Inhumane and extremist content is increasingly being shared in chat groups among children and young people. What can teachers and social workers do about it?
There are yellow cards with numbers from 1 to 10 on the floor of the seminar room. The social workers are shown a meme, a combination of images and writing. Everyone positions themselves at 1: “not funny”. They play through a double lesson that they can carry out in the future with children and young people at schools or in youth centers.
The meme shows a baby with a cell phone in his hand. Above it is written in white letters: “Okay, I’ve had enough! I’ll call Hitler!” With this picture, students would normally rate 9 or 10: “maximum funny.” This is what Angelika Vogt, who leads the seminar, says. She has already been to a few schools. She now trains others how to deal with extremist content circulating among children and young people.
“It was just a joke”
In Öhringen near Schwäbisch Gmünd, 18 social workers are taking part in the workshop “Laugh until it hurts?” part offered by the Baden-Württemberg Youth Foundation.
They all experience that more and more extremist content is being shared among children and young people. Images with swastikas and racist or homophobic slogans travel from cell phone to cell phone.
“The excuse is usually that it was just a joke,” says Angelika Vogt. Many of the participants nod.
Manuel Zin is the contact person for around 700 students at his school in Mosbach. The social worker says videos and pictures are passed on from older teenagers to younger ones via all kinds of chats. “Extremist content already exists in the fifth grade.”
Detect extremist content
Various jokes or “memes” are repeatedly shown on the screen. It’s about blondes, East Frisians, and in between content with right-wing extremist symbols such as the swastika, SS runes or the wolf angel.
The seminar is designed for a double lesson and is intended to provide space for discussion: what is still a matter of taste, what could be hurtful and where a line is being crossed.
The students should also get to know the legal basics: Which symbols are prohibited according to Section 86a of the Criminal Code? What falls under the offense of sedition? A lot of content for 90 minutes.
Usually not a solid worldview
An alarming number of children and young people do not recognize what they are sharing, says seminar leader Vogt. “We do not assume that there is a consolidated right-wing extremist worldview.” The appeal often lies in testing boundaries. Children and young people would feel that the Nazi era in particular was considered the ultimate forbidden.
But trivializing it is a mistake. Angelika Vogt and her colleagues are also traveling a lot these days as a mobile consulting team. Last year they were called 79 times to schools or communities that needed help.
Among them was the case of a boy who is said to have memorized Hitler’s speeches and quoted them freely in front of the class. The teachers felt overwhelmed by the situation. In such cases, the main thing is to strengthen those in the classes who stand up against it.
More and more inquiries
At another school, the Hitler salute was considered a test of courage among students. In 2024, mobile advice has already reached 30 inquiries. Around half of the cases involved extremist tendencies among children and young people.
“We are noticing a significant increase in consulting cases,” says Vogt. Even after October 7, 2023 and the Hamas massacre, more inquiries were received.
The advice center is financed through a project by the Federal Ministry for Family, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth. Funding through “Promoting Democracy!” However, it expires this year.
Vogt assumes that they can continue next year. “But we don’t yet know how and with what means.” This makes planning extremely difficult.
For the social worker Manuel Zin, the seminar is a good help. He would like to implement the double lesson with students. From his experience, young people can also be reached through direct contact with people who talk about their experiences of discrimination. In April, a Holocaust survivor spoke at his school.