Matthias Riedel-Rüppel, as head of the small theater in Haar, experienced massive attacks on Facebook over the weekend because he announced that he would implement the 2-G rule in his house. He was forced to delete the chat in the network. Instead, you can now find a personal statement there, in which he advertises respectful interaction with one another and describes how important culture is right now.
SZ: There was a shit storm on the Small Theater’s Facebook page.
Matthias Riedel-Rüppel: For me it was again a symbol of the social division: the vaccinated against the non-vaccinated. Although it must be said that the non-vaccinated fight this fight because they feel grossly excluded. But: in the end, for us in the theater it was about things that we don’t decide. The 2-G rule is a requirement that we have to implement.
It wasn’t one or two hate mail, either.
No no. If it had been one, I would have said you have to deal with it somehow. It’s part of business. It was just too much.
they were physically threatened.
You could say: First of all, I am responsible for the fun and enjoyment department. And suddenly you become a target for some kind of physical threat. It is described: You have to know if you want to go out alone at night.
Isn’t it scary how far people go.
At first I am not very afraid myself. But I think the symbolic power behind such statements is considerable. It’s actually scary in the sense of what all of this does to us and our society, to our way of communicating.
As an institution in the Upper Bavaria district, you pursue an inclusive approach in the theater. You of all people were accused of “fascist behavior”.
On the one hand, it contradicts the approach of an inclusive space that we have to exclude people who do not behave entirely in accordance with society: the non-vaccinated. On the other hand, there are good reasons for this decision. For me, inclusion does not mean that you can do anything and that there are no limits. Right now we have a big problem with a virus. This problem requires special measures.
And then the Nazi comparison.
The reference to fascist behavior becomes problematic when a non-vaccinated person compares himself to a Jew in the Third Reich. I don’t think we can all imagine what the feelings were like back then and how violence was inflicted on a section of the population. At this point, the decision to take the Facebook posts off the page was clear. Because something like that is just disrespectful to a lot of people. It was more than just a shit storm: the level of aggression and the level of comparison. The number of posts from people who have not or never been in the theater for a long time was already considerable.
There weren’t any guests who would normally receive you in the house.
No. I currently experience our visitors as incredibly constructive. The people who come appreciate that we take the verification of vaccination records at the door very seriously. It gives you a feeling of security. I see people who are grateful that we are creating culture at all.
You got into the corona pandemic against much opposition made the program. Now such an attack. Do you sometimes think of giving up?
Let me put it a bit casually: Such candelabras will not prevent me from doing the right thing and, as long as the state allows us, to keep cultural institutions open. It is also important to keep artists and technicians working. It’s about appreciation. We also try to create offers for those who cannot come because they are not vaccinated. We couldn’t immediately pull the digital lever again and immediately offer hybrid events in parallel. But we are on the way.
How can one counteract the social division?
The greatest offer you can make is to keep informing people. You have to make sure that you create an atmosphere in which there is openness to the fears on each side. A side anecdote: I was in Madrid last week. There the vaccination rate is 85 percent and the incidence is 40. I have seen people in good spirits who treat each other very respectfully and enjoy life. The Spaniards have seen other times as well. I hope that we can get around the corner again.