New film uncovers racism in Germany

Is Germany a racist country? That is what a new documentary, Black on White, is trying to find out. Its findings are shocking. But, as Damien McGuinness reports, the filmmaker himself has been criticized by black Germans for his methods.

For more than a year, journalist Gunter Wallraff travelled across Germany wearing a dark-haired curly wig and with his white skin painted black.

Equipped with a secret camera, and calling himself Kwami Ogonno, he went to predominantly white areas to see how a black man with a foreign accent is treated.

The experience, he said, was even more depressing that he had expected.

"I hadn't known what we would discover, and had thought maybe the story will be, what a tolerant and accepting country we have become," said Mr Wallraff after a screening of the film Black on White in Berlin. "Unfortunately I was wrong." 

Günter Wallraff was almost beaten up by Neo-Nazis after a football match in eastern Germany. Outside a small-town nightclub was told by a skinhead: "Europe for whites, Africa for apes."

But the film's most disturbing aspect is not the well-known racism of right-wing extremists, but rather the secretly-filmed reactions of everyday people - the landlady who says she could not possibly rent out a flat to a black person, or the shop owner who will not let "Kwami" try on an expensive watch, but willingly hands over the same watch to the next customer who is white.

Everyday abuse

For black people in certain parts of Germany such experiences are commonplace, believes Sven Mekarides, general secretary of the Africa Council in Berlin.

Mr Mekarides left his native Cameroon in 1991 and came to study in a small town in eastern Germany.

He says he and his fellow African students experienced racist attacks and abuse every day.

They were spat at, shouted at and beer bottles were thrown at them.

The worst attack took place in the eastern Berlin district of Lichtenberg in 2004, when Mr Mekarides and his girlfriend were surrounded by seven young men armed with knives.

"We soon realized that it was dangerous to travel in groups of less than three people. And we would never let any of the women go anywhere without accompanying them," he said in a Berlin cafe.

Since then, he said, the situation has not got much better.

According to the Amadeu Antonio foundation there have been 138 racially-motivated murders in Germany since 1990. And last year police registered 140 race attacks in Berlin.

"Those are only the most extreme cases the police know about," said Mr Mekarides.

"Every day we get calls from black people who have been falsely accused of stealing something or insulted on the street."

Clown in a carnival?

Although Mr Mekarides welcomes the discussion about racism the film has sparked off, he believes the filmmaker's exaggerated disguise confirms Europeans' worst stereotypes of an African.

"He just doesn't look like an African," said Mr Mekarides. "The wig, the make-up and the brightly-coloured shirt are all so over the top, he looks like he's a clown in a carnival.

"After he has washed his skin, he can forget the problem. But black people have this problem every day."

Some German newspaper commentators have accused the filmmaker himself of racism for acting out such a negative stereotype of a black person. The character of Kwami speaks broken German and is childlike in his ignorance of dangerous situations.

Anti-racism pressure groups, meanwhile, have complained that the filmmaker is paternally speaking for black people, rather than with them. Why did he not simply film the experiences of real black people?

"It was crucial that I take on these dangers myself," countered Mr Wallraff. "There's no way that I could delegate this role to someone else.

"I've been accused of being racist. But just imagine if I'd sent a black person into situations that I wasn't prepared to go into myself."

Torture and prison

With a celebrated 40-year career of unearthing social injustice, it is impossible to doubt Gunter Wallraff's motivations.

In one assignment he went undercover as an anti-government protestor in 1970s Greece and was tortured and imprisoned.

The film has won praise for starting a debate about racism in Germany. After a Q&A session with Mr Wallraff in a Berlin cinema, one young black woman said the film was "interesting, helpful and needed for Germany".

She said: "I've lived here all my life, and this is the first time I've ever seen an audience like this discussing this issue."

Racism is viewed as unacceptable by mainstream German society, and many urban areas pride themselves on a multi-cultural tolerant atmosphere.

But there do still exist so-called "no-go areas" - particularly in rural eastern Germany - which anti-racism activists advise non-white people to avoid.

Gunter Wallraff's film has already done a lot to spark discussion about racism. With an ageing population, Germany is now having to come to terms with being a country of immigration.

Clearly the debate is just beginning.

Source: BBC News

New Book Reveals Secret Meaning of Neo-Nazi Codes - 06/27/2011

If you were at a German soccer game and saw fans holding up the numbers 14 and 88 in cardboard numerals, you might imagine them to be, say, the shirt numbers of fans' favorite players. But you'd be wrong. In fact, the numbers hold a much more sinister meaning: They are actually neo-Nazi symbols.

It's just one example of how right-wing extremists in Germany use hidden codes to get around a legal ban on Nazi symbols such as the swastika. Very few people know the real meaning of such codes, says Michael Weiss, a German expert on right-wing extremism.

Very few people know the real meaning of such codes, says Michael Weiss, a German expert on right-wing extremism who is one of the authors of the brochure. Nordic-style symbols, as seen on the back of this man's jacket and as a tattoo on his arm, are also popular with right-wing extremists.

Openly Nazi symbols such as the swastika are banned in Germany. Neo-Nazis get around the law by using secret combinations of letter and numbers such as 14 and 88. A new book, "Das Versteckspiel" ("Hide and Seek"), explains the meaning of such codes. Here, a right-wing extremism with tattoos including the number 14 and the "white power" fist logo.

Here, a right-wing extremist in Berlin wears a shirt featuring the inscription "Frontbann 24," the name of an organization that was banned in 2009. The name is inspired by a Nazi organization that was founded in 1924.

The ancient symbol of the triskelion is also used by right-wing extremists. The clothing label Fred Perry, which made the polo shirt seen here, has long been popular with skinheads of all political persuasions and is worn by some German neo-Nazis. The firm has taken pains to distance itself from the scene.

The number 8 is also a common neo-Nazi symbol. Extremists use it to stand in for the letter H, for Hitler. Here the combination spells out the word "hate." Max H8 is a German streetwear label.

Some neo-Nazis have co-opted imagery previously used by the left-wing. The flag symbols here looks similar to those used by German anti-fascists.

The demonstrator holding the bullhorn is sporting the Black Sun or sunwheel symbol, which is popular with neo-Nazis, on his vest (2006 photo). The man on the right appears to have pieces of adhesive tape on his hoodie, which he could be using to conceal banned symbols.

Some neo-Nazis have taken to wearing the kaffiyeh scarf (seen on the right), a symbol of Palestinian nationalism, "as a symbol of struggle against Israel," says Weiss.

 Here, a right-wing extremist (holding flag) has clearly been inspired by Adolf Hitler's personal look. The man next to him is wearing a T-shirt from the clothing firm Masterrace Europe, whose products are worn by neo-Nazis.

Thor Steinar is one of several German clothing labels associated with neo-Nazis.

 Thor Steinar is one of several German clothing labels associated with neo-Nazis.

 ... to these left-wing demonstrators protesting against a neo-Nazi rally in Dresden.

