“Affluence neglect”, “disgusting slogans”, “outright racism”: politicians react with shock to a video recorded on Sylt. State security is investigating for incitement. The bar distanced itself.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz has strongly condemned the racist yelling of young people outside a bar on Sylt, which was captured on video. “It’s clear: such slogans are disgusting, they are unacceptable,” said the SPD politician in Berlin. “There can be no mistaking that,” Scholz continued. “And that’s why it’s right that all of our activities are aimed at preventing this from becoming a thing that spreads.”
The video, in which a partying group shouts racist slogans in front of a bar on the North Sea island of Sylt, sparked outrage across the country. The bar, the Pony Bar, distanced itself from the event that night and announced consequences.
Suspicion that Hitler salute was shown
In the recording, which lasts just a few seconds and has been circulating online since Thursday, the participants chanted nationalistic and racist slogans to the tune of a party hit. A man appears to be making a Hitler moustache with his fingers on his upper lip and is waving the hand of his outstretched right arm to the beat – a Hitler salute?
The police’s State Security Department began investigations into incitement and the use of unconstitutional symbols. The Flensburg public prosecutor’s office confirmed investigations into the suspects.
“Can also be convicted without further disseminating the video”
The Amadeu Antonio Foundation, which has been supporting projects against right-wing extremism and racism since 1998, called on the short message service X not to spread the video any further. The “disgusting earworm” does not need any more reach than it already has.
Green Party leader Ricarda Lang said at an election campaign event in Karlsruhe: “When I see something like that, I just feel sick. I can hardly bear it.” She asked: “What kind of neglect of prosperity is this? What kind of absurd madness is this?”
One day after the celebrations for the 75th anniversary of the Basic Law, Lang referred to its first article: “Human dignity is inviolable.” This does not only apply to white people, to people with German passports or to people who grew up in Germany, said the party leader. “If our Basic Law says one thing, it is: ‘Nazis out’.” The fact that people are taking to the streets against right-wing extremism gives her courage and confidence, said Lang.
“It is important to speak up”
Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser also spoke of neglect. “Anyone who shouts Nazi slogans like ‘Germany for the Germans – foreigners out’ is a disgrace for Germany,” the SPD politician told the newspapers of the Funke media group. Faeser raised the question of what kind of hate-filled climate encourages such profoundly racist public statements and “whether we are dealing with people here who live in a parallel society that is neglected by prosperity and that tramples on the values of our constitution.”
Faeser spoke out in favor of criminal consequences for such behavior, but at the same time appealed to society as a whole. “There must be no creeping normalization here,” she warned. Racism must be “loudly opposed” everywhere – in friends’ circles, at work, in sports. “It is important to speak up and stand up against such hatred,” stressed the Federal Minister of the Interior.
FDP General Secretary Bijan Djir-Sarai was also shocked by the incident. He did not want to comment further on the events. The police and the judiciary must now evaluate the recordings.
“Not a so-called marginal phenomenon”
The Federal Government’s anti-racism commissioner, Reem Alabali-Radovan, called the incidents “disgusting and unbearable”. She was stunned that none of the other guests intervened. “It clearly shows that right-wing extremism and racism permeate all social groups and are not a so-called fringe phenomenon. They reach deep into the middle class,” said Alabali-Radovan.
The Independent Federal Commissioner for Anti-Discrimination, Ferda Ataman, expressed similar views. The images apparently did not come from a Nazi bar, but from a posh bar on Sylt. “Racism must never again become the norm in Germany,” she warned, adding: “This is pure racism, which is increasingly penetrating all social groups and age groups and is being openly expressed.” Ataman welcomed the police investigation. Such actions should not go without consequences.
The video also caused outrage on Sylt itself and throughout Schleswig-Holstein. The mayors of the Sylt communities distanced themselves in a joint statement.
Members of the Schleswig-Holstein state government had also condemned the behavior, including Education Minister Karin Prien (CDU) and Integration Minister Aminata Touré (Greens).