/ .

Google Maps

This site uses the Google Maps map service via an API. It is operated by Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA.

To use Google Maps, it is necessary to save your IP address. This information is generally transmitted to a Google server in the USA and stored there. The provider of this site has no influence on this data transfer.

The use of Google Maps is in the interest of making our website appealing and to facilitate the location of places specified by us on the website. This constitutes a justified interest pursuant to Art. 6 (1) (f) DSGVO.

Further information about handling user data, can be found in the data protection declaration of Google at https://www.google.de/intl/de/policies/privacy/ .

• http://www.bavariayachts.com/
• Bavariastraße 1, 97232 Giebelstadt

In 1978, the first yacht of the Bavaria brand came off the stocks at a shipyard in the German city of Gibelshdat. It was the 807. The founder of the company, Winfred Hermann, could not have imagined at the time that in a few years his production would have the most modern facilities to produce a wide range of yachts.

This manufacturer of plastic windows decided to re-equip its factory for the production of inexpensive cruise yachts, and the assembly of models on an on-line conveyor became a feature of the shipyard's work. This made it possible to speed up the production of finished products, divide functions among the working staff, improve quality control at each stage of assembly . Over time, Bavaria became the first company in the yachting world to use robotic technology in the construction of yachts and boats.

Constantly feeling the pulse of the market, this company has been mastering the production of motor boats since 2003 . Today their share in the total number of manufactured products is 40%.

Today BAVARIA-Yachtbau is a shipyard with 200 thousand sq. m. production space . 70 thousand sq.m. were allocated directly for the body molding shops, workshops, carpentry shops and five assembly lines. The model range of the manufacturer includes 40 models of sailing cruising catamarans and planing yachts with a flybridge with a hull length from 9 to 18 meters. The main production facilities with a staff of 600 are located in the German Giebelstadt. In La Rochelle, France, the company employs 250 people to assemble Nautitech catamarans. Every year 2 thousand motor and sailing yachts leave the stocks of this leader of the yachting industry with an excellent combination of price and quality. It is for him that many experts on the yacht and boat market call BAVARIA-Yachtbau a people's brand.

The shipyard's own test center in Markbraith am Main also takes an active part in the technological chain. The work of this division allows you to research, test, modify yachts, bring innovations to their designs. The center's specialists work on each model until the quality inspectors of the shipyard give their approval for its serial launch. In the structure of the center, there is a test pool, in which yachts, before falling into the hands of their owners, are tested for their strength and reliability indicators.

All Bavaria yachts and boats are certified and meet the most stringent quality standards .

Yacht models

Cruiser Line

Sailing Catamaran

Virtess Line

Vision Line

Motor Catamaran

Discontinued production models

Buy Bavaria

• Advertising

Customer reviews

• Netherlands
• United States
• United Kingdom

• AMERICA'S CUP
• CLASSIFIEDS
• NEWSLETTERS
• SUBMIT NEWS

Bavaria Yachts - perfectly positioned for the future

Related Articles

• BOAT OF THE YEAR
• Newsletters
• Sailboat Reviews
• Boating Safety
• Sails and Rigging
• Maintenance
• Sailing Totem
• Sailor & Galley
• Living Aboard
• Destinations
• Gear & Electronics
• Charter Resources
• Ultimate Boat Giveaway

Sailboat Review: Bavaria C38

• By Mark Pillsbury
• April 20, 2022

For the past several years, practically all of the design surprises that have caught my eye on new sailboats have been abaft the mast. In no particular order, these innovative features include hull chines, twin rudders, pop-up TVs, house-style refrigerators, galleys forward in the saloon, sinks and grills on the stern, sun beds between a ­monohull’s twin wheels, and lounges on the coachroof to either side of the companionway. Some of these make the boat sail ­better, while others make it a more comfortable place to enjoy life on the water.

But this past fall, it was the pointy end—or, should I say, the not-so-pointy end—of the Bavaria C38 that stood out. It made an impression from above, as I looked across the broad foredeck, and down ­below, where the builder’s in-house team and Cossutti Yacht Design somehow found a way to install a king-size berth in the owner’s stateroom, while still leaving room for a hanging locker and a head-and-shower compartment, all forward of the mast.