Weiss, who has been researching right-wing clothing and symbols for 10 years, is one of the authors of a new brochure titled "Das Versteckspiel" ("Hide and Seek"). The publication, which is aimed at teachers, social workers and youth group leaders, is designed to raise awareness of right-wing codes, which are often displayed at football games. "We want the soccer teams and the major fan clubs to be able to recognize the codes," Weiss told SPIEGEL.

Secret Codes 'Everywhere'

The brochure, which is published by a Berlin-based anti-racism group, Agentur für Soziale Perspektiven, lists 150 codes that are used by right-wing extremists, including certain clothing labels such as Thor Steinar and letter and number combinations. According to Weiss, the number 14 is a reference to the so-called "14 Words," a phrase coined by the American white separatist David Lane ("We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children"). The meaning behind "88" -- often found in conjunction with 14 -- is slightly more complicated. Here, the number eight stands for the eighth letter of the alphabet, forming "HH" -- an abbreviation for "Heil Hitler," a phrase which is banned in Germany. Similarly, the number 28 signifies "BH," standing for "Blood and Honour," a far-right network that was banned in Germany in 2000.

The secret code numbers can be found "everywhere," says Weiss, including on license plates, tattoos and on signs at football games. "There are fans who travel 400 kilometers (250 miles) to a game just to hold up the four numbers that form 1488," he says.

The Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Germany's domestic intelligence agency, estimated that in 2009 -- the most recent year for which figures are available -- there were 195 far-right organizations in the country with around 26,000 members. The agency can shut down Kameradschaften, gangs or brotherhoods which are deemed violent. But many other groups in the neo-Nazi scene -- such as rock bands with suggestive lyrics or clothing companies with coded symbols -- often fly under the legal radar, provided they don't openly display symbols like swastikas or explicitly support Adolf Hitler or his party.

Borrowing Symbols

The number of codes has increased since the first edition of the brochure was published in 2001. That publication only listed around 100 symbols. "The image of neo-Nazis is much more diverse today," says Weiss. Right-wing extremists used to wear bomber jackets and have skinheads, he explains, but now their style incorporates elements from pop and rock culture. "Now they have piercings," he says.

Similarly, old symbols are given new meanings, Weiss explains, giving the example of the kaffiyeh scarf, a symbol of Palestinian nationalism. "That is used nowadays simply as a symbol of struggle against Israel," says Weiss, pointing out that neo-Nazis ignore the broader meaning of the garment when they co-opt it as a symbol.

The increasingly diverse image of right-wing extremists mean that neo-Nazis can often blend in at left-wing demonstrations or in a sports stadium, Weiss explains. "The problem is that many of these people no longer stand out."

Source: Spiegel

Neo-Nazi Victim Battling to the Death - 09/29/2006

By Roman Heflik in Birmingham

Noel Martin plans to take his own life in less than a year. Just over 10 years ago, a neo-Nazi attack left him paralyzed from the neck down. He plans to fight right-wing extremists to the very end.

Noel Martin has already chosen July 23, 2007 to be the day he dies. On that evening, his pulse will gradually slow down until it stops completely. He has decided to die as a result of a lethal blend of drugs -- administered in Switzerland by Dignitas, an organization that offers its clients medically assisted suicide.

Noel Martin has only 297 days left. But time, he says, is also limited for the neo-Nazis who ruined his life.

Martin publicly announced his decision in June, 10 years after the attack that left him paralyzed and destroyed his will to live. He plans to celebrate his last birthday -- he'll be 48 –- and then drink the cocktail that will put him out of his misery.

He has 297 days left.

The attack occurred on June 16, 1996 in Mahlow, a town in the former East German state of Brandenburg where the dark-skinned, Jamaican-born Briton was employed as a construction worker. A stone crashed through the windshield of his car and Martin's car veered off the road. He remembers seeing a tree careening towards him and jerking the steering wheel.

And then, a thud. Darkness.

When Martin woke up, he was lying on his back. He heard a voice. "Can you feel my hand on your leg?" it asked him. "But you're not touching my leg," Martin replied.

"I am not a part of life. I just exist"

Two young Germans, Sandro R. and Mario P., had thrown a lump of concrete at Martin's car. They were 17 and 24 years old at the time and their motive was "explicit xenophobia," as a court later determined. They were sentenced to five and eight years in prison. Noel Martin never got an apology, but by now he doesn't care any more. "It would be a waste of time. God will take care of them," he says, "life will take care of them." Both of his attackers are now free. But Martin is still imprisoned –- in his own body.

The attack left Noel Martin paralyzed from the neck down. "I am not a part of life," he says, 10 years and three months later, "I just exist." At home in Birmingham, he leans his heavy head against the headrest of his giant wheelchair. He fixes his weary eyes on his interviewer. "Everything has to be figured out by your head. It's torture, mental torture," he sighs. Martin will never be able to move his arms or legs again and he'll never be able to feel what his fingertips touch. He'll never have sex again, never go to the toilet by himself. Nor will he ever feel his own heartbeat.

Martin feels comparatively happy this afternoon. He was up at 8:00 and it only took until noon for him to be washed, massaged, and dressed.

Mornings aren't always this easy. Sometimes his ulcers bleed and bleed, until his dark face goes ashen and his eyes fall shut from sheer exhaustion. Sometimes his nurses slap his face to wake him up again. They have to slap his face –- that's the only part of his body that Noel Martin can still feel.

Losing control of your body hurts

On this particular afternoon, the idea of death seems absurd. Warm rays of sun shine through the garden window, casting patterns of light on the living room carpet. He looks around at the gilt moulding between the high ceiling and the green walls, at the heavy wooden furniture, the red leather couch and his television. There's a little fire place built into one wall. His huge old desk is covered with photo albums and sheets of paper. Dozens of birthday cards line the cornice along the wall. The room is full of life. This is Martin's kingdom. This is where he spends almost every day.

His wheelchair is in the middle of the room. His nurses have dressed him in black trousers and a casual black sweater. His roundish paunch protrudes underneath the sweater. "I used to be fit," Martin says. "I used to run in the mornings. Then I would do sit-ups. I did kung-fu and boxing too." Today he's plagued by chills and hot flashes. His broad shoulders have gone slack. He still has some control over his right shoulder –- which allows him to operate his wheelchair with a joystick and use his phone. Apart from that, Martin needs the assistance of his eight nurses for everything else.

They keep an eye on him 24 hours a day. Even now, a small woman with a blonde ponytail is standing in the doorway. "Cath, give me some wine please," Martin says. The nurse reaches him a glass of chilled white wine. He drinks it through a straw. "Good. Give me a cigarette please," he says. Cathy puts one in his mouth and lights it. Martin takes a drag. Then Cathy removes the cigarette from his mouth –- until he wants to take another drag.

