Pupils at German school ‘greet each other with Nazi salutes and draw swastikas’
Two teachers in eastern Germany who tried to put a stop to the far-right activities at their school were hounded out of town following a campaign of targeted harassment from locals.
Laura Nickel and Max Teske became disturbed by the alarming rise of neo-naziism in their small-town high school, which saw students greet each other with Nazi salutes, scratch swastikas on their desks and play music with racist lyrics in the hallways.
The pair tried everything they could think of to deradicalise the pupils, such as counselling bullies who threatened to beat up immigrant classmates, giving more lessons about their country’s Nazi past and inviting a Black rapper in to talk to students about mutual respect.
But none of it helped, which prompted the two teachers to pen an open letter in which they described an atmosphere of intimidation at Mina Witkojc School in Burg.
‘Teachers and students who openly fight against far-right students and teachers fear for their safety,’ they said in the letter they sent to local newspapers.
‘The problem has to be recognized and openly fought. Schools should be places free of fear, full of open-mindedness and safety for everyone and cannot provide a home for the enemies of democracy.’
But Nickel, who taught English and history at the high school, and Teske, a maths and geography teacher, were unprepared for the backlash their call to action produced.
A letter from an anonymous group of parents demanded the pair’s dismissals. Stickers with their pictures and the caption ‘P*** off to Berlin’ plastered light poles near campus. On social media, someone declared a desire to ‘hunt them down.’
Further disheartened by what they say was a lack of support from colleagues, school heads and local administrators, Nickel and Teske announced that they were leaving the school and the town at the end of the academic year.
‘Far-right extremist statements, actions, slogans, homophobia and sexism were and are the order of the day at this school,’ said Nickel, 34, who worked at Mina Witkojc for four years.
The duo’s experience has aroused fears in the German capital that the far right has gained a greater foothold in some parts of the former East Germany than many thought.
Experts say that especially in the south of Brandenburg state, where Burg is located, an entire network of tattoo parlours, nightclubs, youth groups and fan clubs of the FC Energie Cottbus soccer team have been spreading the messages of the far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD, party.
Earlier this month, Brandenburg state’s domestic intelligence service declared Young Alternative for Germany, the AfD’s wing for supporters aged 14 and above, as particularly radical and put it under official surveillance as a ‘proven right-wing extremist’ group.
The state education ministry, which was criticised for not supporting the teachers enough, announced last week that authorities had identified a teenager suspected of originally posting the ‘hunt them down’ post on Instagram.
Timo Reinfrank, director of the Amadeu Antonio Foundation which promotes human rights while working against right-wing extremism, racism and antisemitism in Germany, said parts of Brandenburg had become ‘a zone of fear which the Nazis have declared as their home zone.’
AfD was founded in 2013 and first entered Germany’s parliament four years later after campaigning on an anti-migrant platform. Recent polls show the party with a record level of support nationally, about 20%.
Many think AfD could emerge as the strongest party when Brandenburg and the fellow eastern states of Saxony and Thuringia hold elections next year. In Thuringia, the AfD candidate last month won the county administrator’s post in Sonneberg, the first time since the Nazi era that a far-right party placed first at the county level.
For people like Nickel and Teske, standing up against right-wing populists comes at a steep personal price. After the teachers announced their withdrawal from Burg, the head of the AfD chapter in Cottbus, Brandenburg state’s second-largest city, cheered on Twitter that Teske, whom he called a ‘leftist radical informer,’ and his ‘accomplice’ were gone.
The police are investigating threats against the teachers, and officers patrol past their homes frequently. When Teske goes out, he often looks over his shoulder to see if somebody might be following him. Recently, a man approached him in a grocery store from behind and whispered, ‘Get out of here,’ into his ear, he said.
Yet he refuses to see the decision to leave town as a defeat. By calling out the dire conditions at the school, he and Nickel sparked a much-needed national debate about the rise of the far right in Germany, Teske said.
‘We will continue to be loud, we will continue to make a political impact, and won’t let the far right win,’ he said.
‘History repeats itself, and I believe that we must definitely do something now to put a stop to anti-democratic parties in Germany,’ Nickel added.
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