For a decade or more, even as beam measurement amidships has steadily increased and been carried aft to allow for ever more spacious twin staterooms, most boats still have been built with a bow that’s shaped like an arrow point. The Bavaria V-bow, as the company calls it, has a more radial shape and ­hullsides that flare out above the waterline, creating all that living space in the interior. 

In a briefing with CW ’s Boat of the Year judges, a ­company representative described the 38 as a family coastal ­cruiser. I thought that design brief seemed pretty accurate as we went through the boat, and later took it out for a sail. If kids and their friends are the crew, you could pack a pile of them into the two aft cabins, and the dining table in the saloon drops down to form a third double berth. And they could all share the head and shower compartment to starboard, at the foot of the companionway. Meantime, mom and pop can escape to the big forward stateroom. 

The forward stateroom’s en suite head compartment does cut into a corner of the berth, but couples who plan to only occasionally have grandkids or friends aboard can ­forgo the forward head. They also could turn one of the aft cabins into a workspace or stowage, which is standard.

In all three configurations, the saloon stays unchanged. A settee, with a nav desk forward of it, is to port, opposite the dining table and a U-shaped, cushioned seat. The tabletop folds open to handle a crew of six or more. Abaft the ­settee is an L-shaped galley with a sink, fridge and three-burner gas stove. The boat we visited ­also had a microwave. Stowage seemed adequate for coastal-­hopping, and the counters had fiddles to keep things from sliding off when heeled.

Topsides, the cockpit ­coamings make good backrests on the benches forward of the twin wheels. The seats are a bit too short for sleeping, the judges noted, but stepping out over the coamings isn’t ­difficult when headed forward.

Having owned (and ­sanded and varnished) a boat with exterior wood handrails and trim, I appreciated the C38’s low-maintenance exterior finish. The raised bulwarks and deck are fiberglass, and handrails on the cabin top are stainless steel. The only exterior wood is on the centerline table in the cockpit. That table’s after end doubles as a nifty place to mount a plotter because it’s visible from either helm. Far forward, there’s a chain locker with good access to the windlass and anchor rode. The anchor itself is stowed on a roller that extends forward, and the bow is further ­protected from accidental dings by a stainless-steel plate. Aft, there is equally good access to the emergency steering and ­quadrant for the single rudder.

A base-model C38 has a price tag of $248,000, but a model that’s well fitted out, like the one we visited, goes for $350,000, delivered to the United States, East Coast. Among the options ­included on the C38 we sailed were three air-conditioning units, a Fusion sound system, and synthetic teak called Esthec on the cockpit seats and sole, and the swim platform. Hardware and electronics were from Seldén, Lewmar and B&G. Sails were from Elvstrøm.

Bavaria builds 500-plus sailboats a year at its factory in Germany, and the C38 is the smallest in the five-boat Cossutti-designed C line; the flagship is a 57-footer. The company builds two other lines of cruising sailboats—the Cruiser and Vision ranges—for a total of 16 models starting at 32 feet.

Bavaria’s hulls and decks are all hand-laminated, with foam coring between inner and outer layers of fiberglass. Aluminum plates are in the composite sandwich wherever hardwaare is to be ­mounted. Hulls and decks are joined with adhesive and screws.

Underway, the C38 is a relatively simple boat to sail, with in-mast furling for the main and a self-tacking jib, also set on a furler. The boat doesn’t have a traveler, so when beating upwind, tacking requires just a turn of the wheel.

A double-ended mainsheet is led back to winches ­within reach of either of the twin wheels, and sail control lines are all led across the coachroof to clutches and a pair of winches on either side of the companionway. There are also genoa tracks mounted on deck and sheet winches on either coaming, should an owner opt for an overlapping genoa.

Underway, I found that visibility from either wheel was good, thanks to the low-profile cabin. The stainless-steel stern pulpit makes a good backrest when sitting down to steer.

We had moderate conditions the day we took the boat out for a sail on the Chesapeake Bay, right after the close of the United States Sailboat Show in Annapolis, Maryland, in October. Sailing hard on the wind in 15 or so knots of breeze, we saw a steady 5.5 knots on the GPS. The track for the self-­tending jib’s car lacked stops, so we weren’t able to get the headsail in as far as we might have liked to, but that’s an easy fix. With the sheets eased a bit for a close reach, our speed jumped to 7 knots and change. ­Under power, the 40 hp Yanmar pushed us along at just over 6 knots, at a fuel-sipping 2,300 rpm cruising speed.

