Status: 08/22/2022 4:18 p.m
Even 30 years after the xenophobic riots in Rostock-Lichtenhagen, the horror in the federal government is great. The fight against right-wing extremism and xenophobia must be continued.
On the anniversary of the racist riots in Rostock-Lichtenhagen, Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz called on citizens to fight hate speech and racism every day. “30 years ago today, right-wing extremists in Rostock-Lichtenhagen set the ‘sunflower house’ on fire, onlookers applauded,” wrote Scholz. “Where people sought protection, they were attacked – a terrible act.”
Faeser: Right-wing extremism is the greatest extremist danger
“To this day it is shocking that hardly anyone took action against the mob,” said Interior Minister Nancy Faeser. The right-wing misanthropy that flared up in Rostock-Lichtenhagen had become a “beacon”. The same applies to “the hesitant and half-hearted behavior of the security forces and the lack of empathy in politics and society”. In the middle of Germany people should have “feared for their lives” back then. Right-wing extremism is currently the greatest extremist danger in Germany, added the SPD politician.
Trivialized xenophobia and forgotten victims – 30 years of arson attacks in Rostock-Lichtenhagen
Carolin Kock, Jette Studier, NDR, daily topics 11:15 p.m., August 22, 2022
“Terrifying to this day”
Like Faeser, the Federal Government Commissioner for Integration, Reem Alabali-Radovan, described the events in Rostock as still shocking. “The extent of the racist riots is still frightening today,” she said on Deutschlandfunk.
From today’s perspective, the political reactions at the time can only be described as frightening, added Alabali-Radovan. The federal government at the time tightened the right to asylum instead of talking about right-wing extremism. “We still haven’t really worked through that.”
demands for refurbishment
Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (FDP) said on Twitter: “Hate has not disappeared. It remains our duty to defend our open society against its enemies.”
Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth called for a lively culture of remembrance. “The racist riots in Rostock-Lichtenhagen triggered a whole chain of xenophobic violent excesses in the reunified Federal Republic,” said the Green politician.
“We must and should keep alive the memory of this dark chapter of the German present,” said Roth. This included places of remembrance as well as scientific institutions for the documentation and processing of right-wing terrorism.
The managing director of the Amadeu Antonio Foundation, Timo Reinfrank, called for a thorough investigation of the riots. Politicians and the police failed massively at the time, he explained. The pogrom is associated with decades of trivialization of right-wing extremist violence. In addition, the racist violence had an effect far beyond Rostock. The pogrom was not a local event.
Four days of riots
From August 22 to 26, 1992, right-wing extremists and onlookers kept gathering at the so-called sunflower house in the Rostock district of Lichtenhagen, which housed the central reception center for asylum seekers and Vietnamese contract workers. Stones and incendiary devices were thrown, racist slogans were shouted, and the fire brigade was obstructed. The police failed to stop the riots.
Played down and forgotten: right-wing violence in Rostock-Lichtenhagen
Carolin Kock, NDR, 22.8.2022 00:35 a.m