Violence update - September 1992

Ich habe in den Jahren 1991-1994 für die Usenet-Forum soc.culture.german über viele Fälle von rechts-gerichteter Gewalt berichtet, die mit kleine Notizen in den Zeitungen erschienen sind. Ich habe einige wiedergefunden über Google, ich verlinke sie hier mit einer Überblick.

• 1. September 1992
  
  • On the eve of "Anti-War Day" in Germany unknown persons detonated a pipe bomb at a Berlin monument in Tiergarten that commemorates the many Jews is the area that were deported and killed in the concentration camps. There have often been minor attacks on the monument, this one has caused quite some damage to the monument, but luckily no one was hurt (it is on a bridge, and apparantly a car was in the vicinity at the time of the detonation).
    According to the Tagespiegel there is of course no connection to the current and continued right-wing rampages in the eastern states (On the weekend the police kept 20.000 leftists waiting for hours to be searched for weapons. Last night they had trouble in Cottbus keeping 100 kids from demolishing an asylum home.).
    The new head of the National Jewish Association, however, does see a connection between the detonation and the persecution of foreigners in Germany, and has called for a change in the demonstration route today for the peace demonstration, asking them to finish with a rally at the monument.
    The police doesn't have the foggiest notion, etc. who could possibly have done such a thing. Will keep you informed!
• 4. September 1992
  • It was a rather quiet night, it seems. Must be because there was a prime-time TV show on "From Potzdam to the Spreewald" showing overweight Germans enjoying cake and coffee on a boat while listening to German Schlagersaenger lip-syncing good old German Heimatmusik. ("Kein schoener Land in dieser Zeit, als der die unsre weit und breit, wo wir uns finden, wohl unter Linden, zur Abendzeit...")
    
  • Updates: The detonation of the Jewish momument in Berlin appears to have been done with military dynamite. The police only have 5 leads and have made no arrests. There has been no group that has claimed responsibility.
    
  • One of the youths that burned down the home for asylum seekers in Brandenburg near Potsdam has confessed. Seems the villagers and the asylum seekers were on very good terms (people brought by toys for the kids and clothes, etc.). The youths were from a neighboring village and do not seem to belong to a right-wing organization. They set the fire "just for fun", and since there had been no threats to this home there was little police protection needed. A pregnant woman suffered a nervous breakdown when she returned and saw that the few things she had brought with her had been burned.
    
  • A fire-bombing was reported in Hohenschonhausen, an eastern district of Berlin, last night. 2 youths (20 and 21 years old) broke a window in a home for Vietnamese guest workers and threw burning rags in. Witnesses doused the flames, called police and described the youths. They were arrested as they stood on the sidelines watching what was happening. [Three cheers for the witnesses that DID something!]
    
  • The usual polls "if-Sunday-was-election-day-who-would-you-vote-for" brought surprising results: 14% of the WESTERNERS would vote for DFU or the Republicans (the extreme right wing), "only" 9% of the Easterners would.
• 9. September 2012
  • I bought both a taz and a tagespiegel today - what a difference! tagespiegel only has a little note on the bottom of page 1 about there being a spot of violence yesterday. taz has some followups and a bit more information:
    
  • Quedlinburg (S-A): 50 people watched while 50 kids threw fire bombs, stones, fireworks, and demolished 3 cars parked in front of a refugee hostel. Police got control after 3 hours and arrested one person.
    
  • Boizenburg-Bahlen (M-V): Fire bomb thrown at a hostel did not ignite.
    
  • Anklam (M-V): ditto
    
  • Schullzendorf (Br): 2 cars in front of a refugee hostel burned.
    
  • Pankow (East Berlin): one car in front of refugee hostel burned.
    
  • Roesrath (N-W): windows broken, fire bomb thrown, but extinguished by refugees.
    
  • Muelheim a.d.R. (N-W): Grenade thrown through window, no damage.
    
  • Marktredwitz (Bay): firebomb thrown, did not ignite.
    
