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Maltester emergency vehicle in Essen: dismissal after reporting right-wing incidents?
Photo: Gottfried Czepluch / IMAGO
The aid organizations Malteser and Johanniter in North Rhine-Westphalia apparently have a racism problem in their own ranks.
As the "taz" reports, the birthdays of Adolf Hitler and other Nazi greats were entered in a wall calendar at the Johanniter in Cologne and a racist game was played.
Rescue workers were also noticed there as Reich citizens and because of their proximity to the right-wing extremist Identitarian movement.
At a Malteser rescue station in North Rhine-Westphalia, an employee is said to have said before an operation that he would rather set the refugee home on fire than help the refugees.
At this station, employees exchanged racist and sexist memes in a chat group, the newspaper reported.
According to "taz", rescue workers from both guards reported cases in which patients had been treated worse for racist reasons.
The rescue workers who were noticed in Cologne in connection with the right-wing extremist and racist incidents still work, at least in part, for the Johanniter Unfallhilfe.
The employee who addressed the incidents internally in 2020, largely unsuccessfully, was dismissed.
Uninformed about allegations
The Malteser and the Johanniter now assured a comprehensive investigation of the allegations.
At the same time, they objected to a blanket condemnation.
A spokeswoman for Johanniter announced that the allegations made by the former employee had already been extensively investigated in 2020, but no evidence had been found.
The spokeswoman said the allegations would be investigated again.
"We also regret that the then regional board did not inform our partners in the professional fire brigade and in the city of Cologne at an early stage."
Racist ideas deeply contradict the attitude of the Christian relief organization.
"At the same time, we are against blanket condemnation of our employees and the entire rescue service."
more on the subject
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Right-wing extremist chats: the police are investigating voluntary firefighters in Thuringia
Racist content: Several right-wing extremist suspected cases at the Hamburg fire brigade
A spokesman for the Malteser said they had not previously been aware of the allegations.
An internal review has now been initiated.
Right-wing extremist and racist behavior is clearly condemned by the Maltese.
"So far, we have not received any reports of right-wing extremist incidents in the emergency services," said the Malteser spokesman.
And: "We therefore defend ourselves against a blanket accusation of racist behavior by rescue workers, as suggested in the article." In the mandatory training courses for employees, the subject of racism should now be dealt with even more intensively.
The Malteser are a Catholic charity and the Johanniter a Protestant charity.
Both go out on hundreds of thousands of rescue missions every year.
apr/dpa