The skipper who ­delivered the boat to the show was along for the ride. He said that they’d encountered a variety of conditions on the ride up from St. Augustine, Florida, and the boat took them all in stride—just as a family cruiser should.

Bavaria C38 Specifications

• More: bavaria , print 2022 april , sailboat review , Sailboat Reviews , Sailboats
• More Sailboats

Sailboat Preview: Elan GT6 Explorer

For Sale: 1984 Camper & Nicholsons 58

Alubat Updates OVNI Models

For Sale: Little Harbor 63 Ketch

From Paradise to Medical Emergency: A Bahamas Nightmare Turns Lesson Learned

Free Medical Advice: The Unwarranted, Unprofessional Edition

Gatekeepers of the Waterway

Rigging Redo: Our Switch to Synthetic

• Digital Edition
• Customer Service
• Privacy Policy
• Terms of Use
• Email Newsletters
• Cruising World
• Sailing World
• Salt Water Sportsman
• Sport Fishing
• Wakeboarding

• Facebook Icon
• Twitter Icon

In Former East Germany, the Left Is Paying for Its Failures

• Back Issues

For Labor Day, subscriptions start at $10. Free international shipping!

Three states in former East Germany face elections in September, with the far-right Alternative für Deutschland leading polls. The party is exploiting voter discontent with the fallout of reunification — and the Left’s lack of a convincing alternative.

Election campaign billboards of the Alternative for Germany (AfD), which reads: "Summer, Sun, Remigration" in reference to the mass deportation of immigrants, and the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), which reads: "Good pensions instead of old-age poverty" hang from a lamppost on August 27, 2024, near Jena, Germany. (Sean Gallup / Getty Images)

The specter that once haunted West Germany was exorcized some thirty-five years ago as the breach in the Berlin Wall opened the way to reunification. This eradicated the specter’s spookiest haunting grounds — the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) — and nailed it into what was hoped to be a shatterproof, Krupp-steel coffin.

In 1989, this joyous victory was marked with fireworks over Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate, a moving mass rendition of “Deutschland Über Alles,” good beer, and juicy bockwurst. We can expect similar celebrations on this year’s anniversary.

But it now seems that Germany is facing a new and very different specter, again coming from the East. This time, Germans are talking about the danger of fascism.

Two states in former GDR territory, Thuringia and Saxony, face elections on September 1, followed by Brandenburg on September 22. In all three, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) tops the polls.

Three questions occupy columns and talk shows. How fascist is the AfD? Should it be totally ostracized or even outlawed? And how did the AfD, already in second place in national polls (on 19 percent), take first place (around 30 percent support) in the same Eastern areas that, under Communist rule, were most volubly anti-fascist?

After Socialism

To some folk — most prominently Donald Trump but also German pundits and politicians — “communist,” “socialist,” “fascist,” and “totalitarian” all mean the same thing. Who knows or cares about their polarizing differences? In Washington, they are all “un-American” and equally evil. In Germany, they all “reject Germany’s freedom-loving, democratic Basic Law” (the state still has no regular constitution). If they’re all the same, why bother to inquire further?

When East Germany was reunited with (or “annexed” to) the West, millions wondered what freedom and democracy would bring. Many were happy to be rid of the constant preaching about socialism to which they had been subjected for forty years. More important, they were happy to see — not just on TV screens but on sale — all those modern fashions, gadgets, cars, and imported fruits and vegetables. They had the chance to travel anywhere. About a third — those with easily adaptable trades and jobs, or quickly acquired new ones — got along much better than before. Even if largely uninterested in religion, they still tend to vote for the Christian Democrats (CDU).

But millions had a tougher time. They were the people whose workplaces were shuttered, often leaving them jobless. Administration, education, even research, journalism at every level of print, radio, TV — all this was seized and soon run by West Germans. Often, these latter had been second- and third-stringers at home but now became a privileged class ruling a new Eastern roost.