This constant dependence on other people is agony for Martin. "I can never be alone." The self-confident man suffers from his loss of control. Suddenly he twists his face into a grimace –- he can't stand it anymore. "Cath, scratch please." The nurse wipes his face with a towel. This will happen about 10 times before the afternoon is over.

"You can't suffer every day of your life"

Jacqueline, his strong-willed wife, used to take care of him. She died of cancer six years ago. Two days before she passed away, they married at Jacqueline's sickbed -- after having lived together for 18 years. Martin says he spent 36 hours with her after their marriage before she fell into a coma. "I miss her every day," he says. His voice, which normally sounds so resolute, cracks. He can see her grave outside in the garden.

After the attack, he promised Jacqueline to try and hold on for eight years. On the evening of July 23, 2007, 11 years will have passed since the event that changed his life forever.

Martin's announcement that he plans to commit suicide has caused an uproar. The phone rang constantly for days. "The only one who didn't call was God," he jokes. Countless journalists asked him for an interview and outraged Christians urged him not to commit such a sin. But Martin says he doesn't need their advice. "Cath, cigarette please." He takes a deep drag and says that "99 percent of them" would already have "ended it all" years ago, in his situation. What does he think about other handicapped people who want to "end it all"? "Suffering is individual," he replies. "And you can't suffer every day." No, he says, he's not afraid to die. "No one escapes death anyway." He seems relaxed now –- almost cheerful. These are thoughts he has often thought.

Neo-Nazis are already celebrating the imminent death of the man they despise in their Internet forums. After all, the attack gave rise to an unprecedented campaign against xenophobia. Citizens in Mahlow spontaneously started up a local project called "Tolerant Mahlow." Martin returned to the city in 2001 and he called on its citizens to continue to stand up for the rights of others. He also established a charitable foundation against xenophobia.

Right-wing extremists, for their part, see it as a provocation that he is still alive. One of their Internet forums features a post by a neo-Nazi urging Martin to burn himself alive on a market square, noting that this would save money. The author of the post adds that he would be "happy to donate the gasoline." What does Martin think about the neo-Nazis? "Foolish people who know nothing about life. They love white skin, but they lie down in the sun to get a tan." He says to let them talk –- after all, there is such a thing as freedom of speech. "I wasn't afraid of them then, and I'm not afraid of them now," he says.

Noel Martin hasn't yet turned his back on life

Black people still aren't safe in Brandenburg today, 10 years after the attack on Noel Martin. "The government should make sure everyone can go wherever they want and be safe," he says. Martin knows how far-reaching the problem is. The first time he heard the word "nigger" was decades ago, back home, in the British industrial town of Birmingham.

And so Martin wants to make the most of the time that's left before the evening of July 23, 2007. His nurses, Cathy and Charity, spread out sheets of paper on the carpet. Martin discusses his appointments with the two nurses and makes a few phone calls. He hasn't turned his back on life yet. He's working on his book and in October he has a meeting with Brandenburg's governor, Matthias Platzeck in London. Later, he wants to return to Mahlow another time.

"I want to tell people they should stop apologizing for their past. They should just teach their children the value of life," he says. He's sure to receive public attention now –- and Martin is using it to support his foundation and other projects.

The right-wing extremists may well celebrate his death as a late triumph, but Noel Martin takes a very different view. "I have some bad news for those people," Martin says. He raises his head and his voice as if he were preparing to give a speech: "Of the 6 billion people in the world, 5 billion are people of color. Sooner or later they'll all mix." He grins. "Who knows? Maybe the children of these Nazis will marry a black man or a black woman one day?"

He likes the idea. The Nazis are running out of time –- with or without Noel Martin.

Source:  Spiegel

Neo-Nazis Cut Swastika Into Woman's Hip - 11/26/2007

Yet another far-right assault in eastern Germany: Police are hunting four men who sliced a swastika into the hip of a 17-year-old woman after she tried to stop them harassing a six-year-old girl. Witnesses have been slow to come forward.

German police say they have received two leads but have made no arrests yet in the case of a 17-year-old girl attacked by four far-right youths who cut a swastika symbol into her hip in the eastern town of Mittweida this month.

The men had been outside a supermarket pushing and harassing a six-year-old girl from the former Soviet Union. The teenager shouted at them to stop and they responded by turning on her. They threw her to the ground, three of them held her and the fourth cut the 5 centimeter (2 inch) Nazi symbol into her thigh with what she said was an "object similar to a scalpel."

He also tried to cut a Germanic symbol into her cheek but she defended herself so violently that they failed, police said. Police have located a 19-year-old suspect but so far none of the people who witnessed the attack have come forward to testify and the local court has refused to issue an arrest warrant against him because of a lack of evidence.

Photofit picture of one of the assailants based on the victim's description.

Mittweida's mayor Matthias Damm plans to write to residents living in the area where the attack happened calling on them to testify. The victim said many residents watched the attack from their balconies.

The attack happened on Nov. 3 but the teenager didn't report it until nine days later after she had told her mother who went to the police with her. Police believe her story because a medical examination concluded that she could not have cut the swastika herself, and the six-year-old girl corroborated it.

"A medical examination found that the injuries sustained by the 17-year-old cannot have been self-inflicted," a police spokesman told SPIEGEL ONLINE.

Police said on Sunday they had received two leads from the public after they released photofit pictures of the attackers. The victim said two of the attackers had badges bearing the letters NSDAP, the acronym of Hitler's Nazi party, on their bomber jackets. The mayor of the town of 16,000, located in the eastern state of Saxony, condemned the attacks and called on the inhabitants to work with the police to find the perpetrators

.

"The young woman deserves the highest respect for showing such courage," the mayor's office said on the town's official Web site. "We call on the citizens of our town not to look away when such incidents happen, to show courage and to work with the police."

Eastern Germany has become notorious for the high number of racist assaults on minorities there since unification in 1990. The relatively strong support for far-right groups and political parties in the east has been attributed to the region's economic decline and to the failure of the Communist regime to nurture a public sense of responsibility for the crimes of the Nazis.

Several racist assaults have attracted nationwide media coverage this year including one in August when eight Indian menwere beaten up and chased by a group shouting "Foreigners out!" in the town of Mügeln.

Source: Spiegel

Indian Student subjected to racism in Germany

As told by the victim Dr. Rajamohan Durai:

In 1974 I applied to take the Hauptdiplom examination. A month before the exam I had an attack of writer’s cramps and I could not write. The doctors who treated me said it was a psychogenic reaction probably caused by some incidents of racist prejudice shown by some university staff. I requested the university to permit me to do doctorate directly under the exemption rules cited above, since I could take oral examination. I was forcibly  exmatriculated  from the university on the ground of long illness whose end was not foreseeable.

The University misrepresented some incidents so that the Govt.Doctor concluded that I am a psychiatric case. I underwent the humiliating experience of staying in the government psychiatric hospital for a week to prove that I am neither insane nor an addict.  Prof.Dr.Spiegelberg not only faulted the government doctor's report but also subtly hinted that the University is to be blamed. One would think such things happened in a fascist regime.