  • In other news: an NPD-politician has been charged with inciting to riot;
    
  • Hamburg parents protest living containers for refugees on school property - cite the danger to their children;
  • School in Leer (Nied) invites black refugees to talk about their native countries to the children [finally, a
    positive note!];
  • defence lawyer for 5 youths charged with kicking a foreigner to death in Nov. 90 pleads for all to go free, because it can't be proven which kick proved fatal;
  • Halle has issued warrants for the arrest of 7 youths charged in the bombing of 2 Vietnamese homes Sunday night and has offered replacement apartments to all who lived in the house.
    
  • A nice picture in the tagespiegel though: a Brandenburg mother grabbing her masked son by the army jacket and marching him backwards away from the scene of a mob.
• 10. September 1992
• No word of violence in the tagesspiegel this morning, but the radio mentioned that Quedlinburg had another bout of violence last night. About 50 youths threw rocks and fire bombs, now with 200 onlookers (it had only been about 50 the previous night).
  
• The taz notes some rock throwing in a little town in Brandenburg and the car of a refugee being burned in Sachsen.
  
• And then there's the Bild-Zeitung. They ran a leader the other day: "Authorities requisition extra room for gypsies" and were indignant with a story about this poor German family told to house a couple of Polish gypsies in their spare room. All in the style of family-at-dinner, knock-on-the-door, ordered-to-share-house-and-kitchen-with-gypsies. As can be expected, the Volkszorn [the wrath of the people] descended upon the city manager of the little town with many vidid descriptions of the tortures wished upon him by your average German. The real story in the taz: A family consisting of Mom, Dad and 3 grown children lived in an apartment with 7 rooms that cost 500 DM a month. [... I pay 2500 DM for 4 rooms...]. They were legally evicted as the owners wanted to live there themselves. The familiy was quartered in an Obdachlosenheim [homeless shelter] where they were given a 4-room apartment (quite a luxury) and told that they only had claim to 3 rooms, but that they could use the room until the authorities really needed it. With the current influx of refugees, it was needed, and a Polish couple was assigned to the room. This is how many of the urban legends about foreigners and refugees begin, unfortunately, no one reads the stories about what really happened.
• 11. September 1992
  • Quedlinburg was the scene of more violence last night. Youths threw the usual rocks/bottles/firebombs as now 400 looked on. But about 250 persons stood between the mob and the refugee home last night. Despite the provocation they remained non-violent and kept the youths from burning down the house.
    
  • 6 youths were sentenced in Rostock yesterday for the riots two weeks ago, an extremely short time-span for the German justice system. One youth was sentenced to 9 months in jail, 1 was sentenced to a year on probation, and four were sentenced to detention equal to the days they have already spent in prison (so about 14 days).
    
  • There was rock/bottle/firebomb throwing by 10 youths in Guestrow and by 5 in Greifswald (both M-V, I believe), no damages reported.
  • In Reinbeck (S-H) an auto dealership next to a refugee home was torched.
• 12. September 1992
• No word on actual violence in the papers this morning, but the TV news "Tagesschau" had plenty to tell. In a town near Mannheim (Hessen?) a fire bomb was thrown through a window of a hostel. Two sleeping
  children were burned by the flammant and had to be taken to the hospital.
  
• Quedlinburg, the scene of violence for 4 nights in a row, spent another uneasy night. Members of the Green party and other non-violent persons that attempted to guard a refugee hostel were beaten off by rock-throwing youths. The police arrived at around midnight, arrested around 40 persons, who were released after being identified.
  
• A demonstration in support of the refugees was held in Eisenhuettenstadt.
• Another demonstration was in front of the meeting place of the SPD party, pleading with the delegates not to vote for changes to the constitution regarding refugees. The SPD, however, voted to go ahead and attempt a change.
  
• The Lutheran church has protested the violence. The Bundespresident, Richard v. Weizaecker, gave a statement in Austria, but I've forgotten what exactly he said.
• 14. September 1992
  • Quedlinburg (S-A): The toll for the weekend is listed at 8 wounded and 59 persons arrested. The interior minister of S-A (Perschau) was asked after a demonstration against the anti-foreigner violence why the police don't react in time. Perschau felt the the police were doing their duty and restoring order as necessary. He sees the main reason for the violence in there being no youth centers in the east [so the poor kids have to go out and hurt people. Sorry, he makes me so mad!]
    
  • The two children that were burned near Mannheim are still in the hospital but are now in stable condition.
    