This meant not just an end to public ownership, but the abandonment of most factories themselves, except where lower wages and worse conditions (but high skills) made a few of them lucrative as subsidiaries of Western monopolies. One example: a company that had supplied the GDR and much of the Eastern Bloc with refrigerators was on the brink of enforced bankruptcy when its last engineer and an enthusiast from Greenpeace developed a new form of fridge, free of the newly forbidden ozone-destroying FCKW gas. The area’s one rare industrial center could thus be saved! But then the three main Western monopolies, smelling new profits, ganged up to undercut and destroy this budding competitor — and any hope for jobs locally. Countless small, one-factory towns were left with shattered windows and bare work halls, emptied of the last machinery of value.

Supermarkets, taken over by Western chains, then sold Western products, undercutting and, where possible, destroying the GDR’s successful cooperative farm system. In early 1990, almost a million people were employed in GDR agriculture. By 2007, their number had dropped to 150,000. Farm villages rarely had even small-scale industry to employ the onetime farmers.

The co-op farms had usually been the centers for most village social life, with their kindergartens, libraries, bands, and festivities. Many farmers tried to maintain the co-ops in some semiprivatized compromise form. Such attempts were largely penalized by all-German laws or suffocated by invading giants, often with giant hog, poultry, and cattle factories. Former coworkers often became involved in angry disputes over redividing once commonly held hectare ownership.

Like the small towns, ever more villages emptied out, with the newly jobless leaving in droves to find work in West German Bavaria and Schleswig-Holstein — and even in Austria and Switzerland. Young women, first to be pushed out of former farming jobs, were generally quicker to risk moving westward than their often mama-spoiled brothers.

Over the next couple of decades, the economy settled down to a degree. Some major corporations set up outposts in Eastern cities like Dresden, Leipzig, or Tesla’s plant south of Berlin, with lower wage scales, longer hours, and more jobless workers — highly skilled, but largely unacquainted with strikes (though this situation is now improving).

About another third of the population just about managed to get along. But for them — and even more for the lowest-income third of society, including single mothers, poorly pensioned retirees, and the precariously employed — there was widespread disillusionment. In the first years of “united Germany,” the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) — the demonized foster child of the former GDR ruling party — did poorly. But with the big world recession of 2008–9 when the Social Democrats virtually deserted their working-class supporters, the newly formed Die Linke — an amalgamation of the PDS with a left-wing breakaway in Western Germany — attracted nearly five million voters, 12 percent, in a loud, angry protest.

But this high point was never achieved again. Die Linke leaders, gaining amazing 25-33 percent results in the Eastern states, won so many seats on the federal level (with up to seventy-six seats in the Bundestag) and in state and local government that some seemed to welcome the accompanying prestige, pay, perks, and pensions, also for their staffers. Some “kept up the good fight.” Others, seemingly satisfied to settle for smaller improvements, increasingly came to be seen by unhappy voters as just another part of the establishment.

Others were eager to fill the resulting gap. Infiltrators from West Germany joined fascist-minded Eastern rabble-rousers emerging from the woodwork, almost fully inactive in the GDR days and now no longer kept silent. They led disoriented, dissatisfied young men to blame their — quite genuine — troubles not on the monopolies squeezing East Germany dry but rather on refugees and immigrants, seeking asylum from wars and misery and seeking ways to survive. Their different skin colors, faiths, clothing, and language made it easy to see them as “others,” and many racist, pro-Nazi groups formed, marched, shouted, sang, and violently attacked, sometimes with deathly Molotov cocktails. Countless small-town cops, judges, prosecutors, and mayors tolerated or favored them — out of sympathy or fear. And some officials at very high levels did as well.

Since its founding in 2013, these groups increasingly coalesced around the AfD, which, step by step, moved to the nationalist, racist right. Its leader in Thuringia, Björn Höcke, has called for a renewal of Germany’s “thousand-year Reich,” only slightly coding his violent dog whistles. He was recently fined by a court for shouting the legally forbidden Nazi storm-trooper slogan “Alles für Deutschland!” in a speech. He has since repeated it, shouting “Alles für . . .” and letting his mob add “Deutschland.” In Thuringia, his party now leads the polls with 30 percent support. In Saxony, also voting September 1, the AfD stands even higher.

