OPINION
30 years after Rostock-Lichtenhagen
We all have to finally understand: The danger comes from the right!
The right-wing extremist riots in Rostock-Lichtenhagen in 1992 were the worst since the end of the Second World War
© Bauer / Picture Alliance
The sunflower house in Rostock-Lichtenhagen burned down 30 years ago. It was a warning shot that we still haven’t heard. We must finally and time and again name the greatest danger to democracy: right-wing extremism.
It is no longer possible to reconstruct exactly when the first stone fell on the sunflower house in Rostock-Lichtenhagen on August 22, 1992. It was sometime in the early evening hours. From a crowd of almost 2000 neo-Nazis, residents and onlookers who had gathered in front of the central reception center for asylum seekers to demonstrate against refugees, asylum seekers and contract workers.
The ugly face of right-wing extremism broke out in Rostock-Lichtenhagen
What followed that first stone is history: Molotov cocktails and incendiary devices, accompanied by shouts of “foreigners out” and Hitler salutes. The ugly face of right-wing extremism broke ground – for four days Lichtenhagen was practically a lawless and right-wing area. Until the police were finally able to bring the protests under control. Since then, attempts have been made to explain and understand many things in dealing with this first pogrom since the Second World War. Why right-wing groups were so strong, especially in the East, and still are today. Where did the hatred of the Rostockers for the asylum seekers come from, how could it get to the point that hundreds were willing to burn people alive. Why the police didn’t intervene for a long time and why it took four days for the situation to be defused.
When talking to contemporary witnesses, the sentence often falls that one must have understanding – for the heated atmosphere in Rostock, fueled by the skyrocketing unemployment – for the excessive demands on the police because many responsibilities were not clear – for people who watch this “spectacle ” wanted to watch and got carried away by the atmosphere. No, you don’t have to!
For thirty years it has been about understanding – we have to admit that it has not achieved anything. Not just in relation to Lichtenhagen, but to everything that came after: Solingen, Mölln, Hoyerswerda, Halle, Hanau.
You don’t have to understand every ideology
You don’t have to understand when people hide their xenophobia behind fear of Islam – like with Pegida.
You don’t have to understand that people pour their fantasies of overthrow and sheer anti-Semitism into an outrageous conspiracy story because they don’t want to carry a piece of cloth in front of their nose in the supermarket – like in the Corona pandemic.
We must finally look and understand: The greatest danger to our democracy, our country and our fellow citizens comes from the right! We must finally stop counterbalancing right-wing terror with actions from the left-wing autonomous environment. Who has killed dozens of people on the street in the past decades? Left-wing extremists or neo-Nazis?
Balancing right-wing extremism with left-wing extremism does not do justice to the structures
No crime, no bodily harm and no attack can be justified. Neither a burning refugee home, nor the throwing of a Molotov cocktail at police officers at the G20 summit in Hamburg. But it is important that we are clear about the relationship:
For years, most politically motivated crimes have come from the right. In 2021, law enforcement authorities in Germany recorded more than twice as many right-wing crimes as left-wing crimes. Repeatedly claiming that left-wing extremism is just as bad as right-wing extremism does not do justice to these structures.
Right-wing extremism is a deeply inhuman ideology. It wants to destroy – systems, norms and, last but not least, people. And she still does. The riots in Rostock-Lichtenhagen were shocking and a blueprint in German post-war history. But it wasn’t the only case.
Right-wing extremism is still alive. Whether in Cottbus or in Dortmund-Dorstfeld. All of us who live in this country have a responsibility to do everything in our power to ensure that people of every colour, religion, origin and sexual orientation can live here in peace.
On this sad anniversary, more than ever and forever: Never again fascism!