Never again Germany

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Graffiti with the slogan "Never again Germany!"

Never again Germany! was the political motto of the then nationwide alliance project “Radical Left” against racism , nationalism and fascism in the context of the GDR's accession to the FRG in 1990 , to warn of its consequences. The “ radical left ” was initiated by a group around the magazine concrete , eco-socialists and the communist union . It was supported by autonomous antifa activists and other left-wing groups. The alliance reacted to the resurgence of German nationalism and neo-Nazism at the time and warned of a “ Fourth Reich ” and a renewed German striving for world power or imperialism .

The motto "Never again Germany" ties in with comparable slogans such as Never again fascism and Never again war . Under this motto, the “Radical Left” (RL) organized two demonstrations and a congress. “Never again Germany!” Was the motto of the first large-scale demonstration on May 12, 1990 in Frankfurt am Main . The second large-scale demonstration in Berlin on November 3rd, 1990 had the motto "Death is a master from Germany".

The alliance disintegrated during the Gulf War in 1991 . As a result, the German radical left split in the dispute over the Israel-Palestine conflict and left anti-Semitism, among other things into “ anti-German ” and “anti-imperialists” .

origin

The first origins of the slogan are ascribed to the punk scene around the Hamburg punk band Slime . One of her most popular pieces contained the refrain “Germany must die so we can live”, which has been played on autonomous, anarchist, anti-fascist demonstrations since the early 1980s: “The central message of this song was also from Slime as a frontal opposition to that Inscription on the war memorial at the Hamburg Dammtorbahnhof "Germany must live and when we must die" was designed. "

As the catchphrase of the radical left campaign, the slogan was created in analogy to a rumored quote by the actress Marlene Dietrich . Then she is said to have replied to a reporter's question: “ Germany? Never again! ". The political slogan later developed from this . It cannot be assigned to any particular political orientation ; Due to the increasing acceptance of German patriotism and German nationalism outside of right-wing extremist and new -right circles, however , the use of the quote is now more widespread among left-wing, anti-fascist and pacifist groups of people.

The initiators of the campaign included Hermann L. Gremliza , Theresia Degener , Rainer Trampert , Winfried Wolf , Jutta Ditfurth , Karl Heinz Roth , Thomas Ebermann , Angelika Beer , Jens Scheer , Bettina Hoeltje and Regina Michalik . The declaration of Germany? Never again! was signed by around 100 people and activists from the political left.

Demonstrations and Congress

"Death is a master from Germany" demonstration Berlin November 3rd, 1990
Berlin 3rd November 1990

The first Never Again Germany demonstration of the RL Alliance took place on May 12, 1990 in Frankfurt am Main with 20,000 participants, the last on November 3, 1990 in Berlin . The Berlin demonstration on November 3, 1990, was with the slogan "Death is a master from Germany" - a quote from the Death Fugue by Paul Celan - organized. The original plan was to have this demonstration take place in Leipzig under the motto “Never again Germany”. However, since the organizers did not want to compete with the Leipzig Monday demonstration , the demonstration with the new motto was moved to Berlin. 8,000 people took part in it. Before the Berlin demonstration, the “Radical Left” alliance became completely independent from autonomous groups in Berlin from September 30, 1990 to October 3, 1990 under the motto “Shut up, Germany. It is enough". Days of action for the collapse organized with a nationwide demonstration on October 3rd, in which around 20,000 people took part. At the Pentecostal Congress 1990 in Cologne the RL under the slogan Never again Germany attended 1,500 people. On November 12, 1990, only 9 days after the Berlin demonstration, there were clashes about the occupied houses in Mainzer Strasse in Berlin-Friedrichshain in the context of house evictions, and Mainzer Strasse was evacuated on November 14 .

Demonstration on October 3, 1990

criticism

The slogan is criticized and rejected from various quarters.

The former federal spokesman for the Association of Victims of the Nazi Regime, Peter Gingold , rejected them as denying reality and unproductive:

“We must not allow ourselves to be pushed into the corner of the ' anti-Germans ' in our reaction . This slogan 'Never again Germany' cannot be ours. Germany is a reality. We belong to this country, we have to bear responsibility in it. "But also," that I have a lot of understanding for the young people, if by that they mean never again to allow a Germany that brought so much horror to the world. "

The sole reference to the “German past” and the danger of a “ Greater Germany ” is not very convincing, according to the Marxist contest and magazine :

“One would almost like to ask these critics whether they would have any criticism of reunification at all without the universally damned 'German past' as an appeal instance. [...] In contrast, to warn of a “danger” that “could” emanate from Greater Germany is - to put it mildly - downright weak. Even more, if this 'danger' is to stem from a 'megalomania and conquest madness' and an ominous 'dynamic' that it triggered. "

Joachim Bruhn points out the alleged contradiction of the slogan to the peoples' right to self-determination, which is otherwise demanded by some left currents :

