Radical Views or Beliefs - Rebuff: Sylt clip presented to the Internal Affairs Panel
Recently, a controversial video from a bar on the North Sea island of Sylt surfaced, stirring up a wave of racial controversy. As a result, both the legal system and the Schleswig-Holstein state parliament have taken steps to address the issue.
The head public prosecutor, Georg-Friedrich Güntge, addressed the matter in the Interior and Legal Affairs Committee of the Kiel State Parliament. He stated that legal proceedings have been initiated in all four public prosecutor's offices across the state, including Flensburg, Itzehoe, Kiel, and Lübeck. The primary offense being examined in these cases is incitement to hatred.
Güntge also emphasized that using racial slurs does not necessarily mean one is committing an offense of incitement to hatred. Instead, each case must be carefully analyzed to determine the specific context and intention.
The use of right-wing extremist appropriation of songs is not a new phenomenon, as explained by the State Secretary of the Interior Ministry, Magdalena Finke. The slogan being used comes from the 90s right-wing extremist scene and was originally advocated by the NPD.
Finke noted that those who continue to use such slogans now must be aware of the group they are aligning themselves with. However, in the investigated cases so far, no evidence of right-wing extremist sympathies has been found.
To tackle the spread of right-wing extremism and promote awareness, the government plans to expand the existing prevention measures. Apart from prosecuting crimes, this stands as an obligation for the entire society, according to Finke. Yet, she did not elaborate further on these plans.
What sparked this outrage was a short video from a Pentecost party in a bar on Sylt, where guests were singing "Auslaender raus" and "Deutschland den Deutschen" to the tune of "L'amour toujours" by Gigi D'Agostino. Other similar incidents were reported in Pahlen and Schenefeld in January 2024, as well as in various other federal states.