  • Dippoldiswalde (S): 20-40 persons attacked a refugee hostel, 10 arrests.
    
  • Jueterbog and Potsdam (Bran): ditto, 9 arrests
    
  • Prenzlau (Bran): 2 arrests
    
  • Eisenhuettenstadt (Bran): riot
    
  • Cottbus (Bran): riot
    
  • rock/bomb/bottle-throwing in: Stahnsdorf, Lychen, Boitzenburg, Goelsdorf, Hohenseefeld, Lauchhammer Sued, Vetschau, Frankfurt/Oder, Prenzlau, Karstedt, Guben and Gandow. A "few" arrests, no one hurt.
    
  • The head of the Deutsch Nationalen Partei [permute those capital letters!], Thomas Dienel was arrested for holding an open-air rally without permission.
    
  • The "Leitartikel" (Editorial) in the Tagespiegel is so good, I decided to hack it in. It's in German and on another posting.
    
  • One of the SPD leaders (Guenther Jansen) explained in the Berliner Morgenpost why the party the SPD has fallen over: [paraphrased] 70% of the refugees are fakes, from some countries 99% are. So we have to just not accept refugees from such countries. There's no room left in the inn.
  • Leitartikel von "Der Tagesspiegel" vom 14.9.92, ohne Genehmigung eingehackt, alle Fehler sind von mir - dww
    
    "Nicht jetzt, nicht so, von Mathias Zschaler
    
    Es wird kälter in Deutschland. Gewalt geht um. Bedroht und gefährdet sind die Ärmsten der Armen, die nicht Deutsche sind und die Torheit besitzen, das Elend ihrer Heimat zu verlassen und bei den Deutschen ans Tor zu klopfen. Denn die verbitten sich jede Störung energisch, notfalls handgreiflich. Gefährlich sind aber nicht nur die Keulen und Brandflaschen -- gefährlich sind auch zündelnde Reden, durch welche ein Klima erzeugt wird, in dem die Gewalttäter mit augenzwinkerndem Einvernehmen rechnen zu können meinen.
    Das Ausmass des Temperatursturzes wird offenkundig, wenn man sich in Erinnerung ruft, wie weit wir schon einmal waren. Wurde nicht, vor wenigen Jahren erst, ernsthaft über die Frage diskutiert, ob Ausländern ein kommunales Wahlrecht eingeräumt werden soll? Jetzt dreht sich alles nur noch darum, ob es für Kommunen nicht eine "Zumutung" bedeutet, überhaupt die Anwesenheit von Ausländern hinzunehmen. Jenseits der unbestrittenen Notwendigkeit, sich über die künftigen Regeln des Einwanderns und des Zusammenlebens von Ausländern und Deutschen vernünftig zu verständigen, ist das ein schwerer Rückschlag für alle Versuche, zivile Toleranz zur Selbstverständlichkeit zu machen -- vom Modewort der multikulturellen Gesellschaft gar nicht zu reden.
    Es herrscht Gewalt im Land -- und es herrscht eine grosse Verwirrung in allzu vielen Köpfen. Nach den jahrzehntelangen Einübungen in die Lehren, die aus dem nationalsozialistischen mörderischen Rassismus zu ziehen waren, hatte man geglaubt, gegen alle Appelle an dumpfe Instinkte weitgehend gefeit zu sein. Doch dies war wohl ein Trugschluss. Anfällig und verführbar scheinen nicht nur die armen Krawalleure zu sein, die es nicht besser wissen -- gefährdet sind augenscheinlich auch viele von denen, die eigentlich wissen müssten, wohin es fuehren kann, wenn man erst zuläßt, daß grundlegende Maßstäbe des menschlichen Umgangs teilweise außer Kraft gesetzt werden.
    
