CNN using 'East German' in the headline as if East Germany still exists and is somehow to blame for this is incredibly cynical.

You know who wouldn't have let this happen? The German Democratic Republic. But its forcible annexation into the Nazi successor state next door, resulting in its flooding with capitalist propaganda even as the quality of life collapsed under shock doctrine, is why there is such a resurgence of far-right politics in the east. Once again, the forcible, antidemocratic destruction of communism in Europe by the US Empire reveals itself as one of the greatest disasters in history.