How did Die Linke react? While avowing support for working-class struggles and seeking friendship with some union leaders, it mostly failed to engage in active, visible support. To maintain its shrinking ranks, it turned to young, highly educated circles, and adopted the common language of identity politics and its attendant battles over grammar; important matters for some, but of little interest to most of the millions worried about paying the rent and affording healthy food for themselves or their children.

Die Linke did speak up against devastating rent increases, about childcare and the disastrous lack of affordable housing. It had occasional, limited success in a few big cities, but was more often seen in stiff legislative chambers than in the raucous street rallies it needed. It continually chose its candidate lists from the same intellectual circles, among party officials — in rare cases, a few white-collar workers, but never anyone with a “blue collar.”

Die Linke was the only party to maintain humane positions on refugees and immigrants, opposing the growing call “German culture must not be mixed or diluted!” — “The boat is full!” But they offered few proposals for solving problems in terms of jobs, wages, education, housing, or integration, and so lost more votes than they gained. All too many were won over by the vicious but effective propaganda of the AfD, tuned to increased pressures with the recession and the COVID-19 crisis. One result: an estimated 34 percent of working-class voters preferred AfD, while only 3 percent stuck with Die Linke.

After the Zeitenwende

But most important are decisions on war and peace. The parties in the ruling coalition (Social Democrats, Greens, neoliberal Free Democrats) are now constantly at each other’s throats — about the climate, the educational crisis at all levels, the calamity with the railroads, and increasing poverty among seniors. All three are seeking separate salvation from disastrous election results: next month in East Germany, next year in the all-German Bundestag vote, with the Free Democrats facing political oblivion, and all three flirting with their hitherto adversaries, the Christian Democrats, today well ahead in national polls.

But while the government parties quarrel over budget cuts for their ministries, they approve billions for military support for Kyiv — and Germany’s own “defense against the Russian threat.” Since the 2014 Maidan putsch, Germany has sent more than any other European country, ignoring a few timid Social Democrats like Bundestag fraction chairman Rolf Mützenich who dare to urge attempts to achieve peace. Chancellor Olaf Scholz, with an eye to the coming elections, has seemed occasionally to drag his feet, like with his opposition to sending giant, far-reaching Taurus missiles. But he eventually goes along with the ever more frightening demands of Social Democratic defense minister Boris Pistorius.

These same forces, despite growing popular opposition — and some very limited criticisms on their own part — also support Benjamin Netanyahu’s war in Gaza. The considerably German-armed campaign is labeled a battle for “Israel’s right to survive,” which now seemingly outweighs the killing of at least 40,000 people in Gaza, with thousands of children killed, buried under rubble, or maimed physically and psychically for life, and three cities methodically razed to the ground. It is all justified in the name of a German commitment to restitution for the crimes of 1933–45.

There are a few cracks in this wall of unanimity. One is the AfD. Not on Israel policy! Its all-out support for Netanyahu’s war may seem surprising given the occasional antisemitic signals inherited from its twentieth-century models. But outweighing such carryovers is its inherent obsession with the “Islamist” menace, endangering “basic German culture” under the weight of women’s hijabs and bearded men’s recital of suwar from the Koran (and the rare but tragic crime, hardly unexpected in any group of displaced, discriminated-against, and often bitter young men).

But why does the AfD also support Vladimir Putin? Likely Putin will ally with anyone who opposes the European Union and its anti-Russian sanctions and financial support for Volodymyr Zelensky. The AfD is probably calling for peace negotiations in Ukraine for pragmatic reasons, knowing that perhaps 70 percent of East Germans (and almost 50 percent of West Germans) reject current moves toward war. But the AfD is no peace party; it wants a stronger NATO, more armaments, military conscription — in general, a return to Germany’s twentieth-century military power.

Die Linke, though divided in many ways, was always the sole “party of peace.” As in many countries, however, the Ukraine conflict split it disastrously. Its main leaders blamed both sides — already a daring position — but increasingly overlooked NATO’s role. But within its ranks, former parliamentary cospeaker Sahra Wagenknecht and her supporters pointed to Washington’s continuing mission to rule the world. They blamed NATO for negating its promises never to expand eastward, by moving big weapons as well as naval and military maneuvers into former Eastern Bloc countries now integrated into the alliance. They argued that this meant an encirclement of the Russian heartland while controlling its Baltic and Black Sea deep sea outlets and rejecting all Russian offers — or pleas — to reach some form of détente.