    Dieselben, die täglich lauter und drängender nach einer Grundgesetzänderung rufen, nehmen hin, daß dieses Grundgesetz täglich verletzt wird. Und sie reden verächtlich über diejenigen, die zu Opfern des neuen, rechtsradikalen Terrors werden. Man stelle sich vor, in den 70er Jahren, auf dem Höhepunkt des RAF-Terrorismus, hätten sich gewählte Politiker hingestellt und erklärt: Nun ja, es ist zu missbilligen, daß Prominente aus Politik und Wirtschaft umgebracht werden -- aber schließlich darf man sich nicht wundern, wenn angesichts ihres Treibens aggressive Stimmungen aufkommen. Äusserungen dieser Art, die "klammheimliche Freude" artikulierten, gab es damals tatsächlich aus dem linksextremen Untergrund -- und sie lösten, neben breiter Emprung, emsige staatsanwaltliche Ermittlungen aus.
    
    Heute aber scheint es schon kaum noch jemanden zu beunruhigen, wenn Politiker -- seien sie von der CDU oder der SPD -- am Morgen nach einer Brandnacht hergehen und, nach kurzen Floskeln des Bedauerns,
    sogleich wieder die Forderung erheben, es müsse endlich entschlossen der Herausforderung begegnet werden -- jener, die sich in Form des Ausländerzustroms manifestiere. Statt alles zu verlangen, was nötig wäre, um die Sicherheit der Asylbewerber zu garantieren -- noch gilt ja der Artikel 16 des Grundgesetzes in vollem Umfang --, reden sie davon, dass den Asylbewerbern die Sozialleistungen gekürzt werden müssten. Die naserömpfende Empörung gilt den anrüchigen Lebensgewohnheiten der Fremden, während man ihnen simpelste sanitäre Einrichtungen vorenthält und sie, gleichsam unter billigender Inkaufnahme des Protests der Bürger, fahrlässig in unangemessener Umgebung einquartiert. Über erbärmliche Notbehausungen wird gesprochen, als handele es sich um Luxusherbergen, in denen sich Menschen, die vor Krieg und Not geflohen sind, unziemlicherweise ein paar schöne Tage machen wollten.
    
    Während Feuer gelegt wird -- oft genug aus Dummheit und Hilfslosigkeit --, werden in Parlamenten und vor Pressemikrofonen absichtsvolle Brandreden gehalten. In dieser im wahrsten Sinne aufgeheizten Atmosphaere die Debatte um Asyl und Ausländerzuzug weiterhin zu instrumentalisieren, ist nicht nur leichtfertig -- es ist unanständig. Reden kann und muss man über das Thema, jedoch nicht jetzt und nicht so.
    [Bravo! dww]
• 15. September 1992
• No word on any violence on the radio or in the papers. But we have some updates on some topics:
  
• Dienel, the head of the DNP who was arrested Sunday on charges of "Volksverhetzung" (rabble rousing?), has been released.
  
• The 5 youths who kicked Amadeu Antonios from Angola to death in 1990 have been sentenced. Three were sentenced to 4 years in juvenile prison, one to 3 1/2 years, one to 2 years on probation. The taz has an interview with Gordon K. today, one of the 3 sentenced to 4 years. He's a Heavy Metal fan, just like his pals. Comes from a relatively stable home, likes his parents, is described by friends as "shy", quiet, reserved. The interviewer describes the scene: in the background music with lyrics like "Stay hard, stay heavy, stay sick, stay brutal" or Skinmusic like "Skins, hart, kahl, brutal"; the young man shrugs his shoulders. Noo, violence won't solve anything. What's there to feel sorry for? I didn't do anything. It's
  really a drag with the courts and all, I hope the judge is quick to understand I wasn't involved. I just went along for the fun, I'm the victim....
  The fun is called "Neger klatschen", and was fatal for Amadeu Antonios.
  
• Students with stipends studying at Goethe Institutes in the East are scared. In Dresden some have asked to be transferred to Institutes in the West. In East Berlin, 80 have left the dormitory with 107 rooms in Hohenschoenhausen provided for them by the GI. Hohenschoenhausen has been the site of numerous incidents in Berlin. The few left in the dormitory are anxious. They come right home from the institute, and don't leave at night. At least there is a guard, but they describe the situation as frightening.
  