Why this discrimination between Indians and the British? British Universities treat Indian degrees as equal to their own. But Germans treat us as inferior! This is nothing but racism. How could the university judge my qualificational equivalence after refusing to examine me orally?”

Please visit the link below to read further: Google Sites

An Indian opinion and experience of racism in Germany

I am a US citizen of Indian descent and speaking for my circle of friends who are also of Indian descent. We all believe that Germany is not a conducive environment for foreigners.

One of my friends has over 30 patents and is the chief engineer for a multi-100 million dollar high tech company he helped build. When he was asked to move to Hamburg to take over a division there, he was met with such hostility by highly educated employees and thinly disguised racial insults that he declined the job. The division was shut down a little later. It would be a stretch to say this was the reason but his presence would have given the division a fighting chance. Racism hurt everybody here, the German citizens who lost jobs, my friend who could not experience the pleasure of living in Germany which he was looking forward to.

I personally have been to over 56 countries on business and only in Germany have I ever been asked for my passport while walking down the street. Immigration officers have also been much ruder than in other European countries. As a result, I no longer fly through Germany if I can avoid it and do not plan on expanding into Germany. I am just a small blip on the economic radar for Germany but there are 200 million successful Indians or people of Indian origin who would like nothing better than to have a profitable and mutually beneficial relationship with Germany's people.

My friends of Chinese origin share the same view and there are probably as many of them if not more.

- Sameer V.
San Jose, CA, USA

-As told to SPIEGEL Magazine

Source: Spiegel

Pregnant Woman Hospitalized in Racist Attack - 12/03/2007

The eastern German city of Magdeburg saw a series of hate crimes over the weekend. Suspected right-wing extremists attacked five Iraqis -- including a pregnant woman -- and four Africans in two separate incidents, and a Jewish community center was also vandalized.

A 20-year-old pregnant Iraqi woman was among several victims of what were believed to be racially motivated attacks in the eastern German town of Magdeburg this weekend.

A group of Germans attacked five Iraqis on a night bus on Saturday night, police reported Sunday. The group of two women and three men were verbally abused as they were getting on the bus around 10 p.m. A German man punched one of the woman in the face at the bus stop, and a second man pushed her against her two-year-old child's stroller. The woman, who is pregnant, had to be taken to hospital suffering from abdominal pain, police said. The police detained two suspects but later released them.

In a second attack, three men and a woman from Niger were allegedly harassed and racially abused by three men who are believed to be German. A fight developed, during which two of the Africans were injured. A passerby alerted the police who came and broke up the fight. A police officer who tried to detain two of the suspects was attacked and injured by the group of assailants, which had grown to six or seven people, and the two suspects managed to flee. The group split up before additional police could arrive.

In a third incident, a Jewish community center in the city was vandalized on Sunday. An intercom box was torn off the wall of the building, causing €300 worth of damage. Police have not ruled out an anti-Semitic motive.

Germany's domestic intelligence service, which monitors far-right activity, is investigating all three cases.

The incidents are merely the latest in an ongoing series of attacks on foreigners in Germany's economically deprived eastern states. An attack on eight Indian men by a mob in the town of Mügeln made headlines around the world in August 2007. More recently, four men carved a swastika into the thigh of a 17-year-old woman after she tried to stop them harassing a six-year-old girl in the town of Mittweida.

Source: Spiegel

Indians Express Concern about Visiting Germany - 08/29/2007

The attacks on eight Indians in eastern Germany 10 days ago shocked many back home. Now the German embassy in New Dehli is being inundated with calls from prospective visitors to Germany who want to know what risks they face.

Following the vicious attack on eight of their compatriots in eastern Germany just over a week ago, Indians planning a visit to Germany are concerned about the risks they may be facing. Many have been contacting the German embassy in New Dehli to find out exactly where so-called "No-Go" areas they should avoid are located.

Their anxiety follows events in Mügeln, a town in the Eastern German state of Saxony, on Aug. 19, when eight Indians were chased and attacked by a mob of over 50 people shouting "Foreigners Out!" during a street party. The eight men eventually found refuge in a pizzeria, but the crowd broke inside and began beating them. It took 70 police to disperse the crowds.

Mügeln was the scene of an attack on eight Indians on Aug. 19. Now their compatriots want to know where else to avoid in Germany.

In the aftermath of these ugly scenes the Indian government expressed its alarm to the Berlin government. "We have requested that the German authorities take action to address this issue and prevent future incidents of the kind," Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna said in a statement last week.

Volker Kauder, the parliamentary leader of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats, is currently in New Dehli for talks with the Indian government and he admitted that the events in Mügeln were viewed with much concern there. Speaking to the Rheinsiche Post newspaper he said: "Our embassy has received many inquires about where the so-called 'No-Go' areas for foreign visitors are in Germany." Kauder pointed out that Indians are, however, making an effort not to play up the incident: "The Indians recognize that these events in Mügeln are not the rule in Germany." Kauder added that Chancellor Merkel's clear condemnation of the attacks had done a lot to calm the situation.

According to Saxony's state prosecutor, 82 witnesses have so far been interviewed in connection with the Mügeln attack and the police confirmed on Tuesday that they are investigating seven suspects. The state police chief Bernd Merbitz told the Associated Press that the actions had not been committed by a particular extreme-right group. Nonetheless, he said, the chanting of slogans such as "Foreigners Out!" and "Germany for Germans" constituted a xenophobic criminal offence.

The incident has prompted some politicians, including the leader of the Social Democrats Kurt Beck, to call for the far-right National Democratic Party (NPD) to be banned. A 2003 bid to do exactly that failed due to strict legal obstacles to banning political parties in Germany. Since then the NPD has managed to enter two state parliaments in eastern Germany: Saxony in 2004, with 9.2 percent of the vote, and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in 2006 with 7.3 percent.

Source: http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,502654,00.html

Mügeln Mayor Slammed for Trivializing Racist Attack - 08/31/2007

Two weeks after eight Indians were attacked by a mob in the Eastern German town of Mügeln, its mayor can't see what all the fuss is about. Leading politicians are shocked that he continues to downplay the incident and there are calls for his resignation.

The reverberations following the racist attack on eight Indians in the Eastern German town of Mügeln two weeks ago are still being felt in Germany. Politicians from across the spectrum reacted with anger after Mügeln Mayor Gotthard Deuse complained that a media campaign had been whipped up against the town and criticized leading politicians for their "malicious" comments. His own party, the business friendly Free Democrats, is distancing itself from him and there are calls for him to resign.

Mügeln Mayor Gotthard Deuse feels his town is the victim of a poisonous media campaign. As far as he is concerned there's no right-wing extremism in the town.

There was widespread revulsion in Germany and beyond after eight Indian men were chased through the streets of Mügeln by a mob of 50 people on Aug. 19. The men took refuge in a pizzeria as the crowd chanted "Foreigners Out!" and "Germany for Germans," before breaking in and beating up the men inside.

