A video shared online of young Germans chanting racist anti-immigrant slogans outside a pub on the North Sea island of Sylt has sparked outrage in the country.
The group sang “Foreigners Out!” and “Germany for Germans”, such as Gigi D’Agostino’s popular party song “L’Amour Toujours”, played in a pub in the seaside resort of Kampen, a destination popular with wealthy German holidaymakers.
In the recording, which lasts only a few seconds and has gone viral on social media since Thursday, young men and women shout racist slogans while laughing. One man appears to indicate a Hitler mustache with his fingers on his upper lip.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz was among those who strongly condemned the incident: “It is clear that such slogans are disgusting and unacceptable.”
“There should be no confusion about this. And that is why it is right that all our activities are aimed at preventing this from spreading,” Scholz said.
Police have launched a criminal investigation into the incident on suspicion of incitement to hatred and the possible use of banned extremist symbols or slogans.
“The video shows that at least some of the people depicted sing right-wing extremist lyrics (‘Germany for the Germans, foreigners out!’). There is also a suspicion that one person gives the so-called Hitler salute,” the police said. . in a statement Friday.
The use of Nazi slogans or symbols, as well as other forms of hate speech, are illegal under German law.
It is not the first such incident involving the song in Germany, a 20-year-old Italian pop hit that has apparently been co-opted by German far-right extremists.
Authorities in several German states are investigating similar incidents of racist chanting during the song.
That the latest incident took place on Sylt, a chic and exclusive holiday destination long popular with wealthy German elites, sparked particular outrage.
The chic setting and the champagne-sipping crowd in light-colored blouses and sunglasses shouting racist chants defy the typical stereotypes many Germans have about far-right extremists.
Longtime Green Party politician Jürgen Trittin mocked “Prosecco Nazis” in a post on X, while Green Youth co-leader Svenja Appuhn denounced “fascist snobs.”
The owners of the pub, Pony, distanced themselves from the incident in a post on Instagram and said they were “deeply shocked” by the video.
“We distance ourselves from any form of racism and discrimination,” they wrote in a post on Instagram. “If we had known about the incident, we would of course have deported the guests in question. There is no place for racism!!!”
Every guest, regardless of ethnicity, is welcome and the people included in the video will be denied access to the premises, they said.
In another post, the operators wrote that they had now received the names of “these Nazis” and would “report this disgusting behavior and use all criminal justice options!!!”
The pub’s owner, Tim Becker, told dpa that all five people seen in the video had been identified and had provided their names and additional evidence, such as security camera footage, to authorities.
Becker said he was shocked by the incident and would ban the song from being played there in the future. He said he would also pursue civil claims against those involved, saying they had been banned from his pub and would not be welcome elsewhere on the island.
“They no longer have to show their faces on Sylt. We have many friendly restaurateurs,” said Becker.
German Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser said the incident should be an embarrassment to the entire country.
“Anyone who shouts Nazi slogans such as ‘Germany for the Germans – foreigners out’ is a shame for Germany,” Faeser told the Funke newspaper on Friday.
Faeser said the incident raises the question of what kind of hateful climate encourages such people to make such appalling racist statements in public.
“There should be no creeping normalization here,” Faeser said.
Racists everywhere should face vocal opposition — among friends, at work, in sports — in addition to possible criminal sanctions, Faeser said.
The mayors of the towns on Sylt denounced the chants in a joint statement on Friday: “We have no tolerance for these chants. This behavior is abhorrent and completely unacceptable to us. We will not tolerate it.”
