Misplaced Pages

#581418

32-795: The Society emerged from the German-Israeli Study Groups (DIS), which had existed since 1957 at the Freie Universität and the Kirchliche Hochschule in West Berlin and at eight universities in the Federal Republic of Germany. The DIS at the Church University was strongly influenced by its rector, theology professor Rolf Rendtorff. In the summer of 1963, together with like-minded people, he began to convince various members of

64-422: A central anti-German slogan, originated in demonstrations against reunification, the largest of which attracted a crowd of approximately 10,000 people. This early alliance dissipated shortly after the process of reunification was complete . The notion of a revival of German nationalism and racism as a result of the reunification seemed to confirm itself over the course of the 1990s, as shown by such events as

96-584: A discussion group known as the Radical Left , which consisted of elements of the German Green Party , Trotskyists, members of the Communist League (Kommunistischer Bund) , the journal konkret , and members of Autonome , Libertarian and Anarchist groups, who rejected plans by other segments of Leftist political organisations to join a governing coalition. This circle adopted a position developed by

128-542: A fringe movement within the German left: In 2006 Deutsche Welle estimated the number of anti-Germans to be between 500 and 3,000. The basic standpoint of the anti-Germans includes opposition to German nationalism , a critique of mainstream left anti-capitalist views, which are thought to be simplistic and structurally antisemitic, and a critique of antisemitism, which is considered to be deeply rooted in German cultural history. As

160-465: A modern form of fascism that needed to be stringently opposed. In 1995, the fiftieth anniversary of the bombing of Dresden , anti-Germans praised the bombing on the grounds that so many of the city's civilians had supported Nazism. Kyle James points to this as an example of a shift towards support for the United States that became more pronounced after 9/11. Similar demonstrations are annually held,

192-574: A result of this analysis of antisemitism, support for Israel and opposition to Anti-Zionism is a primary unifying factor of the anti-German movement. The critical theory of Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer is often cited by anti-German theorists. The rapid collapse of the German Democratic Republic and the looming reunification of Germany triggered a major crisis within the German Left. The Anti-German tendency first developed in

224-616: A very influential magazine among students. On the basis of the success of the Studentenkurier , Konkret was founded by Röhl in 1957. Until 1964, it had clandestine ideological and financial relations with the East German government. Innovative in its style, beautifully illustrated and printed on huge folio size heavy stock, its pages often ended up as posters on students' dorm walls and university campus fences. It had great influence on progressive intellectuals, both students and adults. In

256-505: Is the generic name applied to a variety of theoretical and political tendencies within the left mainly in Germany and Austria . The Anti-Germans form one of the main camps within the broader Antifa movement, alongside the Anti-Zionist anti-imperialists, after the two currents split between the 1990s and the early 2000s as a result of their diverging views on Israel . The anti-Germans are

288-771: The Deutsch-Israelische Gesellschaft ) have produced many of the anti-antisemitism commissioners hired by German institutions after the 2015 European migrant crisis . Zionist leftists that are (often against their self-designation) linked to the Antideutsche movement in Germany and Austria have been accused of targeting left-wing German Jews and Austrian Jews. According to Haaretz writer Ofri Ilany, "Incensed Germans, some of them descendants of Nazis, don't hesitate to attack Jewish and Israeli left-wingers" and "besmirch Jews" and violate their freedom of expression "under

320-565: The Rostock-Lichtenhagen riots and a murderous attack on a Turkish family in the West German town of Solingen . This wave of anti-immigrant violence led to tightening of Germany's hitherto liberal asylum laws . As a result of these conflicts, through the 1990s, small groups and circles associated with Anti-German ideas began to emerge throughout Germany, refining their ideological positions by dissenting from prevailing opinions within

352-435: The 1960s. The magazine was dissolved in 1973 as a consequence of Röhl's rejection of the leftist terrorism in Germany (in which his former wife Ulrike Meinhof took active part). Since 1974, Hermann L. Gremliza has published a monthly magazine with the same name, self-described as a "magazine for politics and culture". The current magazine is significantly less influential than the original konkret magazine and part of

