{"id":380,"date":"2008-01-25T05:55:04","date_gmt":"2008-01-25T09:55:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/munichletters\/2008\/01\/25\/letter-from-munich-350\/"},"modified":"2008-01-31T06:53:53","modified_gmt":"2008-01-31T10:53:53","slug":"letter-from-munich-350","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/munichletters\/2008\/01\/25\/letter-from-munich-350\/","title":{"rendered":"Letter from Munich 350"},"content":{"rendered":"

Letter from Munich – the Joseph Affair \u2013 350<\/strong><\/p>\n

EINE DEUTSCHE FASSUNG STEHT WEITER UNTEN. (German translation below \u2013 German language character set required for correct display.)<\/p>\n

Dusseldorf, 25 January 2008<\/p>\n

Dear Mr. Graf, dear friends,<\/p>\n

First Report – Steffen Judzikowski, Wolfgang Kramer, Joe Sperling, \u201eMuegeln unter Verdacht \u2013 Deutsche jagen Auslaender,\u201c ZDF, Frontal 21, Broadcast of 21 August 2007.<\/p>\n

PARTS 1, 2, and 3.<\/p>\n

(Note: The relevance of this article lies in the fact that what happens in a town like Muegeln can also happen in Saxony, in Sebnitz. It can have happened, at the time of Joseph\u2019s death.)<\/p>\n

\u201cModerator: Was it a surprise \u2013 the things that happened in the town of Muegeln, in Saxony, over the weekend? Was it a surprise that around fifty Germans threatened, hunted down, and finally beat up a few men from India? Was it a surprise that passers-by just looked on and did nothing to help? No, not at all. And this absence of surprise is almost as bad as the events themselves. For a long time we\u2019ve considered it a sort of normal abnormality, simply the moral \u2013 or rather, immoral \u2013 norms of a small town that a mob should suddenly go after foreigners. Of course that kind of thing can happen anywhere in Germany, but it happens especially in the eastern part of the country. Only a fifth of the German population lives in eastern Germany, but it is home to half of the 40,000 German neo-Nazis. Our reporters Steffen Judzikowski, Wolfgang Kramer, and Joe Sperling visited Muegeln.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pieces of broken glass have been swept up from the floor of this pizzeria in Muegeln, in the state of Saxony. This is where eight men from India fled from their attackers late Saturday night. The owner of the pizzeria, also from India, hid the men here, but their attackers simply smashed the shop\u2019s plate-glass window.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the men, who wants to remain anonymous, describes what he heard that night.<\/p>\n

\u201cMan from India: They were shouting, \u2018Foreigners out! Turks out!\u2019 Then you just ran for your life.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of those they ran after reports what made him start running. It was just after midnight.<\/p>\n

\u201cEyewitness \/ Interpreter: At first, there were ten or fifteen people; later, the number was around forty or fifty.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Journalist): The argument between the Germans and the men from India started in a tent that had been set up for a local celebration. The police are now trying to determine the exact circumstances, and they\u2019re looking for more eyewitnesses.\u201d<\/p>\n

(First Report – to be continued)<\/p>\n

Sincerely yours,<\/p>\n

Robert John Bennett<\/p>\n

Ernst-Gnoss-Strasse 22<\/p>\n

40219 Dusseldorf<\/p>\n

Germany<\/p>\n

Telephone: +49 211 586 4847<\/p>\n

Mobile: +49 152 0285 4626<\/p>\n

E-Mail: rjbennett@post.harvard.edu<\/p>\n

Kantelberg-Abdulla E-Mail: majoskant@t-online.de<\/p>\n

Websites: http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/MunichLetters<\/p>\n

http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/Germany2\/<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2013<\/p>\n

Since many recipients of this letter may read German more easily than they read English, the following is the author\u2019s translation of the above letter. Please note that word-processing programs outside of German-speaking countries may not display all of the letters of the German alphabet correctly.<\/p>\n

Alle Briefe aus M\u00fcnchen sind abrufbar:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/MunichLetters<\/p>\n

D\u00fcsseldorf, den 25. Januar 2008<\/p>\n

Sehr geehrter Herr Graf, sehr geehrte Freunde,<\/p>\n

:Erster Bericht – Steffen Judzikowski, Wolfgang Kramer, Joe Sperling, \u201eM\u00fcgeln unter Verdacht \u2013 Deutsche jagen Ausl\u00e4nder,\u201c ZDF, Frontal 21, Sendung vom 21. August 2007.<\/p>\n

