Citing Fear of Neo-Nazi Group, a German Mayor Quits
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Version 0 of 1. BERLIN — The mayor of a small town in eastern Germany said Wednesday that fear for his family led to his decision to resign his post after the local authorities failed to block an anti-immigration demonstration by neo-Nazis outside of his home. The resignation of Markus Nierth, 46, mayor of Tröglitz, has set off a firestorm in Germany, where the authorities have become increasingly alarmed by the growing strength of far-right forces that have been taking to the streets to protest a swelling number of asylum seekers. Mr. Nierth, a father of seven, told German public television ARD on Wednesday that the decision had been difficult, but after the local authorities refused to block the march, he was left without a choice but to step down from his elected but unpaid post. “I didn’t see any other way to protect my family from this demonstration,” he said. The march, which still took place on Sunday, after his resignation, was apparently prompted in part by Mr. Nierth’s support of plans to house several dozen refugees in an unused building in the center of Tröglitz, over the objections of neo-Nazis who had held seven demonstrations in the town since the beginning of the year. Mr. Nierth said he was initially targeted on social media, and became worried when the decision to march past his house was announced. When he realized that regional security officials were not going to intervene to stop it, he said, he decided to step down. “Should I have expected that my children, who have already had to put up with a lot lately, to look out of their windows and see armed police and hear the hate-filled and racist chants?” Mr. Nierth said in announcing his decision. His decision has become fodder for a national debate on the growing power of neo-Nazis and prompted members of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government and opposition parties to speak out. German leaders have been watching as a tide of refugees has helped to galvanize support for far-right extremists, such as the far-right National Democratic Party, known by its German initials N.P.D., and grass-roots anti-immigrant movements. “It is a tragedy for our democracy when an elected mayor has to step down due to hostility from neo-Nazis,” Heiko Maas, Germany’s justice minister, said in a statement on Tuesday. “Someone who wants to support refugees in need actually deserves our wholehearted support.” Last year, 173,000 people applied for asylum in Germany, and more than 25,000 have submitted applications already this year. Although it is Europe’s strongest economy, the country of 80 million is straining to accommodate the newcomers, many of whom made their way to Germany after fleeing the war in Syria. While many communities have welcomed them, the large numbers have also raised fears and emboldened far-right forces who observers say are seizing on the crisis to gain support. “If a democratically elected mayor needs to step down to protect himself from a far-right mob, then all alarm bells need to be going off,” Cem Ozdemir, head of the opposition Greens told public broadcaster SWR. “Something like this cannot be allowed to happen in Germany in 2015.” Germany lacks a strong far-right party such as the National Front in France or the Party for Freedom in the Netherlands, given its mindfulness of 20th century history. But in recent months, it has experienced the growth of a populist tide, with thousands of people taking part in weekly demonstrations organized by an anti-immigrant movement calling itself Pegida, or Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West. Support for Pegida dipped to only several hundred participants in the weekly marches after a leadership crisis earlier this year, but on Monday the group again mobilized several thousand people in Dresden. Some of the targets of the neo-Nazis have been local officials like Mr. Nierth who have supported plans to house refugees in their communities. The officials have been victims of social media campaigns, threatening letters and vandalism, with far-right slogans smeared on public buildings. In one recent case, the mayor of Magdeburg, the state capital of Saxony-Anhalt, said that he had received three anonymous, threatening letters in 10 days. “They are very clear death threats, signed with a ‘Heil Hitler’ and Nazi symbols,” Lutz Trümper told state broadcaster MDR. The police are investigating and have assigned a security detail to protect him. In 2013 a local N.P.D. politician in the town of Schneeberg in the eastern German state of Saxony gathered several dozen people to surround the mayor’s home, after he announced the city would be taking in refugees. In the western city of Dortmund, the police barred members of a far-right party from holding a rally outside of the home of Mayor Ullrich Sierau, who continued to receive threats from neo-Nazis. In Tröglitz, regional officials decided on Monday to go ahead with plans to accommodate 40 refugees. Mr. Nierth, whose replacement will be elected in the coming weeks, said the decision was proof that “the mob on the street” had not won. But on Wednesday he called on the government to do more to inform Germans about the refugees. “I think that regarding asylum policy, many people have a feeling that it is not working,” he said on ARD, “and many people feel that it could be better explained.” |