SECTION 10

#1732855806582

384-462: The Anti-German movement as supporting Islamist groups such as Hamas , the Anti-German camp called for unconditional solidarity with Israel, explicitly Jews and other non-Arab groups native to the region against pan-Arabist ideology. This resulted in leading Anti-German publications including Konkret and Bahamas to draw links between the antisemitism of Islamist groups and the antisemitism of

416-526: The Antideutsch movement. According to Sappir, Jewish leftists and other pro-Palestinian voices are marginalized in part because "Antideutsch groups have managed to bully them into silence" and that Jewish leftists "felt very insulted by the idea of calling this struggle 'antisemitic'". Despite accusations of anti-Semitism, there is close collaboration and solidarity between those associated with Antideutsche movement and Zionist leftist Jewish organizations, as e.g.

448-623: The Autonome Jüdische Gruppe Berlin or the Jüdische österreichische Hochschüler:innen  [ de ] (representing the Jewish students in Austria). Konkret konkret has been the name of two German magazines. konkret was originally the name of a magazine established by Klaus Rainer Röhl in 1957, that was an influential magazine on the German political left in

480-607: The Bundestag in Bonn of the need to establish diplomatic relations with the State of Israel. DIG officers and Anti-Germans (a pro-Israel leftist current in Germany) have produced many of the anti-antisemitism commissioners hired by German institutions after the 2015 European migrant crisis . In 2020, Michaela Engelmeier was appointed to the newly created office of Secretary General. The work of

512-507: The DIG is to be professionalized and expanded through the new office. Some local branches of the DIG criticized the controversial exhibition “Nakba – Flight and Expulsion of the Palestinians 1948”, which was shown in around a hundred cities. The organizers of the exhibition accused the DIG and other critics of not seeking discourse but simply wanting to stop the exhibition. However, at the opening of

544-540: The Gaza Strip, which is controlled by the radical Islamic group Hamas. Niebel wanted to enter the territory to visit a sewage treatment plant. The Israeli authorities prevented the trip, which had not been agreed, on the grounds that Hamas would use such visits for propaganda. Niebel refrained from running again and argued that there was time , but the criticism made it easier for him to leave." Anti-Germans (political movement) Anti-German ( German : Antideutsch )

576-439: The German Left. These positions became particularly prominent within "Anti-fascist" groups. The Gulf War in 1990 consolidated the Anti-German position around a new issue, specifically criticism of the broader Left's failure to side with Israel against rocket attacks launched into civilian areas by the regime of Saddam Hussein . Leading left-wing writers such as Eike Geisel and Wolfgang Pohrt  [ de ] criticised

608-724: The German left. It is described as leftist extremist by the Federal Office for Protection of the Constitution and also as Anti-German by the State Office for Protection of the Constitution in North Rhine-Westphalia. In 1955, Klaus Rainer Röhl started the monthly Studentenkurier ("Student Messenger"), which was published until 1957. Due to the contributions of many authors as Werner Riegel  [ de ] , Peter Rühmkorf , Arno Schmidt , Kurt Hiller , it became

640-560: The German peace movement for failing to appreciate the threat posed by Ba'athism to left-wing movements through the Middle East , in particular around the Iraqi regime's use of poison gas. The outbreak of the Second Intifada provided another focal point for the emerging Anti-German movement. While other left-wing analysis identified Israel as an aggressor to the point they were perceived by

672-462: The Kommunistischer Bund, a decidedly pessimistic analysis with regard to the potential for revolutionary change in Germany. Known as the "Fascisation" analysis, this theory held that due to the particularity of German history and development, the endemic crisis of capitalism would lead to a move towards the far right and to a new Fascism . During an internal debate, representatives of

SECTION 20

#1732855806582

704-625: The Nazis, as both groups upheld the extermination of the Jews as central to their politics. This break with other left-wing positions was further intensified by the September 11 attacks on America, with Anti-Germans strongly criticising other leftist positions that claimed that Al-Qaeda's assault on the United States was motivated by anti-imperialist or anti-capitalist resistance against American hegemony, instead claiming that Al-Qaeda and their attacks represented

