As of: February 5, 2024, 7:00 p.m
By: Elisabeth Brock
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The demo participants stand close together on Hildegardplatz and prove: “Kempten sticks together.” © Elisabeth Brock
Kempten – “A truly strong signal!” The expectations of the Kempten action group, which had called for a demo against right-wing radicalism, were not too high: over 6,200 people, from very young to really old, came to the demo on Saturday, February 3rd right in Kempten.
From St. Mang Square, the participants marched peacefully through the city and gathered at Hildegardplatz to position themselves for democracy, tolerance and diversity, against racism, against the radicalization of the AfD and their “remigration plans”.
“It’s high time,” was a frequently heard comment among the participants.
The welcoming speech by the spokesperson for the organization team, Anja Zengerle, was repeatedly interrupted by applause, cheers and whistles of approval.
She called on people to take clear positions, to inform themselves, to show solidarity and, above all, to take action against the shift to the right in society, because: “Diversity is our strength.”
#kemptenhaltenzamm: Strong words in Kempten
Representatives of individual support groups spoke to a large audience at Hildegardplatz, each with a different focus.
Axel Fischer from the action group complained about the criminalization of sea rescue, the isolation policy and the right-wing narrative of irregular migration.
Society has become tired in recent years and both the Chancellor and opposition leader Friedrich Merz have pandered to right-wing radical positions instead of fighting them.
And: “Don’t laugh at xenophobic and misogynistic jokes, draw strength from social engagement!”
Juelz Zenner, a representative of the queer youth group Bonito, used the exact dates to recall all the attacks by German right-wing extremists, which were always answered “only with signs”.
Now it is time to make a new attempt, to form alliances, not to allow ourselves to be divided and not to play off the needs of some against those of others.
No more nationalism
The fact that city councilors from all political groups take part in this event is not a given, explained Mayor Thomas Kiechle, overwhelmed by the sheer number of Kempten citizens gathered here shoulder to shoulder under the motto “Freedom, Equality and Cohesion”.
He is stunned that the AfD is meeting to discuss the unimaginable.
Kiechle literally: “Hate mongers have no place here in Kempten, in Germany and in Europe.
We are the center of society.
We will not go back to the time of barbarism, never again nationalism!” He thanked everyone who came to the demonstration for this strong sign and called on them to live it in everyday life.
Marlis Wirth (90 years old) was able to report on Nazi barbarism as a contemporary witness.
Impressed and deeply moved, the people listened to the excerpts from their family history, which were recited in a firm voice, and to their call to “Be attentive and vigilant, confront the beginnings!” Her sister Ilka was a victim of the euthanasia murders in the Kaufbeuren district hospital when she was three years old.
Affected by Down syndrome, she was one of the “Reich Committee Children” and was allegedly taken away from the family by so-called welfare workers for an examination and taken to the Kaufbeuren district hospital.
After a few weeks, the parents received a telegram: “Ilka died.” According to Wirth, it was shocking that even after 1945, perpetrators like the then director of the BKH, Dr.
Faltlhauser and her friendly pediatrician at the time, Dr.
Hensel, as a handler of the Nazi regime, had no awareness of injustice.
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We have to protest
Clown “Wastl” from the Lollipop Association delivered a long, partly funny, partly very reflective and nuanced speech.
For example, he recommended putting the Basic Law on your bedside table as important reading and browsing through it again and again, not meeting hate with hate and patiently engaging in arduous discussions.
His simple appeal to share and help each other seemed sincere, regardless of his red clown nose.
“Democracy is exhausting, we have to show our colors, we must not back down, we have to protest!” said SPD city councilor Katharina Schrader.
She very appropriately quoted the Protestant pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984): “When the Nazis brought in the communists, I remained silent;
I wasn't a communist.
When they brought the trade unionists, I was silent;
I wasn't a trade unionist.
When they took the Jews, I was silent;
I wasn't Jewish.
When they took me, there was no one left to protest.”
State parliament member Eva Lettenbauer (Alliance 90/The Greens) thanked everyone who is holding out in the cold, who is sending a signal against fascists from Kempten and the Allgäu and asked: “What happens when the AfD slogans are thought through to the end?
When deportations affect our neighbor, our colleague?
Let’s have the courage to be human!”
Minute of silence for victims of fascism
Wrapped in the European flag, FDP city councilor Dominik Spitzer referred to paragraph 1 of the Basic Law “Human dignity is inviolable” and described it as part of his party’s DNA.
He recalled that the AfD got 40 percent of the vote in the Thingers district of Kempten in the last election, so it was not a small group.
Unfortunately, many had already left due to the onset of cold weather when Alihan Ulu, representative of the Left party, took the floor.
He recalled the history of the guest workers who wanted a better future for their families, who contributed to prosperity in Germany for decades and who had hardly any rights.
He asked that the posters be lowered and a minute's silence observed for the victims of fascism.
The band “Stolen Fingers” accompanied the event loudly again and again, albeit with largely incomprehensible lyrics, and at the end asked the remaining audience to dance.
#kemptenhaltenzamm – the proof was provided this Saturday.