• Three more youths were sentenced to a slap on the wrist, ahh, Jugend- arrest equivalent to the days already spent in jail, for their participation in the riots 3 weeks ago in Rostock.
• 16. September 1992
• Wismar (M-V) has been the scene of violence the past two nights. Monday evening and Tuesday evening has seen 25-30 youths pelting a hostel with bricks, paving stones, fire bombs and such. The youths are armed with baseball bats and night sticks, and have been egged on by numerous bystanders. Apparently a fight at the town fair, "Herbstmarkt" turned nasty and a Romenian knifed a German. The German youths followed the knifer to his hostel, which has been the object of the siege. The radio news spoke of 21 arrested last night.
  
• Mücheln near Halle (S? S-A?): Two men broke into a refugee hostel in the middle of the night Monday. They began kicking sleeping children from Jugoslavia and shouting anti-foreigner slogans. The parents got help from some German neighbors who helped chase off the men. The men were not identified. [This little episode in a small article in the Tagespiegel leaves me almost speechless in anger. People would have you arrested for kicking a sleeping dog in the streets of Germany. Whatever possesses people to commit such crimes?]
  
• In the Problis area of Dresden: Youths threw 3 fire bombs at a hostel. 4 were arrested, one has confessed to having thrown one of the bombs.
  
• Rostock: A 34-year-old man has been sentenced to 8 months in prison for his participation in the riots in Rostock 3 weeks ago.
  
• Saarlouis (Saarbrücken): an anonymous caller to the police tipped them off that a bomb was set to explode in a hostel in the area. The bomb was found and defused before it was set to detonate.
• 17. September 1992
• Let's start off with some good news.
  2000 persons participated in a silent march in Berlin from Potsdamer. Str. to the bridge where the Jewish monument was recently bombed.
  
• Hans-Jochen Vogel (SPD) is apparently the first politician to spend the night in a refugee home, he stayed the night in Eisenhüttenstadt.
  
• Some churches in Mannheim have created a "Refugee Circle" where members volunteer to help the refugees. They repair bicycles with them, help them fix up their hostel, offer a play group twice a week for the children from the hostel and from the neighborhood, etc. There has not been an incident at the hostel since they began their work in July, but they are quoted as saying that it is probably the quiet before the storm.
  
• Police obtained search warrants for over 100 homes, mostly in Sachsen, but also in Chemniz and Hoyerswerda. 7 persons were arrested, the police found quite a lot of weapons and propaganda material [not sure what was considered a weapon, in the days of the Brokdorf demonstrations, lemon juice was considered by the police to be a weapon.]  
  
• It gets worse...
  Gerstungen (Thüringen): 2 shots were fired in the backyard of a refugee home by an anonymous person.
  
• Bad Waldsee near Ravensburg (Bayern): A pipe bomb exploded near the fence around a refugee hostel. No injuries were reported.
  
• Berlin-Weissensee: for the second time in a week the Jewish cemetary has been defiled. 5 gravestones were knocked over a few days ago, yesterday there was a swastika painted on the wall.
  
• Wismar (M-V) spent another restless night with 40 youths attempting to pelt a refugee hostel with paving stones and molotow cocktails. The police pushed the kids to a grassy area (= no stones!). The taz reports calls from bystanders such as "Ihr Drecks-Bullen sollt lieber tags kommen, wenn die Scheiss-Asylanten hier rumlaufen, statt nachts! [you dirty pigs ought to be here during the day, when the **$%#-refugees are running around instead of during the evening!]. Since all Wismar police are needed for guarding the hostel, some police from Schwerin have been ordered to help out. In an interview with a rock-thrower in the taz, the young man accused the refugees of "driving around in cars, littering and stealing." When someone answered that Germans do that too, he changed the subject to complain about the politicians that do nothing.
  
• Ach ja. Then there's the advertisment in Spiegel, encouraging me to help the East by buying products by mail-order made in eastern cities. Somehow the idea of using wire baskets made in Quedlinburg and such
  doesn't exactly appeal to me. Although it might provide some jobs to keep the kids off the streets, I suppose.
• 19 September 1992
• The four Iranian Kurds killed Thursday night were members of the Democratic Party of the Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) and had been attending the meeting of the Socialist International in Berlin. They were not members of the "terrorist" Marxist party PKK. The leader of the party, Sadegh Sharafkandi, was killed, along with Nuri Dehkordi, a Kurd who was very active in the Red Cross Refugee work in Berlin, Fattah Abduli, the Europe representative of the PDKI, and the German representative of the PDKI, Homayoun Ardalan. The German federal police have taken over the case, it is still not clear who is responsible for the murders. Speculations include the PKK and the Iranian secret police.
  
