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Berlin school group flees holiday camp after racist abuse

A school group from Berlin fled a holiday camp after allegedly being racially abused and threatened by other guests, police said Monday.

Published: 8 May 2023 16:37 CEST

Berlin school group flees holiday camp after racist abuse

The entrance to the holiday camp on Monday. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Michael Bahlo

Law enforcement were called to the site in the eastern region of Brandenburg overnight into Sunday after the teenage pupils, most of whom were of an ethnic minority, were allegedly hurled racist abuse by another group attending a 18th birthday party.

The teacher supervising the Berlin school group, who were participating in a maths workshop, ended the trip prematurely after the incident.

Officers subsequently escorted the school children from the Frauensee camp, southeast of Berlin by the Heidesee Lake.

The regional police unit responsible for politically motivated crimes was investigating the alleged verbal assault and potential incitement to hatred, a spokesman said.

READ ALSO: What Germans really think about the country’s racism problem

According to German daily Tagesspiegel, officers took the names of 28 individuals at the holiday site, although it was not clear if all were suspects.

A number of those involved were inebriated or wearing hoods, police told the paper.

Some of the school group were said to be “shocked” by the incident, according to the father of a pupil quoted by the BZ daily.

“We strongly condemn any form of xenophobia and racism,” the head of the camp Nora Runneck said in a statement.

“I will not put up with such attacks and we must not,” said Berlin’s education minister Katharina Guenther-Wuensch.

The school children would be offered appointments with a physiologist to help them process the incident, she said.

The incident showed the need for more “educational work with young people”, said Ludwig Scheetz, the head of the Social Democrats in Brandenburg’s regional parliament.

“We can no longer play down right-wing extremist activities,” Scheetz said.

In recent years, Germany’s eastern states have been a hotbed for far-right activity.

Last month, teachers from Brandenburg wrote an open letter to decry racist behaviour at schools, including Nazi salutes by children.

The far-right Alternative for Germany party currently leads most polls in the state, where elections are due in 2024.

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FACT CHECK: Are people punished for using Nazi slogans in Germany?

Last week, a video clip showing people chanting “foreigners out” and “Germany for Germans” to the tune of “L’Amour Toujours” by Gigi D’Agostino spread rapidly online, and sparked calls for consequences for those involved.

Since then a series of similar incidents have been reported at various events across Germany, including: men seen singing the racist lyrics at ‘Schlagermove’ in Hamburg, two men arrested at Erlangen’s ‘Bergkirchweih’ festival for the same action, and in Stuttgart supporters of the Turkish football club Galatasaray Istanbul erupted in bouts of the chant celebrating their team’s victory.

In all of these incidents police reports were made.

Regarding the Sylt incident, public prosecutors have already opened investigations on the suspicion of incitement to hatred for several of the people involved.

READ ALSO: Outrage after partygoers filmed shouting racist chants on German island of Sylt

Many of them have reportedly lost their jobs over the incident, and public protests have popped up against far-right and racist behaviour. But it could be a while before prosecutors officially decide if charges should be brought in this case.

For foreigners living in Germany, the incident brings an interesting question to mind: in which cases exactly is racist or xenophobic speech illegal in Germany?

The Local takes a look at the German laws around hate speech, and what actions are punishable by law.

What is considered hate speech according to German law?

In general, Germany places high importance on the freedom of speech. This is why all kinds of groups, regardless of where they stand on the political spectrum, can speak, rally and protest freely in this country.

However, given Germany’s history, when current laws were written, some rules were put in place that were meant to prevent people from targeting minorities with hateful speech. Additionally, glorifying the Holocaust, or denying the fact that it happened, is a punishable offence.

Specifically, incitement to hatred (Volksverhetzung) is illegal, according to section 130 of Germany’s penal code.

Here it is written that, “Whoever, in a manner that is likely to disturb the public peace, incites hatred against a national, racial, religious or ethnic group…”, can be imprisoned for up to five years.

Additionally, a person can face up to three years in prison for either creating or disseminating content that incites hatred along the same lines.

Further sub-sections of the law clarify that either approving of crimes committed by the Nazis, or denying or trivialising them, in a manner that disturbs the public peace can also be punished with jail time up to five years or a fine. The same goes for creating or sharing content that delivers a message along those lines.

One well-known case against a Holocaust denier was held in 2007 when Germar Rudolf was sentenced to two and half years in prison for publishing “research” meant to disprove the Nazi’s use of gas chambers in concentration camps, among other things.

How is the law applied in practice?

While Germany’s hate speech ban sounds like an obvious and simple rule in theory, things quickly get a bit more complicated when it comes to enforcing it.

Whereas it is quite easy to identify racism or xenophobia as soon as you see or hear it, whether it qualifies as criminal conduct, according to the law, can be tricky to determine.

“This is the case if a statement violates a specific prohibition under criminal law,” Sonja Eichwede, legal policy spokeswoman of the SPD parliamentary group, told The Local. “For example, anyone who uses slogans of anti-constitutional organisations, calls for or condones criminal acts or incites hatred against certain groups of people will be prosecuted.”

Such was the case in the recent trial of Björn Höcke, a far-right AfD politician in Thuringia, who was fined €13,000 for closing a political speech with the rallying cry, “Everything for Germany”, which is a slogan known to have been used by the Nazi party.

READ ALSO: Hitler or Höcke? Regional AfD boss cuts short German TV interview

German law books in front of prosecutor

The German Criminal Code (StGB) and the Code of Criminal Procedure (StPO) stand next to a federal prosecutor in the courtroom. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Oliver Berg

What consequences could those seen at Sylt face?

The slogan heard at the incident at Sylt – “Germany for Germans, foreigners out” – is a chant that was used by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, and has also been used by the far-right National Democratic party.

So it is possible that the people who disturbed the peace by saying these phrases on camera could be charged, and face hefty fines or even a prison sentence. But whether or not the law has been broken will need to be determined by prosecutors.

According to Eichwede, whether or not charges can be brought is reviewed on a case by case basis: “When this limit is exceeded can only be determined according to the specific circumstances of each individual case.”

She added: “Racist motives are given special consideration by the courts when determining the sentence and lead to a higher penalty.”

Short of using language known specifically to have been used by the Nazi party, or a terrorist organisation, incitement to hatred becomes trickier to establish.

But use of any language which targets a minority group, or which assaults someone’s human dignity based on their belonging to a certain religious or racial group, can be charged.

Other laws that have been applied against hate speech

Beyond the basic protections established in Section 130, there are a few other German codes that have been used to prosecute Holocaust deniers and fascist propagandists.

Similar to slander or libel laws, Germany’s Chapter 14 prohibits malicious gossip against citizens or defamation against politicians. It also includes a ban on defiling the memory of the dead.

In 2007, Holocaust denier and publisher of neo-Nazi propaganda, Ernst Zündel, was convicted of violating the memory of the dead. This charge was included in a broader incitement to hatred case, and he was sentenced to five years in prison.

Crucially, these kinds of insult-law cases can only be brought with the consent of the victim or the victim’s family.

Sections 86 and 86a ban online or offline distribution of “flags, insignia, uniforms, slogans and forms of greeting” that are known to belong to political parties and organisations that are considered unconstitutional by the Federal Constitutional Court, including Nazis and neo-Nazis.

Finally, the most recent addition to Germany’s legal protections against hate speech came in 2017 in the form of the Network Enforcement Act.

According to this law, social media companies are responsible for deleting hate speech on their platforms in Germany, and face up to €50 million in fines if they don’t.

Following a series of far-right terror attacks carried out by perpetrators who had been radicalised on the internet, the act was tightened in 2020.

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