In a classic example of pouring oil onto the fire Deuse, in an interview given to the right-wing Young Freedom newspaper, complained about the rush to judge his town in what he called a "media campaign." He completely denied that there was a problem with right-wing extremism in the town and accused politicians like Transport Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee -- who is also responsible for overseeing development in former East Germany, of making uninformed "populist" comments about the attacks.

Tiefensee had already warned against belittling the events in Mügeln and he hit back at Deuse on Friday, telling the Rheinische Post that "citizens and groups had to be courageous in tackling extreme-right tendencies. Looking away and downplaying the problem is exactly the wrong thing to do."

Tiefensee pointed out that the radical right was stronger in the former East Germany than it was in the West. "There is an historic lack of exposure to immigration and cultural diversity," he said, while admitting that the difficult job market plays a role in radicalization. But the Social Democrat politician insisted that this didn’t justify "threats and acts of violence against foreigners or anyone else."

Deuse, who has been mayor of Mügeln for the past 17 years, had already insisted that there was no far-right scene in the town. In his interview he complained about the "poisonous" attacks on the town and accused some politicians of not knowing what they were talking about and of being either ignorant or "deliberately malicious." He regretted that Germans were not allowed show their own national pride and said "I am proud to be a German."

Leading politicians from the Social Democrats (SPD) and Green Party have demanded Deuse resign as mayor, while his party has tried to distance itself from the mayor and his remarks.

SPD member Sebastian Edathy, who is chairman of the parliamentary domestic affairs committee told the Mitteldeutsche Zeitung "Mr. Deuse should ask himself whether he can be of any more use in his position. I have my doubts." Green Party parliamentary leader Renate Künast declared: "The mayor of Mügeln has to go!" The Left Party's deputy parliamentary leader Bodo Ramelow said that he had the impression that the mayor was "xenophobic deep down."

As for the FDP, General Secretary Dirk Niebel said Deuse is responsible for his own words and insisted: "There can be no relativization when it comes to acts of violence and xenophobic attitudes. That is the basis of an open-minded and tolerant society for all democrats."

Source: Spiegel

Severe Anti-Semitism Hits Youth Football in Germany - 06/01/2007

By Heike Baldauf

They were two teams of 14-year-olds. But that didn't seem to matter. Right-wing fans rained anti-Semitic and racist insults down on a youth-league game in Eastern Germany last month. Police are investigating, but it's far from an isolated incident.

The Ascension Day holiday was to be a big day for the football community in Wurzen, a small town of 15,000 near Leipzig in former Communist-ruled East Germany. The local junior league had a match scheduled with a team from the industrial city of Chemnitz, formerly known as Karl-Marx-Stadt and located near the Czech border.

 A number of fans had found their way to the stadium and by the time the whistle blew for kick-off, they were in high spirits, swilling beer and chanting supporters’ songs. The usual horde of young neo-Nazi skinheads and xenophobes were in the stands, looking for trouble.

Assistant referee Henry Lickfeldt elected to call the cops after the match due to the racist epithets rained down on the players from the stands -- and from some of the players themselves. The two Vietnamese-German players Hoang Long, 14 and Le Duc Huy, 14, got the brunt of it.

Then the taunts began. The fans struck up a welcoming chorus for the visiting junior soccer team: “We’ll build a subway from Chemnitz to Auschwitz…” You "Fiji pigs," they yelled at two 14-year-olds who were subbed in. You "foreigner pigs!" They made monkey noises every time they touched the ball. They also targeted the 14-year-old goalkeeper from the visiting team: "Jewish pig, go fuck your Jewish mother," they yelled.

'They're Making Us Look Like Such Monsters'

The crowd didn't just target the visitors. A linesman flagged an offside call, earning him a torrent of abuse including: "Get it right, Jew, or we’ll come and pull your foreskin off."

Despite a number of attempts by the referees to get the crowd under control, the insults continued.

The kids from Chemnitz were not to be put off their game, eventually winning 2-0. But referee Christine Weigelt was not going to let matters rest there. From notes made during the game, she compiled a report on the anti-Semitic and racist abuse and handed it to district police chief Bernd Merbitz.

Her deputy referee Henry Lickfeldt added his protest. But some sport functionaries sided with the rabble, branding Weigelt and other accusers as liars tarnishing Wurzen’s reputation. Sports Association President Heiko Wandel said Weigelt had lost control of the match: "They’re making us look like monsters," he said. "We’ve got Vietnamese and Russians among our players. They should stop putting on such a show."

Many of the insults also came from the players on the field. Indeed, one player from the Wurzen team was barred from playing while the league looked into accusations that he had racially assaulted a Chemnitz player with a Vietnamese background. Wandel was not impressed. "That is going too far," he said. "I'll cover for him. He promised me that he didn't say anything. One is allowed to insult the Germans, but as soon as a Vietnamese is insulted, it is exaggerated."

The Vietnamese boy in question, son of a communist-era immigrant family, was given a red card just as the game was ending for shoving the player he accuses of having insulted him. "I would like too apologize for doing that," the boy said later. "But I won't put up with remarks like that." On the other side of the ball, a father of one of the Wurzel players apologized to the Chemnitz team for the insults.

Far Right Fixtures

But how could such a thing happen, and that at a children's league game? That is exactly the question that Harald Sather, chairman of the Committee of Referees in the state of Saxony is asking. "We have to get to the bottom of all this," he said. "Abuse is going too far. Foreign players deserve respect. How could this happen at a juniors’ game?"

For Germany’s amateur sports world, the involvement of 12- to-14-year-old kids in incidents during the game at Wurzen is a worrying new trend, while abuse by far-right fans at soccer fixtures in East Germany is a fact of life. After major disturbances in amateur football in Saxony last February, 60 matches were cancelled on a single day as a punishment.

Police have promised to press charges. But Germany’s Federation of Active Soccer Fans claims no police action would have been taken had referee assistant Lickfeldt not taken the initiative to call the police. Indeed, after the game, Lickfeldt says that the referee supervisor from Wurzen said he had seen nothing out of the ordinary and warned the referees against filing a report. He also says that the Wurzen trainer told him: "If you write something, then play it down. The German Football Association has their eyes out for such things."

Martin Endemann from the fans' association says that is what normally happens. "Referees often look the other way in such situations in order not to have any trouble. We have seen this again and again over the years." His group, based in Hanau in Western Germany, is running a campaign against intolerance and xenophobia in the country's football stands.

Wurzen -- which has 1,700 unemployed among its 15,000 residents and is famed for a cookie factory, the poet Joachim Ringelnatz and a mail-order firm specializing in far-right music and clothes -- was put on the map by its neo-Nazis and anti-Semites after communism collapsed in 1989. Skinheads and hard-right thugs chased Portuguese workers through the streets and attacked a hostel for asylum-seekers in the 1990s.

