When a kindergarten teacher leaves, it’s actually bad news given the shortage of childcare staff. But when some parents in Halle found out on Thursday morning that Caroline K. had been fired and would no longer look after their children, they were relieved. “I still can’t really believe it,” says a mother whose son goes to the Rainstrasse daycare center. The resistance against Caroline K., who is considered violent and right-wing extremist, was formed there a few weeks ago.
K. regularly attended demonstrations organized by her friend, the well-known neo-Nazi Sven Liebich. When riots broke out in November 2020 after a rally registered by “Quermachen” in Leipzig, Liebich and Caroline K. were right in the middle. Both beat up a photographer. When a video of the scene went viral, Caroline K. was put on leave by her employer, a local branch of the social and welfare organization Volkssolidarität. By the beginning of 2022 at the latest, however, she was working again as an educator, helping out in Rainstrasse. The parents wrote the wearer a concerned letter. But Dirk Jürgens, the managing director of the district association of people’s solidarity, explained the political attitude of the employee to private matters, in dealing with the children there were no abnormalities.
But in the past few weeks, the pressure on the provider, which operates day care centers in Halle 34, has increased. The public prosecutor’s office in Leipzig filed charges for the incident in November 2020. In the meantime, they are also investigating Halle public prosecutor against Caroline K.. She is said to have been present during an attack on a vaccination team. The K. case occupied the youth welfare office, the state administration office, the social ministry. The Paritätischer Gesamtverband expressed incomprehension about the lack of consequences and called on Jürgens in a letter to “take the necessary steps under labor law with the aim of terminating the employment relationship”. More than a year after the Leipzig incident, Jürgens did just that.
For the parents, the termination is only a beginning
The parents found out about the termination on Rainstrasse on Twitter. The Left MP Henriette Quade had made the answer of the Ministry of Social Affairs to an urgent request public. “I have the feeling that we were heard,” says a mother, while Caroline K.’s departure is only a beginning.
Children who have a migration background or are of the Jewish faith are also cared for in the day-care centers run by Volkssolidarität. The parents’ representatives sent Jürgens a list of demands. They want a democratic model to be worked out together, and project weeks to be organized so that everyone can work together. One of Jürgens’ favorite sentences is: “Kindergarten is about children, politics has no place there.” Nevertheless, he wants to talk about the list of demands. He has invited the parents from Rainstrasse to an interview next Tuesday in order to go through the 15 points with them. He has an hour for her.