In early 2023, Wagenknecht and her allies formulated a peace manifesto that was signed within a few weeks by nearly 800,000 people, and then organized a peace rally in Berlin that attracted perhaps 50,000. When Die Linke’s leadership boycotted both the manifesto and the rally, calling on members to do likewise (allegedly because there were insufficient red lines against AfD supporters’ attending), the deed was done; and late last year the umbilical cord was severed and the new baby born: the Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW).

After the Split

Within seven months, Wagenknecht’s BSW has pushed its poll score up to 9 percent nationally. In the Eastern states voting in September, BSW leads Die Linke by 18 to 13 percent in Thuringia (though this is the one state where, since 2014, Die Linke has had the minister-president). In Brandenburg, BSW leads 17 to 5, with Die Linke on the brink of disappearance. In Saxony, BSW polls at 13 percent while Die Linke — formerly in second place — is down to a disastrous 3 percent.

In these votes, Die Linke risks not making parliament in two out of three states. The Free Democrats and Greens are out of the running in all three, and the Social Democrats near the bottom (outside their Brandenburg stronghold). The only remaining contenders will be a very strong AfD, quite strong Christian Democrats, and BSW. None are close to a majority; all have rejected ties with either of the others.

What will happen? Some Christian Democrats have begun to play footsie with the AfD, whose far-right ideas are not all that far from its own. In a few towns and villages, we have already seen a first open — if timid — embrace. Can it be magnified all over Saxony?

In Brandenburg, where the Social Democrats retain some strength, there is talk of overcoming the existing strong taboo on approaching Wagenknecht’s alliance. Would that suffice?

Most surprising — or alarming — have been malicious whispers of a possible AfD-BSW arrangement of some kind. Wagenknecht has stated that her BSW can never join with any party that supports unconditional arms shipments to Ukraine. Only the AfD — for reasons of its own — fits that bill. Wagenknecht’s position on immigrants — stricter rules, lower numbers — sometimes seems to contain echoes of AfD “Germans first” positions. Economically, she has seemed to favor middle-class groups and a return to the “social market economy” of mid-1960s West German chancellor Ludwig Erhard, with a few mentions of working-class rights but little audible militancy thus far, much less any references to socialism.

Wagenknecht claims that her party is the best, or only real, barrier to the AfD and fascists generally. But although some of the strongest left-wing personalities left Die Linke to join her BSW, it has clear limits. It plans no written program until next fall, does not yet recruit members, and still relies heavily both on its novelty as a protest vote and its leader’s dominant personality and excellent skills as a speaker.

Is Die Linke doomed? One of its sections — basically the Marxists, though they are almost always outvoted by the leaders’ conservative wing — decided not to join BSW but to stay and fight. They especially resist a weakening of the traditional Die Linke opposition to NATO, also in the case of Ukraine, and oppose any deployment of German armaments and troops abroad. They are also fighting some leaders’ slippery stance avoiding frankly opposing Netanyahu’s brutal genocide.

But Die Linke’s frightening losses — just 2.7 percent in June’s EU elections — and the great success of the BSW in weaning away its members seem finally to have forced a change. One result: less than two weeks before the state elections, both of Die Linke’s chairpersons announced they would not stand for reelection at October’s party congress. Luckily (or by plan), a male West German and a female East German have already applied to replace them. Such a “balance” is an established equation, but this time their aim is basically to rescue Die Linke from the abyss.

Their statements sound optimistic, but also militant. Can this mean that what remains of Die Linke will start really fighting, also in the streets, factories, supermarkets, and colleges, for working people, for peace, and for socialism — perhaps, in the end, more than BSW?

These candidates’ future is uncertain. But it will be extremely important if there is to be any real resistance to the increasingly dangerous trend toward German remilitarization, expansion — and possibly even some modern equivalent of fascism.

As for me, I am keeping an open mind — and again recall the words of Mark Twain: “I don’t like to commit myself about heaven and hell — you see, I have friends in both places.”