Berlin Appeal (1994)

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The so-called Berlin Appeal: Defend against the beginnings! from 1994 was a new right-wing political campaign in the run-up to the 1994 federal election .

The Berlin Appeal

The initiators of the appeal were Klaus Rainer Röhl , Ulrich Schacht , Heimo Schwilk and Rainer Zitelmann , who described themselves as the “May 8th Initiative”.

On September 28, 1994, the initiators published the collection of signatures "Berliner Appell" in parallel in the daily newspaper (TAZ) and the Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ). The signatories appealed to the “ anti- totalitarian consensus”, committed themselves to the free-democratic basic order and at the same time warned against an “anti-fascist-democratic order”. They also warned against a return of socialism in the form of the PDS, which emerged from the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED), and complained about an alleged "persecution of the conservatives" due to an overpowering "left cultural hegemony".

At the same time, another advertisement appeared in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) on the same day under the title Berliner Appell: Appell against trivialization of the dictatorship! , which also called for a stronger coming to terms with the communist dictatorship.

The approximately 200 signatories of the appeal included politicians, publicists, scientists, doctors, merchants and writers who were predominantly from the right-wing conservative spectrum. Politically prominent personalities included the Federal Minister Carl-Dieter Spranger , 15 members of the Bundestag of the CDU / CSU (including Erika Steinbach , Heinrich Lummer , Rainer Eppelmann and Bernd Posselt ) and the Saxon State Ministers Arnold Vaatz and Steffen Heitmann (both CDU). Some GDR civil rights activists also signed the appeal. Sarah Kirsch distanced herself from the statement four days after it was published and Freya Klier withdrew her signature on October 4, 1994. Kurt Drawert and Sarah Kirsch also stated that their signatures had been published without consent. Reiner Suss described that he felt “taken by surprise”.

The time of publication was a few weeks before the 1994 Bundestag election and, according to political scientist Rainer Benthin, had two functions: On the one hand, to raise the mood against the PDS in the election campaign in order to prevent it from entering the Bundestag; on the other hand, the appeal was directed against " all critical voices that have not tumbled into national "drunkenness" through reunification ”.

Media coverage

The media response to the “Berlin Appeal” came mainly from the publishing media TAZ, SZ and FAZ and did not spare criticism. Gunter Hofmann remarked in Die Zeit : "A strange gathering of hardworking and burdened people had put their name under it".

Political classification

According to political scientist Wolfgang Gessenharter , the appeal was formulated by an initiative whose members were called the New Right . The “Berlin Appeal” shows a new tone “in the new right-wing debate” when the campaign no longer “only” sought “cultural hegemony”, but also “aimed at taking steps towards political supremacy”. The central objective of the initiators "to bring together all" nationally-minded forces in Germany "in order to make the" New Democratic Right "an" unmistakable "power factor and thus to drive" the left worldview cartel "out of its positions of power" became clear.

According to Rainer Benthin, the appeal should not be overestimated, but it shows a further leap in quality as an "indicator of a more offensive appearance of the New Right in public". Similar to Benthin and Gessenharter, other scientific publications locate the “Berlin Appeal” as a “new right thought leader” campaign or as a new right offensive to stage debates by means of provocative appeals and manifestos

The historian Michael Schneider from the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung saw the "Berlin Appeal" as an element of a "" people's education "from the right" ".

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Wolfgang Gessenharter, Recall to the «self-conscious nation» - analysis of a new right frame from the perspective of movement theory , In: Kai-Uwe Hellmann, Ruud Koopmans, Paradigms of Movement Research: Origin and Development of New Social Movements and Right-Wing Extremism , Springer-Verlag 2013, p. 170
  2. ↑ Rainer Benthin, The New Right in Germany and Their Influence on the Political Discourse of the Present , P. Lang 1996, p. 136
  3. ^ Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung September 28, 1994
  4. ↑ Sarah Kirsch distances herself from "Berliner Appell" , In: Der Tagesspiegel of October 2, 1994
  5. ↑ "I was caught up" / Freya Klier withdraws her signature under the "Berlin Appeal". In: The TAZ of October 4, 1994
  6. ↑ "Berliner Appell" - Kirsch and Drawert contradict , In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of October 12, 1994
  7. ↑ Peter Berge, Contradiction to Sarah Kirsch , In: Neues Deutschland from October 12, 1994
  8. ↑ a b Rainer Benthin, The New Right in Germany and Its Influence on the Political Discourse of the Present , P. Lang 1996, p. 138
  9. ↑ Conversation with Sarah Kirsch. There can really be no talk of a witch hunt on conservatives , in: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of September 30, 1994
  10. ^ Gunter Hofmann, For the strong state , In: Die Zeit from November 4, 1994
  11. ↑ Wolfgang Gessenharter, Recall to the «self-conscious nation» - analysis of a new right frame from the perspective of movement theory , In: Kai-Uwe Hellmann, Ruud Koopmans, Paradigms of Movement Research: Origin and Development of New Social Movements and Right-Wing Extremism , Springer-Verlag 2013, p. 166
  12. ↑ Wolfgang Gessenharter, Recall to the Self-Confident Nation - Analysis of a New Right Frame from a Movement - Theoretical Perspective , In: Kai-Uwe Hellmann, Ruud Koopmans, Paradigms of Movement Research: Origin and Development of New Social Movements and Right-Wing Extremism , Springer-Verlag 2013, p. 179
  13. ↑ Friedemann Schmidt, The New Right and the Berlin Republic: Parallel Paths in the Normalization Discourse , Springer-Verlag, 2013 p. 13
  14. ↑ Manfred Büttner, Brown seeds in young heads 1 .: Theory and ideology of right-wing extremism and National Socialism in the past and present. , Schneider-Verlag Hohengehren 1999, p. 72
  15. ↑ Michael Schneider, People's Education from the right: Ernst Nolte, the efforts to historicize National Socialism and the self-confident nation , Volume 11 of the History Discussion Group, Friedrich Ebert Foundation, Research Institute of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation 1995, p. 55