Wurzen’s mayor Jürgen Schmidt, a member of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic party (CDU), is keeping silent about the Ascension Day soccer match. He happens to be vice-president of the Wurzen club and shares a council administration table with local functionaries of the far-right NPD party.

Source: Spiegel

Neo-Nazis Attack Theater Group in Eastern German Town - 06/12/2007

A group of actors were beaten up by neo-Nazis in the eastern German city of Halberstadt and have accused the police of being slow to respond. The region's premier says he is appalled by the attack.

A group of actors who were attacked and injured by neo-Nazis in the eastern city of Halberstadt on Friday night have accused the police of handling their case too hesitantly.

The theater group of 14 actors were on their way to a pub after a debut performance on Friday when they were attacked and beaten up by eight far-right youths. Several of the victims had teeth knocked out and required medical treatment for broken noses, injured ribs and jaws and eye injuries.

Far-right extremists attacked the actors because one of them had a punk hairstyle, newspaper reports said.

Police failed to arrest the 22-year-old main assailant even though he returned to the scene while the victims were being questioned, a regional government official said. "The man was checked by police but released before they found out about his prior convictions," Rüdiger Erben, interior ministry secretary for the state of Saxony-Anhalt, told Mitteldeutsche Zeitung newspaper.

The man, a known neo-Nazi, was arrested again on Sunday evening. Police are still searching for seven other assailants.

A number of people witnessed the attack and did nothing to help. The theater group had just finished a performance of the "Rocky Horror Picture Show" and one of the actors had a punk hairstyle in keeping with his role. That appears to have been enough to provoke the neo-Nazis they came across, newspaper reports said.

The premier of Saxony-Anhalt, Wolfgang Böhmer, said he was appalled by the case.

"It's a sad fact that far-right extremists are becoming increasingly brutal. If people are attacked and injured just because of their appearance it's an appalling crime," Böhmer said.

Source: Spiegel

German Xenophobia - Spiegel Readers views - 01/22/2008

A SPIEGEL ONLINE opinion piece on xenophobia in Germany has elicited strong reactions among foreigners living here. Although some say racism is not a problem, many have experienced xenophobia in their daily lives.

Immigration has -- once again -- become a hot political topic in Germany after Hesse Governor Roland Koch called for a crackdown on "criminal young foreigners" as part of his campaign for re-election. Immigrant groups have criticized his rhetoric for being xenophobic, but Koch's populist stance did strike a chord with many voters.

In a recent opinion piece, SPIEGEL ONLINE editor David Crossland wrote that Germany is doing a bad job of integrating its immigrants. "Maybe it's the Germans' romantic yearning for purity and cleanliness, for a 'Heile Welt,' a 'Perfect World,' that renders them prone to a collective xenophobia," he wrote. "This nation of dog lovers goes for pure breeds."

SPIEGEL ONLINE International invited readers who have experience of living in Germany as a foreigner to write in to share their views. Here is a selection of their letters on being an Ausländer in Germany.

Dear Spiegel Online,

I am an Asian scientist working in Munich. I lived in China and Singapore before I moved to Germany. I was offered a pre-doctorate position in Singapore from a private research institution with full pay before I came to Germany. But I still decided to look for a position in Germany, because I wanted to live in Europe. The major motives for such a move were firstly, the freedom of expression that European countries offer; secondly, the superior infrastructure of the German research system; and thirdly, the European values of tolerance and integration.

I was not disappointed at all when it comes to freedom of expression and the infrastructure in Germany. But I was utterly shocked when it comes to integration and tolerance. I never suffered explicit racist attacks like those which happened in eastern Germany. But I was exposed to a subtle yet stubborn kind of racism on a daily basis. This mostly takes the form of social exclusion -- I always felt that I am not and will never be allowed to become a normal member of society, despite holding a promising academic record and decent linguistic skills.

In the beginning, I regarded social rejection as a result of linguistic insufficiency. Therefore I spent a large amount of time improving my German. At the moment my spoken German is close to fluency. But I was completely disappointed about the results of my effort. Instead of feeling more integrated in the society, I actually discovered even more xenophobia around me, because now I understand what is written in newspapers and on street placards. Also, I became aware that people throw me angry looks when I mispronounce German, or give me suspicious looks on the U-Bahn. It is a constant battle on my side to handle such things. I am determined to move to another country once I finish my studies. It is hard to leave such a good working environment behind, but I see no hope for real integration here.

I have spoken with other colleagues of mine, who are either foreigners or have a foreign background. Many of them suffer the same kind of social rejection. There are very few things we can do except opting to leave the country when we finish our training. But it is detrimental to the intellectual progress and economic growth of Germany when even people of higher education fail to integrate into the society.

I am not saying that there should be any kind of favoritism towards intellectual foreigners, or that there should be immediate and absolute equality among Germans and foreigners. What I hope to see is more cultural sensitivity and inter-cultural communication. People should start to understand that foreigners are assets, not threats. And the only ones who can push for cultural sensitivity and exchange on a large scale are the mass media and the government.

-- Name withheld

'Germany Is not Where I Want my Kids to Grow Up'

Dear Spiegel Online,

As an Asian, I felt so much discrimination in all aspects of life, especially in school. I came to Germany at age 16 and was hoping to go to university. Almost all the high schools we went to rejected me solely for the fact that my German wasn't good enough. German relatives kept telling me that I should do an apprenticeship instead because attending a Gymnasium (university-track high school -- Ed.) is hard and that I might not be able to handle it.

People thought I was dumb just because my German was elementary. I never got encouragement from anyone because it was always made clear to me that either my German was not good enough or I was not good enough, without even knowing that I graduated in the top percent of my class. Due to my own and my family's persistence I went to an all-girl Gymnasium in Freiburg and eventually attended university in Tübingen.

Everyday I am reminded to my face that I am an Ausländer. No matter how I try to explain to people that I have nothing left in my home country and my new life is here, they always treat me as if I am exotic and that everything in German life is still new and novel to me. I have a German name, I have a German passport, but I look Asian, and therefore am a foreigner.

I immigrated to the US now and am attending university here. Here, I am not treated as a foreigner but as a person and my skin color doesn't matter as much as in Germany. I have a lot of opportunities that weren't possible in Germany as a foreigner.

I have lived in three different continents. For all the historical charm and romance of Germany, it is for me now only a place I will regularly visit but not a place where I want my kids to grow up in.

-- Veronica

 'There Were Times When I Feared for my Life'

I am an ex-British soldier, my wife is German and I have lived in Germany for over 20 years. I am a truck driver in a big German firm. About 80 percent of the drivers are German-Russian, the rest are German and British. I am sick to death of hearing how the Russians should go home and how they are all criminals.

I don't care where people come from, there is good and bad in every race. I myself suffer name calling and intolerance. I have lost count of the times I have been called an "island monkey" (German slang for British people -- Ed.) and told I should go home. There were a couple of times in eastern Germany when I feared for my life -- and I don't scare easily.

