Young people celebrate on Sylt – and shout racist slogans. The case causes outrage. The bar where the party took place defends its behavior and files criminal charges.
Following the racist incident involving several party guests at Pentecost, the operators of the affected bar on Sylt have filed criminal charges.
At the same time, they defended their behavior at the time of the scandal: “If our staff had noticed such behavior at any time, we would have reacted immediately. We would have immediately informed the police and filed a criminal complaint. We have now been able to do that,” wrote the operators of the well-known Pony restaurant in the upscale holiday resort of Kampen on Instagram.
The people in question have been identified and reported. “We do not tolerate this deeply antisocial behavior. We never have and we never will. That is why we are now taking action against it with all means at our disposal.” They are still shocked and deeply dismayed. “Racism and fascism have no place in our society.”
State security investigates
In the recording, which lasts just a few seconds and has been circulating online since Thursday, the participants chanted nationalist and racist slogans to the tune of the more than 20-year-old party hit “L’amour Toujours” by Gigi D’Agostino. A man appears to be making a Hitler mustache with his fingers on his upper lip and is waving the hand of his outstretched right arm to the beat – a Hitler salute?
None of those standing around seem to be bothered by this. State security is investigating for incitement and the use of unconstitutional symbols.
The bar’s owner, Tim Becker, told the dpa news agency that there had never been any similar incidents there before. As a result, they no longer want to play “L’amour toujours” in the future. Becker is convinced that the five people involved will not only be banned from the Pony for life. “They don’t need to show their faces on Sylt anymore. We have lots of restaurant friends.”
Politicians shocked
Politicians were outraged and shocked when the incident became known. Chancellor Olaf Scholz called the slogans “disgusting” and “unacceptable”.
Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser told the newspapers of the Funke Media Group: “Anyone who shouts Nazi slogans like ‘Germany for the Germans – foreigners out’ is a disgrace for Germany.”
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.
Another incident in Lower Saxony
Sylt is not an isolated case. On Friday it was announced that a similar incident had occurred in Lower Saxony over Pentecost. Racist slogans were also shouted at the shooting festival in Löningen, including to the tune of “L’amour toujours”. Witnesses who filmed what happened reported the incident to the police. State security is also investigating there.
The Bunnen shooting club distanced itself from the incident in a post on the Instagram platform. The board only found out about it on the following Tuesday and then condemned the slogans to visitors to the shooting festival. The club is diverse and welcomes everyone. The incident should be further investigated.
In recent months, there have also been several right-wing extremist incidents in which revelers publicly sang the lyrics “Germany for the Germans, foreigners out” to the party hit.
In April, at a party following a state congress of the Young Liberals (Julis) Bavaria, at least one member of the FDP youth group is said to have chanted the racist slogan “Germany for the Germans, foreigners out”. Disciplinary measures were immediately taken against this and another member with the aim of expelling them from Juli – the first of the two has since resigned himself.
A similar incident also occurred in February at a carnival parade in Landsberg am Lech, Bavaria: members of the rural youth group are said to have shouted racist slogans when the song was played on a float.
Expert sees normalization of right-wing extremist content
For right-wing extremism expert Pia Lamberty, the Sylt case and similar cases show a normalization of right-wing extremist content in society. “Without any form of opposition, social norms are simply broken,” said the co-director of the Center for Monitoring, Analysis and Strategy (Cemas), which investigates radicalization tendencies and conspiracy theories on the Internet, to the dpa news agency. “People can express extreme slogans in public without hesitation.”
Gigi D’Agostino’s song is now increasingly associated with racist slogans, says Lamberty. “That does something to the brain.” In this way, right-wing extremists have managed to gain acceptance of such slogans in society at large. For the Cemas expert, the case makes it clear: “Right-wing extremism is not just a problem that you see in East Germany or among people with lower incomes, but also among higher classes.”