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Nicholas and Knecht Ruprecht (symbol image)
Photo: Lars Klemmer / dpa
The non-party mayor of Wadersloh in North Rhine-Westphalia has filed a criminal complaint for defamation and insult, reports WDR and the "Westfälische Nachrichten".
He had previously posted a photo of this year's traditional St. Nicholas performance.
You can see it: a servant Ruprecht with black make-up.
The reactions were drastic and the threats so massive that the mayor filed a complaint.
The presentation was understood as blackfacing, as racist.
In blackfacing, white people appear in the role of black people.
The masquerade has racist origins—white performers used the getup in 18th- and 19th-century “minstrel shows” to poke fun at black people.
»Blackfacing« has long been frowned upon.
The photo can no longer be found on the mayor's account.
The Münster police have reportedly confirmed that state security is investigating in two cases.
The matter was also forwarded to the public prosecutor's office for legal review.
Apparently there were also allegations in Freckenhorst in Münsterland.
The WDR quotes the primate of the Freckenhorst Nikolaus Collegium, Richard Poppenborg, who says that the black paint is only intended to represent a charcoal burner, who used to be painted with soot, but now with theater make-up.
»With us, the face painted black is simply a tradition«, he says.
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