Harald Ewert

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Harald Ewert and another viewer
Press photo by Martin Langer
(please note copyrights )

Harald Ewert (* 1954 , † 2006 in Rostock ) became a symbolic figure of the riots in Rostock-Lichtenhagen on August 24, 1992. A black and white photograph of him with outstretched arm to the Hitler salute , wearing a jersey of the German national football team and eingenässter sweatpants went to the World.

Creation of the photo

The then 38-year-old Ewert, an unemployed construction machinist, lived in Rostock-Reutershagen at the time of the riots . When he heard about the riots at the asylum seekers' home in Rostock on TV, he went to Lichtenhagen and joined the crowd that was watching and cheering around a hundred right-wing extremists at the Central Reception Center for Asylum Seekers (ZAst) with stones and Molotovs - Throwing cocktails and setting fire. He was wearing gray sweatpants and a jersey from the German national soccer team. Obviously drunk and with a glazed look, he stretched his right arm in the Hitler salute at the moment of the recording .

For showing the Hitler salute, Ewert was sentenced to a fine of 300 DM in the spring of 1993 for violating Section 86a of the Criminal Code ( using symbols of unconstitutional organizations ).

The photographer Martin Langer took the photo for the mirror . It shows a dark spot in the crotch of the sweatpants and gives the impression that Ewert has gotten wet. Compared to the star , Ewert denied that it was a urine stain. Rather, a beer can that he got caught between his legs while driving a car is said to have spilled over. However, he could not prove this because he burned the sweatpants out of anger. The Hitler salute came about by chance; that "was completely automatic - I was blue," he is said to have reported to the star. Ten years later, Ewert reassured the Tagesspiegel that he had never been a neo-Nazi and that his right arm only reflexively went up. He regrets the stain on his pants and wishes "that something like the one in Lichtenhagen no longer happens."

In 2006 Ewert died at the age of 50. At the time of his death, he was living in the same apartment that he had already occupied at the time of the riots.

External impact

The picture with Ewert became part of the collective memory of the riots and is the best-known shot of the four-day pogrom . It became known worldwide and became a synonym for the "new ugly Germany". It was included in the collections of the House of History in Bonn and the German Historical Museum in Berlin.

Pop culture references

  • Boxhamsters sing the line in the song “ Conflict” (1993): "Put your hand in the air and piss on your panties / a brisk little song and we know that you are a good German."
  • ... But Alive used the line "Piss in your sweatpants, you stupid lousy little racist" in their song Nur Idioten sucht Führer , which deals with the resurgence of the right-wing extremist scene after 1990.
  • A colored version of the picture was created as a countermovement to the Du bist Deutschland initiative .
  • The satirical magazine Titanic created a false advertisement for “men's trousers, pre-pissed”, which are still available today as a postcard motif.
  • The Broilers refer to Ewert in their song Der Rest und ich from their 2014 album Noir : "When the rest of them were clapping, they came out too, pissed on sweatpants in front of a burning house."
  • The German rock band Toxpack takes in her song Nothing hear, see, say , a collaboration with Stephan Weidner ( Böhse Onkelz , the W ), also regarding Ewert: "So they are back in front of the refugee camp. Like 22 years ago. With pissed pants and raised right arm. "
  • After Jan Böhmermann was warned in early 2015 because of a Twitter post with the photo of photographer Martin Langer , he and his colleague William Cohn reproduced the photo and published it on Twitter.
  • At the Bundesvision Song Contest 2015 , the brass section of the Gloria group around Klaas Heufer-Umlauf performed in a German jersey and with a piss stain on their sweatpants.
  • The band Affenmesserkampf used the symbolism of the photo on their album Clowns in Wut - A German Heart Has Stopped Beating IV as well as the song 1992 contained on it .

literature

  • Christoph Koch: Neon from October 2007, p. 17 ff. In: State Center for Political Education Baden-Württemberg (Ed.): The right-wing extremist scene. Entries - counter-strategies - exits in: politics & teaching. Journal for the Practice of Political Education . No. 2 , 2008, ISSN  0344-3531 , p. 39 ( PDF; 1.4 MB ; with picture).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Markus Mohr: Four days in August . In: Rosa Luxemburg Foundation (ed.): StandPUnktE 2012 . Berlin 2012, p. 62 ( online (PDF; 949 kB)).
  2. ↑ Torsten Hampel: What is Harald Ewert ashamed of? Tagesspiegel , January 6, 2002, accessed October 5, 2013 .
  3. ↑ a b Christoph Koch: The Sunflower House. Neon , September 13, 2007, accessed October 5, 2013 .
  4. ↑ Werner Schmitz and Konrad Schwarz: Interview with the Lichtenhagen Nazi: "Hitler salute? That was completely automatic". Stern.de , August 31, 2015, accessed June 20, 2017 .
  5. ↑ Christoph Koch: The sunflower house. Courage against right-wing violence , October 22, 2007, accessed June 20, 2017 .
  6. ↑ Boxhamsters: Prince Albert , Bad Moon 1993
  7. ↑ Only idiots need leaders. But Alive, accessed October 5, 2013 .
  8. ↑ You are Germany. Now February 27, 2006, accessed October 5, 2013 .
  9. ↑ Men's pants, pre-pissed postcard. Official website, accessed October 7, 2013 .
  10. ^ Toxpack: Hear nothing, see nothing, say nothing . Album: Friss! (2014)
  11. ↑ Leonhard Dobusch: Warning from copyright infringer Böhmermann: what could a solution look like? Netzpolitik.org , January 25, 2015, accessed January 25, 2015 .
  12. ↑ Jan Böhmermann, a Hitler salute in pissed over sweatpants and a photographer whose reputation gets lost in the shit storm. Digitized version, accessed on February 7, 2015 .
  13. ^ TV review "Bundesvision Song Contest": Raab goes with a bang. Stern.de , August 30, 2015, accessed June 20, 2017 .
  14. ↑ Bernd Cramer: AFFENMESSERKAMPF - clowns in anger - a German heart has stopped beating IV. Blueprint Fanzine, April 12, 2017, accessed on June 18, 2017 .
  15. ↑ Thomas: Affenmessererkampf - Clowns in Rage - A German Heart Has Stopped Beating IV (2017, Gunner Records). Handlemedown.de, May 26, 2017, accessed June 18, 2017 .
personal data
SURNAME Ewert, Harald
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German protest participant, symbolic figure
DATE OF BIRTH 1954
DATE OF DEATH 2006
Place of death Rostock