Josephine Witt

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Josephine Witt (right) together with Alexandra Shevchenko (left) in Genoa , 2013

Josephine Witt (born June 22, 1993 ), real name: Josephine Markmann , or Josephine Marckmann , is a German political activist who was formerly active for the Femen movement.

Youth and family

Witt's father runs a one-man business and her mother is a physiotherapist. Witt is the oldest of four children. After graduating from high school at the age of eighteen, she worked for eight months in Bolivia in a social project for street children . Back in Germany, she began to study philosophy in Hamburg and then switched to dentistry . In 2015, Josephine Witt stated in a court case that she wanted to move to Berlin to start studying philosophy again. Since 2017 she has been studying directing at the Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts in Berlin .

activities

Among other things, Witt was involved in demonstrations against the Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Hanover Fair in April 2013. One of the lettering shown in a topless campaign was “Fuck Dictator”. Shortly before the demonstrators reached Putin and Chancellor Angela Merkel , bodyguards intervened. The Hanover police initiated an investigation. Putin's spokesman said shortly after the attack: "Nobody on the Russian side has asked Germany in any way to punish the activists."

Together with two French Femen activists, she demonstrated on May 29, 2013 in front of the Palace of Justice in the Tunisian capital Tunis against the arrest of the Tunisian Femen activist Amina Tyler . The 18-year-old had sprayed the word Femen on a cemetery wall - for this she faced up to 18 months in prison. The three protesters were arrested. The subsequent trial against the three women was also the subject of the Tunisian Prime Minister Ali Larajedh's visit to Angela Merkel in Berlin . The Chancellor called for a fair process based on the rule of law. Witt and her two colleagues were sentenced in June to four months and one day in prison for “indecent behavior”, which was later suspended.

On June 17, 2013, Witt received a visit from the Federal Government’s Human Rights Commissioner, Markus Löning , who said the prison sentence was disproportionate. On June 26, 2013, the sentence was suspended on appeal and Witt was able to leave Tunisia the next day. After her return from Tunisia, Witt stated in an interview that she had been beaten and threatened when she was arrested in Tunisia and that she had found her detention conditions humiliating. Witt also criticized Löning's statements that he had "played down the detention" and that the federal government wanted to "stay out of it as much as possible".

In an interview with the student magazine Zeit Campus , Witt had said shortly before her trip to Tunisia: “At Femen, we are concerned with the question of who in society the woman's body belongs to, when we go out on the street naked, we do it self-confidently and self-determined. We emphasize the control over our own body. "

On December 12, 2013 Josephine Witt and Hellen protested Langhorst with bare breasts were painted on the soccer balls in the ZDF - Talkshow Markus Lanz against the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar . In connection with a public debate about living conditions that violate human rights for migrant workers in Qatar who are building the sports facilities there, she called for a boycott of FIFA, which is organizing the World Cup : “Femen calls for 'fairness', women's and human rights off the pitch and shows anger against the sports mafia, dictators and those who show nothing but ignorance. ”On their bare bellies, too, was written“ Blood & Games ”and“ Don't play with human rights ”.

Witt disrupted a Christmas mass in Cologne Cathedral on December 25, 2013 . Archbishop Joachim Meisner was 80 years old on this day . At the beginning of the morning mass , she stormed forward from the first row and jumped bare-chested onto the altar with the inscription "I am God" . After a short time she was seized by the cathedral security forces and taken away. The police arrested her until the end of the service and started a criminal investigation into her religious practice . The proceedings against an entrepreneur who allegedly punched the Femen activist in the face after her action were stopped for a sum of 500 euros. According to Witt, the action was directed against "the monopoly of power of the Catholic Church". Cardinal Meisner explicitly included them in his final blessing. The religious political spokesman for the Greens, Volker Beck , reacted with "strong criticism" to the action and described it as disrespectful and "an unnecessary disturbance of the faithful during worship". Alois Glück , President of the Central Committee of German Catholics , rated the process as "hurtful and inconsiderate". The Cologne District Court sentenced Witt on December 3, 2014 for disrupting the practice of religion to a fine of 60 daily rates of 20 euros each. In the appeal hearing before the Cologne Regional Court , the daily rate was reduced to 10 euros due to her income.

