Never again.

I listened to the new eposiode of the „Pod Save the World“ podcast today, and I would recommend everyone listen to it (link below). The interviewee, Dr. Karen Donfried, mentions that the US and the press focused of Angela Merkel‘s re-election and does not fully understand (I‘m paraphrasing) why the election of the AFD into the Bundestag is such an unthinkable thing to many (most?) Germans.

Today, I read an article (thx to Silke for sharing!) that features the experience of a man, now 78 years old, and what he witnessed at 11 years old. The full text is very long, and you can translate it through your favorite online tool.

The following paragraph (translation by me) is what struck me the most. Bear in mind that the AFD and it‘s members of parliament *shudder* talk about HUNTING DOWN people/politicians/… and TO MAKE SURE GERMANY IS PROUD OF THE ACHIEVEMENTS BY THE WEHRMACHT:

This is what happend after Hitler was dead, in the city of Schwerin:
„The soldiers had bound the woman‘s arms on her back, she had a cartboard sign [strapped?] to her chest. It had large, red, printed letters on it that read: „This is what a German woman and mother said: Thank god, the Führer is dead!“ They brought her to the lamppost. Her head had sunk onto her chest, her grey, straggly hair hung into her face. She raised her head once, shook her hair out ofnher face, trying to get a better orientation. Her face was full with her blood, she must have been tortured brutally. She wore a reddish brown, small sqared dress, brown socks and brown shoes with half-sized [meaning tiny] heels. Because we were so close, we were able to hear her sobbs.“

The story goes on, and they hang her right there (it‘s very cruel and senseless and hard to grasp).

There are many, many more stories like this. Just imagine a political party, in a country with Germany‘s legacy and experiences, using Nazi rethoric to threaten their opponents. I wish the country would unite in building national identity around „Never again!“ instead of „us versus them“.

Never again!

Love,
Benjamin

The source for the text is: https://www.svz.de/regionales/mecklenburg-vorpommern/zeitzeuge-erinnert-an-grausamen-nazi-mord-id4017316.html
This is the episode of Pod Save the world: https://art19.com/shows/pod-save-the-world/episodes/683f1ab0-6e28-47f3-a5d8-3cc6fb4d5516/embed?theme=dark-blue