Rochus wonders why no one’s mentioned this feature in the SZ mag. It's a compilation of descriptions of everyday racism in a variety of communities in the east, including Berlin. It's unnerving to read, even if you've been Ganz Brav and haven't been ignoring the occasional coverage of racist attacks in the papers, and even if you're not so stubborn/willfully ignorant as to think that those are the only such instances. The small sample in the SZ invites us to consider the scope of the problem beyond these interviews.
As a sort of aside: is it really better in the west? I was caught off guard by that last section. [Edit: the whole point of the article is to demonstrate that this is a specifically eastern German problem.]
Comments
I wondered about that last bit, too: is it that much better in West Germany?
I'd guess that yes and no. The article of course suggests that yes, since all the people they interviewed seem to point in that direction.
And then again, no: you can never be completely sure (and safe) in West Germany, either. It's not like we don't have Nazis there, you know. (I met a large troop of them in the centre of Essen once. Awful.)
Posted by: rrho at October 4, 2006 04:33 AM
Isn't the article (i.e., the exerpts but also how they're compiled) also suggesting that there's more of an established social framework for dealing with public racism in the West? As if the west already worked through these issues of confrontation with the Other fifty years ago - and as if it's all been perfectly worked through in the west...
Posted by: Heather![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.hemmungen.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at October 4, 2006 10:30 AM
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