From: fg@spcklk.mpifr-bonn.mpg.de (Frank Grieger)
Subject: Re: Is it starting again?
Organization: Max-Planck-Institut f"ur Radioastronomie
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1992 19:12:04 GMT

In <BML6DHD@math.fu-berlin.de> weberwu@inf.fu-berlin.de (Debora Weber-Wulff) writes:

>On the eve of "Anti-War Day" in Germany unknown persons detonated
>a pipe bomb at a Berlin monument in Tiergarten that commemorates
>the many Jews is the area that were deported and killed in the
>concentration camps. There have often been minor attacks on the
>monument, this one has caused quite some damage to the monument,
>but luckily no one was hurt (it is on a bridge, and apparantly a
>car was in the vicinity at the time of the detonation).

[stuff deleted]

>Debora Weber-Wulff                       dww@inf.fu-berlin.de

This followup referrs mainly to the above subject than it does to the incident 
described in the article. Even though it's hard to find the right
expressions if you write in a foreign language I'll post it in english
because this is an international forum. The risk is that this could lead to
misunderstandings. Never the less I see the importance of international
debates about political themes and the risk of misunderstandings by badly
used english is less than the misunderstandings that will come up if you
don't continue talking with each other.

Allready very early as a small boy I reallized that there is a difference from
beeing german, to be from any other country in the world. From the first days I
could understand what was happening in the third Reich I'm asking the same
questions: How could this happen? And, what is the subject of the post by
Debora: Is it starting again? Nearly every day those questions go through
my mind. It might be when I'm passing the old synagogue which now is the
church of some other religious comunity because the jewish congregation is
too small today. It might be when I read some clasical german litterature
and find stereotypes about Jews, which are very common. It might also be 
when I suddenly reallize that I use phrases myself that are racist, but which 
are that deeply involved with the colloquial german that you hardly 
reallize what you are saying. And it shurely is when I hear news about
fascists in germany like those about the riots in Rostock. I never found an
answer to those questions. This doesn't mean that no answer is as well as
saying yes to: is it happening again? If I'd simply say: No! I would
close my eyes and wouldn't reallize what is going on since I'm so 
self-satisfied. If I would answer it with: Yes! It would be a gross
misjudgement of the political situation. Especially for a german it's
important to keep those questions in mind in order to fullfill his
resposibility in the face of history. It's natural that questions like
those come up when something terrible and contemptible like the riots in
Rostock happens. But it would be wrong to build an image of germany based
on the incidents of the last days. No stereotype fits any country. Not even
germany. Even tough the extremists are just very few people it's true that many
people in germany take a somehow schizophrenic position if you ask them
about theire vision of the topic. It's expressed in therms like: I condamn
what happend, but something has to be changed with all those people seeking
asylum. Or worse: It's not right what happend, but politicians need
incidents like that in order to wake up and change something (Not about
neonazis. About the law of asylum!). What are the reasons for so much
intollerance. The new german countries are the poor part of the nation. By the
mismanagement of the socialist party some towns look like nothing has changed
since the bombs of WW II. The socialistic companies and factories are not
prepared for the competition on a capitalistic market. Many of them died.
The unemployment rate in some towns is up to 40%. The recovery in the east
takes billions of DM every year. The wellfare as well as the pensions and
the medical health care has to be cut in order to finance this. The state
doesn't have the money for a good housing scheme. The rents become
unaffordable in large cities like Berlin. As a result many people start 
listening to the arguments of the right wing partys. They offer easy solutions: 
If you need medical care, send all the foreigners back home that live from 
wellfare and the money will be there for you. If you need a job, take that one 
from a foreign citizen. I think those arguments are very common all over the 
world not just in germany. And it's not just german style that the people who 
trust in them don't see the real problems. It's frightend but it's human in the
negative meaning of this word that many people don't care about others as
long as they think they'll improve theire own situation. This shall be no
excuse to no extend. This shall just be a discribtion of what are some of
the explanations about what is happening. But is it germany in common? No,
it's not. It's just a part of it. It's the negative part of it but
fortunately it's not the main part. This might be supprising but the
germans are not hostile against foreigners in general. Germany is too much
a part of the international community to bee this. Many foreigners live in
germany. My doctor is Egyptian and he is one of my best friends as well.
The shop where I by my food belongs to a Persian family. Many people I work
with are from all over the world. The university of Bonn is a place to
study for people of all nations. If I go down town a quater of the people
around me are obviously not german. I and many of my fellow citizens
enjoy the international flair of the former 'federal capital village'
(Bundeshauptdorf). Don't make the mistake to form your image about germany
from those horrible news of the last days. Just two days ago a met an
american girl in a restaurant down town. I talked to her and finally asked
her how she likes germany and the germans. Her answer was something like
this: "Oh, it's great. The people are so kind! So much different from what
I expected." I don't think that the germans are exeptionally kind. It's
just that they don't run arround and shout "Halts Maul!" at all foreigners
like those in the movies and computer games do. That makes them
supprisingly kind.

I am hoping for a good discusion. Greetings,
						Frank.
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fg@specklec.mpifr-bonn.mpg.de               Frank Grieger, Bonn, Germany