Greifswald: Students fly from school after neo-Nazi greeting!

Greifswald: Students fly from school after neo-Nazi greeting!

A perceived regression in the educational landscape is currently evident in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania: two students from the Fischer School in Greifswald were expelled from school because of a right-wing extremist gesture, the so-called “white power” greeting. This questionable action took place during a study trip to the Auschwitz concentration camp memorial in May, where a classmate filmed the incident and distributed the material on social networks. This alleged glorification of right-wing extremism alarms not only the school community, but also the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Ministry of Education, which only recently learned of the incident [NDR].

The immediate measures taken by the school management are not very encouraging: the affected students were suspended and transferred to other schools in order to achieve the same educational qualifications. The students' parents are considering taking legal action against the expulsion, which is causing additional tension. The school management has also filed a criminal complaint about the incident in order to send a clear message against right-wing extremist statements.

Context and comparable incidents

Concerns about the rise of extremist ideas in schools are not new. A similar incident recently occurred with students from Görlitz, who also showed the “White Power” salute during an educational trip to the former Nazi death camp Auschwitz on March 13th. The students from the Scultetus High School were then expelled from the principal and have to do community service in a workshop for the disabled. According to the headmistress, the students were insightful, but this raises the question of how deeply rooted right-wing extremist ideas are in young people Spiegel reports.

These incidents are part of a larger trend: student representatives in eastern German states are complaining about increasing right-wing extremism in schools. The situation is serious, as reports from student representatives show. 18-year-old Stefan Tarnow, spokesman for the State Council of School Students in Brandenburg, said that swastikas can even be found in classrooms and that right-wing extremist ideas are often not sufficiently discussed, as Tagesschau reports.

What needs to change?

In response to these alarming changes, the state student councils from several federal states such as Berlin, Brandenburg and Saxony are calling for decisive action against right-wing extremism and a strengthening of the subjects of politics and social studies. There is also an urgent need for further training for teachers who need to be better trained in dealing with such incidents. Educational institutions must not only respond to extremist statements, but also work preventatively to ensure that such incidents do not occur in the first place.

Concern about right-wing extremist incidents in schools makes it clear that there is pressure on politicians and educational institutions to act to create a reliable framework to combat and prevent extremism. It is to be hoped that the recent incidents will not only be seen as isolated incidents, but as a wake-up call for a serious discussion of this issue in society.