The pigs brought prosperity to the Oldenburger Münsterland.

Until the 1960s, the region between Cloppenburg and Vechta was considered a poor house, the soil was muddy and unsuitable.

The import of animal feed made livestock possible.

The farmers cultivated the soil.

And parallel to the economic rise came the success of the CDU.

The party was over 80 percent here in the federal elections in the sixties.

In 2017 it was almost 60 percent.

Timo Steppat

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The region is record holder in many things: Highest home ownership rate, highest density of ranchers, lowest number of people leaving the church. In addition to farms and fields, crossroads determine the landscape. The church stands in the middle of society, all major celebrations begin with a service. We spoke with Auxiliary Bishop Wilfried Theising, who is the official responsible for the region, about whether good Catholics vote for the CDU. With the President of the St. Hubertus Rifle Brotherhood in Vechta, Philipp Wilming, about the importance of clubs for social life. The farmer Sandra Ortmann-Hoping explains how regulations and guidelines make her work difficult, why she fears the greens and does not want to switch to organic. We ask the CDU MP Silvia Breher about her secret of success.It is important to her: Your constituency 32 is not only the most successful of the CDU - the performance is also better than that of the CSU in Bavaria.

We'll take you on a trip every Monday and Wednesday this summer.

We visited the most successful constituencies of the SPD, FDP, Greens, CDU, Left, AfD and CSU.

The FAZ Podcast for Germany is the FAZ's daily podcast on the most relevant topics of the day.

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Assistance: Kevin Gremmel