Suddenly it gets quiet when Federal Minister for Family Affairs Lisa Paus (Greens) places a white flower in front of the oak door, which saved 52 people’s lives in Halle on October 9, 2019. It is the door that stopped the assassin from getting inside the synagogue on the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur almost three years ago. The bullet holes in the wood can still be seen today – the door has still not burst. It is now part of a memorial commemorating the terrorist attack in Halle. Jana Lange and Kevin Schwarze did not survive that October day. Many of the dozens of people who the assassin also wanted to kill or who witnessed the attack are still suffering from the consequences of the attack, both mentally and physically. Paus puts down her flower, takes a few steps back – and is silent.
Paus visits the synagogue in Halle on Tuesday afternoon during her summer tour, which she actually does to talk. With associations and initiatives supported by the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs. Like the “Mobile Victim Counseling” in Halle, which supports people who have experienced racist or anti-Semitic violence. Among other things, the team advises those affected by the attack on the synagogue, but also victims of violent crimes who did not make it into any national newspapers. But the counseling center has a problem: it has too little money.
But because politicians don’t travel without taking a message with them, Paus brought one with him to Halle. What sounds awkward means for the Mobile Victim Advice Service and similar civil society projects against extremism, after years of uncertainty, the prospect of long-term financial security.
There was already a plan in the grand coalition to enshrine this promotion of democracy in law. However, because many of the projects that could potentially be funded work primarily against the spread of right-wing extremism, parts of the Union had feared left-wing extremist infiltration. The cabinet draft then failed in 2021 in the Bundestag.
Affected people often need help for years. Hard to afford at the moment.
But he has since been re-elected. The traffic light started a new attempt to achieve stable and sustainable financing of civil society projects and initiatives with a law. Because many clubs have had to give up in the past or change a proven concept – not because it was not successful, but because the funding had expired.
To date, there has been no legal basis for federal funds to permanently finance civil society engagement in the area of democracy promotion and extremism prevention. The federal government is currently supporting around 600 initiatives and associations through the “Live Democracy” funding program – but always for a limited period of time, as model projects. According to Paus, 165 million euros are available for this this year.
Mobile victim counseling in Saxony-Anhalt also receives money from this subsidy fund, and the funding is available until the end of 2024. And then? Since the project was founded 21 years ago, it has been struggling from one time limit to the next. Zissi Sauermann, head of mobile victim counseling in Saxony-Anhalt, is hoping for the new Democracy Promotion Act so that mobile victim counseling can finally plan for the long term: “We’ve been talking about it for years, it’s about time.”
The counseling center was established after there was an arson attack on the synagogue in Düsseldorf in 2000. At the time, Chancellor Gerhard Schröder called for a “revolt by the decent people”. That’s when, says Sauermann, the question first arose: who actually supports those affected by right-wing, racist and anti-Semitic violence? “This is a field of action that we have since completely developed and professionalized ourselves.”
Among other things, they offer to accompany those affected to police and court appointments, to advise them on security issues – a psychosocial processing of the experience is also part of the work. “After attacks, those affected often feel powerless, so initiating a self-empowerment process can be very important.” Affected people often need professional support for years. The current funding from the federal government with the permanent time limits does not actually provide for this.
Two part-time employees per location advise victims of extremism
There are now specialized counseling centers for victims of extremism in all federal states, in Saxony-Anhalt with contact points in Halle, Magdeburg and Salzwedel. Two part-time employees are employed at each location for advice – not enough, says Sauermann. After all, in 2015 alone, the reported number of right-wing extremist acts of violence almost doubled compared to the previous year, but not the staff. “The resource problem is blatant,” says Sauermann.
It would actually be part of their concept to proactively approach those affected, but that is hardly possible anymore. Because the budget – and thus the jobs – were missing. The new law could change that.
Accompanying those affected is time-consuming, also because their team “looks individually at what those affected need on site,” says Sauermann. After all, violence is often part of everyday experiences of discrimination. That is why prevention is also one of their tasks. And that should be one of the most effective means anyway, so that there is no need for new occasions for minutes of silence and memorials like at the synagogue in Halle.