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Rias House in Berlin at Hans-Rosenthal-Platz, seat of DLF Kultur
Photo: imago
At first it sounds like the warning sign in front of an adventure playground: "Right at the beginning you might stumble." But in the archive contribution "Greenland 1955 - Espionage am Arctic Circle", which was broadcast at the end of February as part of the program "Aus den Archiven" on the radio station Deutschlandfunk Kultur was broadcast, racism is deliberately reproduced: »We're talking about an Eskimo.
Later also by an N. cook.« The N-word was not abbreviated by the broadcaster, but SPIEGEL refrained from reproducing this expression.
And further: »This also documents the year 1955 and does not detract from the gripping and sometimes philosophical story about espionage in Greenland.«
Already this moderation causes a lot of confusion.
The reproduction of racist terms should therefore not distract from the actual story.
The radio report has a running time of more than 50 minutes.
At the time of the broadcast, there was no longer a disclaimer, a classification, after the reference to a possible “stumbling”.
Hepburn bats his eyelashes, whistles a "huge N."
The content of the radio report from 1955 is about the experiences of a visitor, the "spy", who travels to the air force base "BW8" of the Bluie West Eight in western Greenland.
The base, later renamed Sondrestrom Air Base, existed from 1941 to 1992 and was initially intended as a waypoint on an airlift route between North America and Europe.
During World War II, the base was used as an alternate landing point, radar and weather station, and base for rescue operations.
In the contribution, the visitor first meets a security officer who asks him about his motives and grants him access.
It is not long before the visitor finds an N-word chef in the dining shack and is chatting with movie star Audrey Hepburn about life in the arctic cold at the local cinema.
It is about gentle men, loneliness and longing.
Almost poetically, the visitor describes Hepburn and her fellow actors as "ornamental fish in a shimmering aquarium" who, in the Nordic cold, can offer no more than a substitute life and substitute loves.
Open racism appears in the article as a matter of course without comment.
The theatrical sequence reads: "Every time Audrey Heburn lifts her long eyelashes and opens her eyes, a huge N whistles from the second row in front.
through the fingers.” Also, when the visitor goes shopping in the only shop on site and sees a “black girl's lace shirt” over the counter, it is described as “a young N.” looking at the shirt and considering buying it .
In the radio recording, Hepburn giggles, the man speaking in a stupid voice.
Travelers arriving at the station board an autobus.
A "huge N." holds the door open and speaks only one sentence: "Watch your step, it's slippery."
Changed later
When asked by SPIEGEL, Deutschlandfunk Kultur reported that historical recordings that are intended to provide insights into the respective time of origin can be heard regularly in the program »From the Archives«.
»The handling of the historical material is discussed intensively again and again, also because a language is used there that is no longer used today for good reasons.« An intensive discussion, which apparently resulted in the reference to a »Stolpern« in a radio report broadcast for almost an hour would be sufficient – and which was not followed by editing of the report or preceded by an explicit reference to the racist language.
After SPIEGEL's request, the broadcaster has now revised the contribution, which can still be accessed in a podcast.
In the new version, it is said at the beginning that the report reflects broadcasting and contemporary history, but by no means the attitude of the editors.