On April 15, 2015, Witt disrupted a press conference of the European Central Bank . She pretended to be a journalist for Vice Magazine and jumped on the table in front of Mario Draghi in a T-shirt labeled "END THE ECB DICKTATORSHIP" . Shouting this slogan, she threw confetti and leaflets at Draghi . A little later, Witt announced on Twitter that the protest was not a Femen protest.

In an ORF interview in April 2015, Witt said that it was now an obstacle to be associated with Femen. She also stated that she had not had any contact with the organization for a year and described herself as a “freelance activist”.

Quotes

"Fortunately, religion is dying out in Germany, that is the logical consequence of our enlightened world."

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Jump up on the altar in: taz.de, online , accessed on December 28, 2013
  2. ↑ A neuter incarnate challenges the money elite in: Tagesanzeiger.ch, online , accessed on June 17, 2019
  3. ↑ Why not me? , ORF , April 16, 2015
  4. ↑ Lisa Niehaus: What bothers you about Mario Draghi? . FAZ, April 19, 2015
  5. ↑ : Johanna Tüntsch pay Femen activist from the Cologne Cathedral must have fine . Kölnische Rundschau, December 3, 2014
  6. ↑ Julia Neumann: 600 euros per breast . taz.de, December 3, 2014
  7. ↑ https://www.zeit.de/campus/2020/03/hochschule-fuer-schauspielkunst-ernst-busch-regie-klasse-frauen
  8. ↑ Does the attack on Putin have no consequences? ( Memento from December 28, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) ndr.de June 21, 2013
  9. ↑ Germans in Tunisia "shocked" by prison sentence , Mitteldeutsche Zeitung of June 18, 2013
  10. ↑ Femen activist sitting in a cell with 29 women , Hamburger Morgenpost, June 18, 2013
  11. ^ Femen activists in Tunisia are released , Sueddeutsche Zeitung of June 26, 2013
  12. ^ Naked protest in Tunis: Germans back in Europe after imprisonment , Schwäbische Zeitung of June 27, 2013
  13. ^ "Femen is part of my identity" , Die Zeit, July 7, 2013
  14. ↑ Who does the nude protest help? , The time of June 14, 2013
  15. ↑ Lanz Talkshow: Naked protest against World Cup soccer in Qatar , SPON from December 12, 2013
  16. ^ Femen activist Josephine Witt: “My breasts only harm the patriarchy” , article from December 27, 2013 in the portal rp-online.de , accessed on December 28, 2013
  17. ↑ Interview with Femen activist: Mrs. Witt, why do you think you are God? Der Spiegel, December 29, 2013. Retrieved December 5, 2014
  18. ^ First legal decision after the Femen protest in Cologne Cathedral , kath.net , June 2, 2014
  19. ^ Spiegel-Online: Femen activist jumps naked on the altar in front of Cardinal Meisner.
  20. ^ Die Welt: Naked Josephine Witt storms mass in Cologne Cathedral
  21. ^ Sharp criticism of Femen action , in: Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger from December 26, 2013
  22. ↑ ECLI : ECLI: DE: AGK: 2014: 1203.647DS240.14.00
  23. ↑ 600 euros per breast , taz , December 3, 2014
  24. ↑ ECLI : ECLI: DE: LGK: 2015: 0602.156NS23.15.00
  25. ↑ 600 euros fine for bosom protest in Cologne Cathedral , stern.de, June 2, 2015
  26. ↑ Why not me? , ORF , April 16, 2014
  27. ↑ Protest at press conference: Femen activist attacks ECB boss Draghi , published on April 15, 2015 on Spiegel Online
  28. ↑ Tweet from April 15, 2015 , Twitter , April 15, 2014
  29. ↑ Why not me? , ORF , April 16, 2014
  30. ↑ https://www.zeit.de/2013/28/femen-josephine-witt/seite-2
personal data
SURNAME Witt, Josephine
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Markmann, Josephine
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Femen activist
DATE OF BIRTH June 22, 1993