On the 30th anniversary of the racist riots in Rostock-Lichtenhagen, Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz called on citizens to fight hate speech and racism every day. The SPD politician called the attacks at the time a “terrible act” on Monday. From the point of view of Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, right-wing extremism is the greatest threat to democracy today. The Greens and the Left also warned to keep the memory alive.
From August 22 to 26, 1992, right-wing perpetrators attacked 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. Residents could only bring themselves to safety from a fire. The police failed to stop the riots.
Interior Minister Faeser declared that this was one of the worst racist excesses in post-war German history. “To this day, it is shocking that hardly anyone took action against the mob.” Many onlookers even applauded and goaded the attackers. “The right-wing extremist misanthropy that flared up in Rostock-Lichtenhagen became a beacon, as did the hesitant and half-hearted behavior of the security forces and the lack of empathy in politics and society.”
SPD member of the Bundestag Dirk Wiese called the riots a low point in political culture. “If Rostock-Lichtenhagen teaches us one thing, it’s this: we must not allow ourselves to be divided,” said Wiese in Berlin. “Cohesion and solidarity are the most important assets of our coexistence.”
Roth: “keep the memory alive”
Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth (Greens) recalled that the racist riots at the time had triggered a whole chain of “xenophobic violent excesses”. “We must and should keep alive the memory of this dark chapter of the German present.” This included places of remembrance as well as scientific institutions for the documentation and processing of right-wing terrorism.
Left leader Janine Wissler said the incidents represented a dramatic failure of the state. She named the unsuccessful police operation, but also the comparatively mild penalties for the few convicted perpetrators. Wissler recalled that there had been a heated debate about the right to asylum at the time. This was tightened a few months later in the so-called asylum compromise between the Helmut Kohl government and the SPD.