• Wismar had another restless night. Police had to draw their guns to get the rioting youths to back off. No injuries reported.
  
• Nussloch (Baden-Württemburg): three fire bombs thrown at a hostel that did not ignite.
  
• Chemnitz: One refugee home was attacked with fire bombs which did not ignite, one home did catch fire, but was extinguished by the residents.
  
• Hannover (Niedersachsen): 100.000 DM damage was caused to a hostel that was to be used as a refugee home from the end of the month. A 20 liter gasoline container was found on the scene.
  
• Berlin: The car that the wife of the Israeli Primeminister, Jizchak Rabin, was to use in Berlin was discoverd to have a swastika scratched on the paint. The rental agency quickly exchanged it for another car. Mrs. Rabin stated that it was surely a coincidence.
  
• Berlin: A (white) South African tourist was sworn at by a German. When he didn't respond to the insults, the man assulted him. Around a dozen people stood around, watching the scene, but didn't get involved. No one called police or a doctor, the attacked man (who was bleeding) called police himself from a nearby hotel.
  
• Berlin: A citizen in Steglitz (West) found his car demolished Friday morning and painted with swastikas. In the past weeks he had received a number of death threats on his answering machine. The only reason the German can imagine for the attack is that he "looks like what Neonazis imagine a Jew looks like".
  
• Saarlouis (Saarbruecken): Over 1000 persons participated in a silent march against the anti-foreigner attacks today. It was a year ago today that a refugee died in the flames in a refugee hostel in Saarlouis. A bomb was defused in a hostel in Saarlouis last week.
  
• Many other cities had demonstrations against the anti-foreigner sentiment. There will be a star-march (from many European cities) to Brussels calling for a European policy on refugees and immigration.
  
• The Bremen SPD voted to refuse to change the constitution about granting asylum.
• 21 September 1992
• I needed 2 slips of paper for noting down the names and places this morning...]
  
• Wismar had *another* ugly night with hundreds of violent youth facing off 2 "Hundertschaften" (division, but not 100 persions, I believe) of police. One police officer was injured, 68 youth were arrested.
  
• Senftenburg (Brandenburg): 80 youth use rocks and iron bars to break windows at a police station. A fire bomb was thrown at a neighboring house, cars in the area were demolished. One rioter was injured.
  
• Mecklenburg-Vorpommern: incidents reported in Schwarzenhof, Kröpelin, Ückermünde, Schwerin and Jördesdorf.
  
• Klötze (Sachsen-Anhalt): fire bombs thrown against refugee hostel, 10 arrests made.
  
• Tangerhütte (Sachsen-Anhalt): 6 youth broke into a refugee hostel and demolished a room
  
• Thüringen: fire bombs reported in Rositz, Hainspitz and Blankenstein.
  
• Brandenburg: Broken windows in refugee homes in Prenzlau and Lübbenau.
  
• Geisenheim (Hessen): a resident in a refugee home admitted to the hospital with smoke inhalation problems after a fire bombing.
  
• Regensburg (Bavaria): Three fire bombs thrown at a home for German "Aussiedler", persons from the East claiming German lineage.
  
• Steyerberg (Lower Saxony): refugee home bombed
  
• Bremerhaven: a number of young men beat two Afghan refugees so badly, that the refugees had to be admitted to a hospital.
  
• The new head of the Central Jewish Committee, Ignatz Bubis (? sp), called for politicians to take action to put an end to the violence.
  
• A German politician has suggested that persons denied refugee status should only be able to contest the decision from their home countries. Also "obvious" non-refugees (persons from countries not recognized to persecute their citizens) should be immediately returned to their countries.
  
• Still no clues as to the murderers of the four Kurds in Berlin on Thursday.
• 23 September 1992
• Munich (Bavaria): Three African men were denied beer service in one of the tents at the Oktoberfest. The waitress said that she was a free salesperson ("freie Unternehmerin") und could pick who she wanted to serve. Germans sitting next to the men called the management, to see what was going on. There was apparantly a directive not to serve beer to persons that might cause conflicts. Since some Germans in a neighboring row had been making anti-foreigner remarks, the waitress felt she could avoid a conflict by refusing to serve the Africans. The article does not mention if the men were eventually served.
  