TEILE 1, 2, and 3.<\/p>\n

(Bemerkung: Die Relevanz dieses Artikels liegt darin, dass das, was in Berlin passiert, kann auch in Sachsen, in Sebnitz, passieren. Es kann passiert sein, zur Zeit des Todes Josephs.)<\/p>\n

\u201eAnmoderation: Hat es uns \u00fcberrascht, was da am Wochenende im s\u00e4chsischen M\u00fcgeln passiert ist? Hat es uns \u00fcberrascht, dass ein halbes Hundert Deutsche einige Inder bedroht, gejagt und verpr\u00fcgelt hat, dass Passanten nur zugeschaut und nicht geholfen haben? Nein hat es nicht. Und das ist fast so schlimm wie das Geschehen selbst. L\u00e4ngst halten wir es f\u00fcr normale Un-Normalit\u00e4t, f\u00fcr das Sitten-oder genauer Un-Sittengem\u00e4lde einer Kleinstadt, in der ein Mob pl\u00f6tzlich Jagd auf Ausl\u00e4nder macht. Nat\u00fcrlich sind solche Ausschreitungen ein gesamtdeutsches Ph\u00e4nomen, aber den Osten betrifft und trifft es ganz besonders. Im Osten lebt nur ein F\u00fcnftel der Bev\u00f6lkerung, aber die H\u00e4lfte aller 40.000 deutschen Rechtsextremen. Steffen Judzikowski, Wolfgang Kramer und Joe Sperling waren in M\u00fcgeln und Umgebung.<\/p>\n

Die Scherben sind zusammengekehrt im Flur der Pizzeria im s\u00e4chsischen M\u00fcgeln. Hierher flohen die acht Inder vor ihren Verfolgern in der Nacht auf Sonntag. Der Pizzeriabetreiber, ebenfalls aus Indien, versteckte sie hier, doch die Verfolger schlugen die Scheiben ein.\u201c<\/p>\n

Er will nicht erkannt werden, beschreibt uns aber, was er geh\u00f6rt hat. <\/p>\n

O-Ton Inder: Ausl\u00e4nder raus, T\u00fcrken raus. Da rennt man ums Leben. <\/p>\n

Einer der Verfolgten berichtet, was ihn kurz nach Mitternacht in die Flucht schlug. <\/p>\n

O-Ton Augenzeuge\/Dolmetscher: Erst waren es zehn oder 15 Personen, hat er gesagt. Sp\u00e4ter 40 bis 50 Leute…<\/p>\n

Im Festzelt hatte sich der Streit zwischen Deutschen und Indern entwickelt. Was genau passierte, das versucht jetzt die Polizei zu ergr\u00fcnden \u2013 sie sucht Augenzeugen.\u201c<\/p>\n

(Erster Bericht – Fortsetzung folgt)<\/p>\n

Mit freundlichen Gr\u00fc\u00dfen<\/p>\n

Robert John Bennett<\/p>\n

Ernst-Gnoss-Strasse 22<\/p>\n

40219 Dusseldorf<\/p>\n

Germany<\/p>\n

Telephone: +49 211 586 4847<\/p>\n

Mobile: +49 152 0285 4626<\/p>\n

E-Mail: rjbennett@post.harvard.edu<\/p>\n

Kantelberg-Abdulla E-Mail: majoskant@t-online.de<\/p>\n

Websites: http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/MunichLetters<\/p>\n

http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/Germany2\/<\/p>\n

============================<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Letter from Munich – the Joseph Affair \u2013 350 EINE DEUTSCHE FASSUNG STEHT WEITER UNTEN. (German translation below \u2013 German language character set required for correct display.) Dusseldorf, 25 January 2008 Dear Mr. Graf, dear friends, First Report – Steffen Judzikowski, Wolfgang Kramer, Joe Sperling, \u201eMuegeln unter Verdacht \u2013 Deutsche jagen Auslaender,\u201c ZDF, Frontal 21, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":167,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/munichletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/munichletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/munichletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/munichletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/167"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/munichletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=380"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/munichletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/munichletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/munichletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/munichletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}