I am sorry, but you can't minimize the issue to "they think the refugees are the problem because of +30 years old problems". I don't know the history of Germany in the last 30 years, but I find it more correct to say that these people are just extremists because of other issues (the frustration was already there before refugees came).
I just found the article pretty biased. This is more marketing than journalism: hiding important negative aspects of your product while highlighting what you want to sell. But after all, Germany is getting better and better at it, unfortunately ... :(
And the frustration surely arises from lots of reasons, the refugees are just an easy outlet for those people there now. Like the somewhat-undefined unhappiness of the last 30 years can now be pointed to the refugess. That obviously is not true, but some people benefit from the fact that other people think that way.
I am totally with you that the article is not very well written regarding that. Perhaps the whole situation is not very known to the author and he most probably had some official documents and marketing brochures as sources and you will most probably not find "East Germany is nice, except that we like to hit immigrants and burn their houses down." in there.
LOL!
National "sponsorship" was a big deal in East Germany to develop that part of the country after the fall of the DDR and the Berlin wall. It didn´t work out so well, I think. Lots of companies moved over there, took the money they could get and moved on, once funding was over and you could produce (cheaper) somewhere else. Some companies obviously stayed, yes, but they do not necessarily provide well paid jobs, so the overall living standard won´t increase for most of the people, although rent, taxes and more are lower in some areas, yes.
This is what frustates people and makes them throw molotov cocktails against refugee camps, because they think the refugees are the problem. This damages the areas' reputation and keeps companies from starting there. I think the situation "over there" is quite complex and will keep Germany troubled for quite some time.
What I like about East Germany is the nature. There are really some quite untouched places which are great for holidays. I´d love to have a house or an old farm over there, somewhere in the nowhere for the times you want to get down.