“For what were the events of October 1989 but a real people's uprising, a spontaneous uprising and veritable revolution for exactly the 'right to national self-determination' that Germany's left had been suing for decades, albeit for the Basques and the Palestinians? And what did the Leipzig Monday demonstrations prove other than the existence of that mysterious connection between 'national and social liberation' which Germany's left only wanted to apply to Ireland and Western Sahara? And what does it prove against the correctness of this diagnosis that Germany's left, because it abruptly denied this 'right to national self-determination' to the somehow suspicious peoples, the Tyroleans, Silesians and so on, from the impending demise of the Soviet Union and its impending dissolution in the sovereign states of the Georgians and Azerbaijanis, the Lithuanians and soon also the Ukrainians, was completely surprised and still how unconscious? "

literature

  • Analysis & criticism, "gw." (2000): Caught cold. German unity, the radical left and the end of the Communist League. In: ak - analysis & criticism - newspaper for left-wing debate and practice. No. 443 of October 26, 2000 [1]
  • autonomous LUPUS group R / M: Doitsch lesson. Original version with autonomous subtitles . ID publishing house. [2] In: Ingrid Strobl, Klaus Viehmann and comrades autonomous lupus group: Three to one. Edition ID archive 1991. ISBN 3-89408-029-9
  • Jan Gerber : Never again Germany? The Left in the Collapse of "Real Socialism" , Ca Ira, Freiburg i. B. 2010: ISBN 978-3-86259-100-8 .
  • Markus Mohr / Sebastian Haunss: The Autonomous and the anti-German question or: "Germany must ...". In: Gerhard Hanloser (Ed.): “You warn the anti-German of the German left”. On the history, criticism and future of anti-German politics. Münster 2004, pp. 65–86, ISBN 3-89771-432-9 Online (PDF) .
  • Radical Left: Congress of the Radical Left: Speeches and contributions to the congress at Pentecost 1990 and at the demo Never again Germany on May 12, 1990 in Frankfurt am Main. ISP Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1990, ISBN 3-88332-179-6 .
  • Editor diskus (ed.) (1992): The friendly civil society. Racism and Nationalism in Germany. ID Verlag Berlin. ISBN 3-89408-019-1 PDF (There in particular the article: Andreas Fanizadeh : "What is the point of the stupid stuff here?". "Never again Germany" and the political public .; PDF; 374 kB)
  • Oliver Tolmein (1991): Never again the German left? Farewell to a decay product. Concrete 10/91, p. 35, online (PDF) .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Markus Mohr / Sebastian Haunss: The Autonomous and the Anti-German Question or: "Germany must ...". In: Gerhard Hanloser (Ed.): “You warn the anti-German of the German left”. On the history, criticism and future of anti-German politics. Münster 2004, pp. 65–86, ISBN 3-89771-432-9 PDF ( Memento from April 12, 2014 in the Internet Archive ).
  2. ↑ See also "KB series of events by Marlene Dietrich and other Germany haters". In: analysis & criticism No. 316 of March 5, 1990, p. 35.
  3. ↑ New nationalism / world power Germany. ( Memento of October 5, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) In: graswurzel.net .
  4. ^ Hermann L. Gremliza: Germany, Euro Gnaden .
  5. ↑ a b cf. u. a. Jutta Ditfurth: Payday, Junker Joschka!
  6. ^ Radical Left: Congress of the Radical Left: Speeches and contributions to discussions at the congress at Pentecost 1990 and at the demo Never again Germany on May 12, 1990 in Frankfurt am Main. ISP Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1990, ISBN 3-88332-179-6 .
  7. ↑ Peter Bienwald: Anti-Germany is not on the Bahamas! In: Prague Spring , October 2009
  8. ↑ a b Jörn Schulz: Something better than the nation. In: Phase 2 No. 38
  9. ↑ a b Autonomous LUPUS group R / M: Doitsch lesson. Original version with autonomous subtitles. ID publishing house. In: Ingrid Strobl, Klaus Viehmann and comrades autonomous lupus group: Three to one. Edition ID archive 1991.
  10. ↑ Holidays in Germany, shut up. In: Der Spiegel , October 1, 1990
  11. ↑ No final whistle! - Interview with Peter Gingold, Federal Spokesman of the VVN-BdA, on questions of patriotism and internationalism after the World Cup . In: vvn-bda.de .
  12. ↑ Objections to the call for a demonstration: “Never again Germany”. The conquest of the GDR by the FRG - no German madness, but successful imperialism. In: Marxist controversy and journal 1990, issue 3; online at gegenstandpunkt.com .
  13. ↑ Joachim Bruhn: ( Page no longer available , search in web archives: What does: "Never again Germany"? - An angry speech. ) In: ca-ira.net ( PDF ; 80 kB).@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.ca-ira.net