Unless we all learn to live together, I really do fear for the future of Germany. Even today when I speak German, I still sound British and, yes, people are funny in shops when they hear this. When I talk to a fellow Brit over the CB radio in my cab we are told to go home and that we are English pigs. Some even play Hitler tapes -- how sad is that? Still, this is a minority and I still love the country and I know some great Germans.

Even so, in some parts of Germany I would not like to have dark skin -- sad, don't you think?

-- Name withheld

'I'm Sorry, Are You Black?'

Dear Spiegel Online,

I am a German, married to a Polish woman. We met in the USA about 10 years ago and have now lived in Germany for about 9 years.

We lived in Heidelberg and Frankfurt and have had many international friends over the years. During these years, a lot of things have happened that have made me see my fellow countrymen in a different light. First of all, my wife speaks fluent German, but since that wasn't the case when we met, we of course talked English to each other and it has remained that way until today. So over the years we had to defend our speaking English to each other many times, even to close friends. People said: "Why aren't you talking German to each other? You live in Germany, you should speak German!"

Just after we got married, my wife was in charge of finding us a new apartment. Imagine our surprise when my wife called realtors and found there were no places available, but when I called, we were able to look at three apartments in a day. In one case where we went to look at the apartment, the owners clearly didn't want us to move in there because of my wife's foreign accent. I was flabbergasted by this and I thought I must have misunderstood, but at the same time there was a Polish NATO soldier looking at one of the apartments and they didn't want him either. In his case, they used an excuse that they do not take soldiers since they move too much (with us, the excuse was that a "nice academic couple" had apparently called dibs on the apartment).

In a related case, I had a South African friend who spoke fluent German. In a telephone conversation with a possible landlord, it somehow came up that he was from South Africa. He was promptly asked the question: "I'm sorry but I was wondering and I really need to ask -- are you black?"

When I was a 16-year-old kid living in the United States, my friends around me were surprised to learn that I didn't consider myself American. Some of them were first-generation Americans as well, born to foreign parents, but they never considered themselves not to be Americans, although of course they would proudly say "I'm German, Irish, Greek..." or whatever when it came to their heritage.

In Germany, I have friends who were born, lived, went to school and worked in Germany. Still, one of my friends frequently starts a conversation with a sentence like "the village where I am from in Croatia" even though she was born here and lived here all her life. Another friend, born in Germany to Turkish parents, was seriously discussing with me that she wasn't even sure how and if living in Germany has had any impact on her in terms of giving her a German identity.

The only chance I see for success is the integration of our society into a European society as a whole where immigration, cross-border movements and "foreignness" are considered to be assets for a functioning society.

-- York Weyers

Dear Spiegel Online,

I read Mr. Crossland's opinion piece and I do agree that Germany needs to change its attitude towards foreigners.

I am a student from India currently pursuing my Master's here. I have been living in Germany for two years now -- 11 months in Cottbus, and the rest in Berlin. While it is true that I have met some wonderful human beings in my two years here, it is also true that by and large we, the foreigners, are regarded way too suspiciously.

Fortunately for me, despite my dark skin, I have not faced any pushed-into-a-corner kind of incidents that I keep hearing about. That may be because I take things in my stride, go out of my way not to offend people or simply because I choose to ignore things most of the time. But I experienced a couple of incidents when the ugly face of racism was bared to one and all. And every time I am shocked anew before a helpless rage takes over me, which I need to glaze over with indifference for my own survival here.

Once in Cottbus, during a hip-hop night at a student bar, which of course attracted the black students from our university, someone threw a stink bomb inside the bar forcing all of us to run towards the exit, eyes hurting and throats constricting due to the nauseous gas. While we were waiting outside for the smell to diffuse, a man with his hood up ran up the stairs, screamed "Ausländer raus!" ("Foreigners out!") and ran away before we could react.

And the other time, a club in Prenzalauer Berg, the happening district of Berlin, denied us entrance because there were three black people amongst us (well, four if you count me). We were just told that they have the right to deny anyone they want and that the club was filled to its capacity. The funny part is they did not even try to wait for us to get out of sight before they let others in.

It would be easy to handle if it is only a certain bunch of people -- say the neo-Nazis -- out to get you. What makes it difficult is the fact that the average people that you meet have so many prejudices against you that everything you do, even before you do it, is written on the debit side of the balance sheet. If my friend, who is white, crosses a street when the light is red, she is in a hurry. And if I do the same, someone is waiting to say "schwarze Schlampe" ("black slut") or something similar.

And you would think that in a university, things might be different. But oh no! It gets worse there. You have to start battling prejudices from the word go. If you come here from the developing world, you are here to squander the precious resources of Germany, while all along you want to stay on in the country by hook or crook.

Don't get me wrong. I am not trying to say I have nothing but bad experiences in Germany. I have had times when the unexpected generosity and helpfulness of strangers reduced me almost to tears. To be fair, perhaps, things are not so different anywhere else.

I came here with an open mind and I see what I see. Tomorrow I will leave because I can afford to. But I see around me a lot of people who will hang on, despite racism, despite prejudices, despite everything. And if something is not done right now, I am afraid it may be too late. History already showed us what could happen if we let malcontent grow.

-- Name withheld

Source: Spiegel

Far-Right Attacks Reached New Record in Germany in 2007 - 03/10/2008

Last year a record number of attacks were carried out by right-wing extremists in Germany, a prominent anti-racism campaigner said. The problem is especially bad in eastern Germany.

A record number of far-right attacks were perpetrated in Germany last year, according to a former government spokesman turned campaigner. Uwe-Karsten Heye, the founder of pressure group Gesicht Zeigen! (Show your Faces), said about 600 people were attacked by neo-Nazis last year.

Neo-Nazi violence has continued to rise, according to a new report.

Speaking in Berlin Monday, Heye warned about a rise in right-wing extremism, particularly in eastern Germany. According to Heye, there were 11 attacks on businesses run by immigrants in the eastern state of Brandenburg in 2007. "Behind the attacks is a strategy by neo-Nazis to destroy livelihoods and drive out immigrants," he said.

Since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, 130 asylum seekers, immigrants and homeless people have been killed by right-wing extremists, Heye told reporters. During Monday's press conference, he criticized government cuts between 1998 to 2002 to help vicitims of neo-Nazi violence. It was imcomprehensible, he said, that the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, for example, cut the number of specialist pyschologists who help victims of neo-Nazis from six to three.

Heye, who was the spokesman of Germany's Social Democratic-Green coalition government between 1998 to 2002, is the founder and chairman of Gesicht Zeigen!, which was set up to fight xenophobia. He caused an uproar in the German media in the run-up to the World Cup in 2006 when he suggested parts of Germany were no-go areas for foreigners.

Family Escapes Small Town Xenophobia - 04/05/2008

By Philipp Wittrock in Rudolstadt

Insulted, spat at and attacked -- by ordinary Germans. Unable to bear the daily racism, a pastor's family fled from a small town in eastern Germany back to the their former home in the west.

