Speech OB 09.11.2015

for the wreath-laying ceremony and commemoration of 9 November 2015

Salutation,

Today we commemorate the victims of the Reichspogromnacht of 1938.
Here at the historic site of the once proud, beautiful Chemnitz synagogue. It was burnt down in blind rage on 9 November 1938 by obedient followers of an inhuman ideology.
Driven by hatred and fear, they set fire to the places of worship of the Jewish communities in Germany.
The Jews had turned them into a projection of their fears, envy and hatred.

I am glad that there is a strong Jewish community in Chemnitz again today.
A community with a synagogue and, since this year, its own rabbi.
A community with roots that are once again reaching out into our city. A community that feels no hatred, harbours no resentment - that has forgiven without forgetting. I thank you for this, dear members of the Jewish community.

What significance does 9 November have for us? The fateful day of the Germans? That's what some people who have forgotten history wanted to call 9 November in Germany. A day of destiny. As if the German people had only fulfilled their destiny on 9 November 1938, as if the pogrom night and all the human rights crimes that were to follow it had been predetermined. As if the Germans had had no choice.

But people almost always have a choice. So did the Germans.
On 9 November 1938, they did not have to cause one of the greatest disgraces in European history.

Nobody forced them to do so. They could have resisted, not been a wolf to mankind. Not join in, not look the other way, no violence. No concentration camps. No war. No 6 million murdered Jews.
For almost a decade, I have stood in this place as Lord Mayor and commemorated the Jewish victims of the Nazi era with you. And we turn to all Jews in Chemnitz at this very place with love and responsibility.

This speech was not easy for me this time: I kept asking myself: can I, should I, must I address the current developments in this place?
I have decided not to ignore the fact that the world has been partially torn from its anchors. And that a mass migration started in 2015. To Europe, to Germany, to Chemnitz.

Power interests, religious wars, destroyed cities, refugees who are homeless in camps are not just part of the evening news, they are also here now. For example, right opposite here in one of the country's initial reception centres.

They are people of different religions. Especially Muslims.
It's a situation that no one in Germany would have expected at this speed and on this scale.
And that's how the country looks: Ready to help, helpless, insecure, full of fear of the question: What will become of us?

A rabbi once told me: "We Jews feel safe in Germany when the Germans are doing well."
Germany is still a strong country in 2015. And comparatively speaking, we are doing very well. But there is massive uncertainty about how many refugees Germany can take in and cope with. I can well understand this uncertainty.

Democracy thrives on conviction and acceptance. If this dwindles, trust is lost. And that is precisely what we must not risk in Germany.
That is why we must not disparage or marginalise anyone who is concerned about how many people are coming to us. These are genuine and honest concerns, far removed from the ideology of the neo-Nazis.

But where is the limit? The capacity of this country? There is one. Where is the line between concern and hatred? It does exist. In very concrete terms:
When concern turns into hysteria, demagoguery and violence:

Slogans that are being shouted and cheered at rallies across the country this autumn are fatally reminiscent of slogans that were shouted and cheered in the years 1933 to 1938.
There is talk of "3000 years of Europe and 1000 years of Germany".
From "1000 years of Germany", the step to "1000 years of the German Reich" is not far away.

When we stand here in front of the burnt-down synagogue, this spiritual arson becomes depressing. The question must be asked: how long does it take for mental arson to become real arson?

The Federal Criminal Police Office reports almost 600 offences against asylum shelters between January and October 2015. 600 offences in 10 months. Buildings and containers in which refugees are supposed to be housed are burning almost every week.

No, the situation in 2015 is not comparable to the situation at the end of the Weimar Republic. We have a strong civil society, a growing humanity. We are resilient against demagogues and hatred. We have freedom of the press. Our democracy is much more deeply rooted than it ever was in the Weimar Republic. And yet there are people in our country who do not want to understand how our democracy works.

The first Science Minister of the Free State of Saxony, Professor Hans Joachim Meyer, writes in his recently published book In keiner Schublade: Erfahrungen im geteilten und vereinten Deutschland: "[Many people in East Germany] do not have a positive relationship with political debate. Nor do they see the need for political compromise." "For them, democracy prevails when they [get] their way."

A sharp but, from my observations, not inaccurate description of the situation. And here, too, we have a choice. The choice of how we want to present ourselves and confront foreign people. And those who agitate loudly on the streets and squares and unrestrainedly on social networks not out of concern about the many foreigners, but out of hatred and rejection of everything foreign.

Are we going to let them dictate their simply wrong understanding of democracy? Or do we resolutely stand up for pluralism of opinion and a culture of debate? Democracy lives and grows when it has many many supporters, interpreters and advocates.

Let's make sure that we make the right decisions, because when you have the choice, only you are responsible for the implications.
The statement "We didn't know anything" never applied. And certainly not today.