736-482: The analysis of the genesis of a new national self as the "Aufarbeitungsweltmeister" or "Weltmeister der Vergangenheitsbewältigung " (world champion in dealing with and mastering one's own past evil deeds). Later Anti-German focal points included the Stop The Bomb Coalition , active in both Germany and Austria, to maintain sanctions against Iranian attempts to obtain nuclear weapons. The Anti-Germans (and

768-488: The banner of the struggle against anti-Semitism." Left-wing Austrian-Jewish activist Isabel Frey said that "Jews are fetishized in this pseudo-tolerant way and assumed to have unified interests" by the political mainstream in Austria and Germany. According to Frey, "Jewish leftists are being accused of antisemitism by non-Jewish leftists. To me, these accusations are a way of denigrating our Jewish identities, of saying that we’re

800-656: The exhibition in Osnabrück, even the local DIG chairman Hans-Gert Pöttering (CDU) spoke a word of welcome. The local DIG chairman Hermann Kuhn told Taz about the exhibition in Bremen that the unilateral assignment of blame made by her "is not conducive to the idea of a peaceful coexistence". The organizers of the exhibition, including Detlef Griesche from the German-Palestinian Society, accused their critics of behind-the-scenes attempts to prevent it. Griesche even claimed that

832-496: The high phase of the German student movement of the 1960s, it appeared biweekly and sometimes even weekly. Articles in konkret openly advocated sex with minors. One of the best known journalists on the magazine was Ulrike Meinhof , the editor-in-chief from 1960. She ended her work for konkret early in 1969 shortly before she joined the Red Army Faction . On 7 May 1969, the house of Konkret publisher Klaus Rainer Röhl

864-496: The majority tendency said that the minority current, due to its bleak analysis and unwavering pessimism, might as well just emigrate to the Bahamas. The minority tendency, in an ironic gesture, thus named their discussion organ Bahamas . In 2007 Haaretz described Bahamas as "the leading publication of the hardcore pro-Israel, anti-German communist movement." The phrase Nie wieder Deutschland ("Germany, Never Again"), which became

896-455: The protest was "led and directed by Israel," but acknowledged the one-sidedness of the exhibition. In 2019 the Berlin DIG chairman Jochen Feilcke (CDU) unsuccessfully demanded the resignation of the DIG vice president Dirk Niebel (FDP) and then resigned himself. During a business trip to Israel, Niebel made a statement that he considered undiplomatic and later retracted when he went privately to

928-418: The role of victim of German imperialism . Some anti-Germans thus issued a call for "unconditional" support for the regime of Slobodan Milošević . The reasons the German government gave to legitimize the war – from an anti-German perspective – marked a turning point in the discourse of governmental history-policy. The war was not justified "despite but because of Auschwitz". This judgment is often combined with

960-518: The slogans " Bomber Harris , do it again!" and "Deutsche Täter sind keine Opfer!" ("German perpetrators are no victims!") have become common. The 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia was also a focus of opposition for the anti-Germans, as for most of the radical left. Many anti-Germans condemned the war as a repetition of the political constellation of forces during the Second World War , with the Serbs in

992-464: The “wrong kind” of Jew. I keep asking myself, are these accusations themselves a kind of antisemitism?" Michael Sappir, an Israeli-born German-Jewish anti-Zionist activist affiliated with Jewish-Israeli descent in Leipzig, has said in +972 Magazine that the experience of being an anti-Zionist Jewish leftist in Germany can be disempowering and "very isolating" because the German left is often associated with

German–Israeli Society - Misplaced Pages Continue

1024-412: Was stormed by activists including konkret staff under Meinhof's leadership, its windows and furnishing destroyed. After a long conflict over the political orientation of konkret , particularly over the use of violence which Röhl strongly rejected, Röhl left the magazine in 1973, and shortly after, the magazine was dissolved. In 1974, Hermann L. Gremliza founded a magazine called konkret . He writes

#581418