• Brandenburg: 400 demonstrators, including 25 foreigners from Berlin, clashed with about 50 Skins. The demonstrators used the "new" police tactic of "Einkesselung" (literally, putting in a big pot) to confine
  the youths until the police intervened.    
  
• Berlin-Marzahn (East): Firebombs were thrown at a refugee shelter last night, the flames were quickly extinguished.
  
• Wismar: The youths have reached their goal. It was announced by the government that the refugee shelter in Wismar will be abandonded. The refugees will be distributed among other shelters in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
  
• Gummersbach: Three youths that set fire to a shelter in Gummersbach have been arrested.
  
• Potsdam: Four youths were sentenced to between four and six years in prison for an incident last year in which 2 African refugees (from Nigeria, I believe) were pushed off a balcony. Both men were critically wounded from their fall, but survived to testify against the youths. The youths were only convicted for endangerment (Noetigung) and not for attempted murder.
  
• Lethmathe bei Iserlohn (Bavaria? [my geography is not the best]): Two skinheads beat up a homeless person, who had to be operated on in the emergency room. The Skins were arrested.
  
• Erfurt: The district attorney's office announced that they have opened investigations into the doings of three "Wehrsportgruppen" groups of (mostly) men that "play" at war games.
  
• The "Langer Marsch fuer gleiche Rechte", the long march for equal rights is underway. 250 persons began in Berlin, Hamburg, Vienna, Geneve, Amsterdam and Paris, marching towards Brussels [the "capital" of the European community]. They expect to arrive October 3. This march, for which groups of foreigners began preparations over a year ago, is accompanied on parts of the way by local groups. The Berlin division was pelted with rocks thrown by 30-40 Neonazis on their way through Brandenburg, but there were no injuries reported. The group was accompanied by a number of school children when the rock-throwing began.
• 26 September 1992
• Berlin: Police have arrsted three men in connection with the bomb set off at the Jewish monument a few weeks ago. One of the men (31) has confessed to this bombing and the bombing of a refugee shelter in Wedding in June. A search of the apartments of the men turned up: guns, ammunition, hand grenades, "Totschlaeger", remote controls, dynamite stolen frm the military, and all the necessary chemicals and electronics for making bombs. One man said he has "a grudge against foreigners and Jews", which is the
  reason for exploding the bomb. Many right-wing youth appear to comb the WWII battlefields around Brandenburg with metal detectors, digging up all the guns and things they can find.
  
• Celle: As reported on the radio yesterday, police found "numerous things" in the homes of right-wing persons [how shall we translate "Rechtsradikalen"?]. Among the many sorts of weapons a list of 200 names of politicians, judges, prosecuters and police officers. The police felt that the term "Todeslist" used by the BILD-Zeitung is slightly exaggerated.
  
• Berlin: A group of Skins threatened a group of four Yugoslav refugees with knives in front of a shelter in Pankow. The refugees retreated into the house and calledpolice, the youths were arrested and released.
  
• Berlin-Treptow: Four men (17-20 years old) were sentenced to 18 months apiece on probation for stealing cigarettes from some Vietnamese who were selling them on the black market ("duty-free"). The Vietnamese were beaten as well. There were two separate incidents of "Fidschis abziehen", stealing from Vietnamese who are called Fidschis = Fijis in a derogatory manner...
• 29. September 1992
• Sachsenhausen: The police have confirmed that the building was destroyed by arson, they found that a window had been broken, through which some sort of incidentary device seems to have been thrown. All parties, the federal   parliament and the state parliament have condemned the attack. No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.
  
• Cottbus (Brandenburg): A Jewish memorial in this town was defiled late Sunday night. No news as to exactly what happened.
  
• A fire bomb was thrown at an Aussiedlerheim in Cottbus, a shelter for German re-settlers from Eastern Europe. The fire was put out before it caused too much damage.
  
• Finsterwalde (Brandenburg): fire bombs, mock guns, battering instruments and such were confiscated by police during the search of homes of left-wing radicals.
  