Sometime last year, Miriam Neuschäfer, who has dark skin because her mother is Indian, decided it was time to record the daily instances of racism she and her family were suffering. The 32-year-old mother of five and wife of a German clergyman wrote down her encounters with the citizens of Rudolstadt, a small town in the eastern German state of Thuringia.

"It helped me work through it," she says, "and some day I want the children to understand everything that happened to us."

A slight woman, Neuschäfer sits at her kitchen table, flipping through the yellow file. She constantly shakes her head. Ten pages filled with black writing. She has more just like it in a drawer -- perhaps 50, she estimates.

Reiner Neuschäfer with his five children. The mother, Miriam, is half Indian.

When she first started she would write in full sentences but ended up just jotting down bullet points. The files are a disturbing account of the events that drove the family out of Rudolstadt after spending almost eight years trying and failing to get on with the locals. They have moved back to western Germany, to the town of Erkelenz in the Rhineland where they are not subject to daily abuse.

She could no longer stand the racism, the hostile comments from everyday citizens, the feeling that she was hated in her own country. "It was an escape," she says. "It was a matter of survival."

Neuschäfer grew up in the Lower Rhine region of Germany, studied theology and speaks perfect German. Her husband, Reiner Andreas Neuschäfer, 40, is a pastor. In 2000, he was offered the position as schools administrator for the southern Thuringia region.

It was an attractive job, and the family had no qualms about moving east. The Neuschäfers and their two young children moved to Rudolstadt, a former royal retreat in a pretty valley near Erfurt. It's a small town with 25,000 residents. A family would find its footing and make new friends in a place like this, they thought.

But the Neuschäfers remained strangers in Thuringia.

From the beginning, says Reiner, the family sensed major "cultural differences." They found it hard to get to know people and the few friends they did make had also come from western Germany. They felt isolated. But they didn't lose heart. Perhaps, they thought, they had just misread the local character. After all, even native Thuringians admit they have a tendency to be grumpy and aren't the easiest people to please.

It will work out in the end, thought the Neuschäfers. But it didn't. In fact, things started to get worse.

The Neuschäfers began to sense something more profound than just cool distance. "We could sit here for hours, and I could just keep coming up with examples," says Miriam, as she browses through her accounts of hate and animosity.

"Your Skin Isn't Right"

The alarm bells first went off in 2002 during a conversation with the kindergarten teacher of Jannik, the oldest son, who is now 10 years old. The conversation suddenly turned to the issue of integration. "Your skin isn't right," the other children said to him. It got so bad that Jannik tried to scrub his skin white with a coarse brush.

According to the parents, when Jannik went to grade school later, the teasing continued. "Mom, what's a nigger?" the young boy asked at home. His classmates had taunted him, saying: "You are this brown because you rubbed shit all over yourself." One day, nine school mates reportedly beat Jannik up on the playground so badly that Reiner called the police. The school administration scolded the small boys who had roughed him up.

The second-oldest daughter, Fenja, who is now eight, also came home with stories of being bullied. And the mother, Miriam, had her own harassment experiences, too. She recalls how an elderly gentleman in a supermarket said: "Amazing the kind of people they let shop here" as she and her children walked past. "Go back to the jungle!" she remembers another man yelling at her once. She was in a parking lot and hadn't closed her car door fast enough for his liking as he tried to pull his car into the adjacent spot.

Less Than Helpful Authorities

It wasn't long before just being stared at by people started to get to Miriam. "I just kept my eyes on the ground and counted the paving stones, she says. It wasn't long before she stopped venturing out of her house on her own.

Even when she was accompanied with her large and powerfully built husband or with the few friends they had, Miriam and the children sensed people's animosity. Whenever the family showed up at a busy playground, it would empty out abruptly. "In glorious sunshine," according to the mother. One day a teenager spat at her as she walked through a park with an acquaintance, she says.

"Spat at? I can't imagine that," says Georg Eger, the deputy mayor, vigorously shaking his head in his office on the second floor of the Rudolstadt town hall. He raises his finger and continues: "I even rule that out." City spokesman Michael Wagner tries to soften that categoric statement a little. Of course, one can't vouch for every single citizen, he says.

There's a whole lot of head shaking in Rudolstadt's town hall these days. "We've been steamrolled," Eger says. Steamrolled by reports about the Neuschäfers' flight from the xenophobia of some of Rudolstadt's inhabitants.

Crisis management is what is called for now, says the spokesman. He adds that he is drafting a public statement by the city in response to the matter. Every sentence counts. The example of Mügeln made that clear. In that small town in Saxony, in August 2007, a drunken mob attacked a group of Indian men after a confrontation at a street festival. The group shouted racist taunts, but Mügeln's mayor played down the problem and blamed the violence on visitors from out of town.

Fear of the Mügeln Effect

Like Mügeln, Rudolstadt is worried about its reputation. In recent years the city has fought an uphill battle to improve its image. In 1992, after 2,000 neo-Nazis marched here in memory of Hitler's deputy Rudolf Hess, the town was labelled a bastion of the far right. Today, Rudolstadt's inhabitants proudly point out that the town is home to Germany's largest world music festival, which draws 10,000 people from all over the world each year.

Now the town's administration fears its reputation is slipping again. The mayor's office has received hundreds of hate e-mails. Their message: "We won't be returning to Rudolstadt."

The town has to walk a fine line. It has to fight against the blanket judgment that it is a nest of xenophobia, but it must also avoid publicly dismissing the Neuschäfers' claims as being made-up stories. At times, the latter is particularly hard. The deputy mayor speaks of "schoolyard scuffles." The mayor intends to meet Reiner Neuschäfer soon to clear up the matter as soon as possible. Until then, he'll ask around about something that he never cared to hear about before. He'll talk to the police, who confirm the Neuschäfers filed two legal complaints. And he'll talk with the school, which is currently defending itself against the accusation that it didn't do enough to help.

The Neuschäfers say they aren't bitter, that this is not about stigmatizing eastern Germany or Rudolstadt. They did not seek out the publicity. The story of their flight from Thuringia leaked out gradually, reaching the press by coincidence.

Miriam and her children finally moved to Erkelenz last October. At first it was just intended as a vacation, as rest and recuperation. But it became an "act of liberation". They found they couldn't bring themselves to return to Rudolstadt.

Miriam and her children Jannik, Fenja, Ronja, Jarrit and Jannis Neuschäfer are enjoying life in their former home. Their father is still looking for a job back in the Rhineland. For now, every weekend he drives the 430 kilometers (267 miles) between Erkelenz, where he spends time with his family, and Rudolstadt, where he sleeps during the week on a mattress in their empty flat.

At the moment, he is on vacation. Next Tuesday, he will drive back to Thuringia for the first time since the accusations of racism were made public. He has "mixed feelings" about the looming trip, he says. He knows "it could be a gauntlet."

Source: Spiegel