• Senftenberg (Brandenburg): Warrants for the arrest of 6 youths that took part in the recent stoning of a police station have been issued. It was the third stoning of a police station in Senftenberg in one month. [I only recall one being reported in the paper. -dww]
  
• The Tagesspiegel had a big page 3 article on youth work with right-wing youth in Hoyerswerda, Sandow, Weimar and other places this morning. Seems there are programs with right-wing social workers, who are accepted by the youth because they agree with the "Foreigners out" opinions of the youth. Their goal is to keep the kids from violence: "Those that talk are not so quick to resort to violence." Other programs, such as the one in Berlin where right-wing youth are renovating a house as a club room are also described. This group gets into regular fights with a left-wing youth group that has their clubhouse on the other side of the street. They report that in Hoyerswerda, for example, one of the social workers is an American, but that he hides his foreigner status, the youth think he is German. The article closes noting that for all the money poured into these projects, there is not much in the way of sucesses to show for it.
  
• 30. September 1992
• Frankfurt/Oder (Brandenburg): 500 persons participated in a demonstration against the violence against foreigners.
  
• Bornim (Brandenburg, near Potsdam): Firebombs were thrown at the archives of the Treuhandanstalt, which is right next to a refugee shelter. It is supposed that the buildings were mixed up, as it is very dark there nights.
  
• Eberswalde (Brandenburg): A bomb threat was telephoned into the police, there was supposed to be a bomb in a refugee shelter, but none was found.
  
• Luebben (Brandenburg): Three monuments were defaced with Nazi graffiti and symbols.
  
• Erfurt: The leader of the DNP party Dienel was arrested on charges of having formed a terroristic group.
  
• Sachsenhausen: Klaus Kinkel (the foreign minister) was at a ceremony here yesterday and laid down a wreath at the burned down barracks. He bemoaned to the journalists that the image of the Germans in foreign countries was being tarnished because people were hearing about all this violence. A journalist asked if the violence would not be so terrible if no one heard about it then. No, no, he said, but it distresses him to have to explain to so many people why this violence does not mean that the Third Reich is returning [paraphrase by me -dww].
  
• Max Willner, 86, who was a prisoner in Sachsenhausen and Auschwitz was also present at the ceremony. He said: "I am concerned. I was a grown man already, as the whole thing began back then. And the signs are very similar to the ones we had in the Weimar Republic. It begins with the small incidents."
  
• Berlin: An explosion of a hand-made bomb tore some fingers off a man in Wedding. Police had searched his appartment in connection with the bombing of the Jewish memorial here in Berlin (the man is a friend of one of the confessed perpertrators), but apparently oversaw some items.
  
• On page 3 of the Tagesspiegel there is a shocking report from a German reporter who visited Rostock "one month later" to get a feel for the atmosphere there. He was given a big pile of color glossy pictures by the PR-types for the city, and then drove off to look at a refugee shelter. There are guards in military uniforms posted there, and the refugees have a 22-6 hour curfew. He did not enter the shelter, but drove on the a youth club from the AWO (Arbeiterwohlfahrt is an organization connected with the trade unions and normally quite liberal). He had just entered the room when a youth came up to him and asked "Alles klar?" He answered "Ja", and was immediately slapped on the face by the youth. "This is my club, no one comes in here with out me allowing it." He was struck hard several times, even as he and his companion beat a retreat. She called out to the onlookers to intervene, but one just answered that
  he'd like to f*** her. She ran to the car, started it, and the reporter managed to get in and lock the doors. They roared off, only to find that they had turned off into a cul-de-sac. As they returned, they found the street blocked with a big garbage container. The woman slowed down and nudged the container out of the way with her bumper, and then sped off in a rain of stones and bottles, that did not break wondows, only dented the car. They then went from police station to hospital to dentist to clinic to police station... only to hear that there's a lot of fighting, but that Germans aren't normally attacked. One police officer suggested that the youth had felt provoked by the size of the reporter. Deutschland in Herbst.
  
• In other news, the official party for the V2 rocket has been cancelled. But there will be an "inoffical" party, including talks by important people and "a talk on the tragic uses of the first V2's". Complain to your governmental officers! Other countries *must* protest this completely insensitive behavior of the German government!
  

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