By Candice Novak

COLOGNE, Germany – Most in the crowd of German liberals, progressives and just-plain-scared residents were too young to have experienced rule under the Third Reich, but the threat of extreme-right political parties here has triggered a vehement response. The home-made banners reading “Nazis out!” and “Never again fascism,” first seem like cries from a guilt-stained German consciousness, but in this Superwahljahr (super election year), with some far-right groups gaining popularity in the voting booths and neo-Nazis strengthening in the streets, the fear is very real. Thousands of citizens here have been mobilizing. Between last month’s regional elections and the upcoming general election, the popular chant would often be heard echoing through the cobblestone streets: “Hoch! Die! Internationale Solidarität!” – “Up with the international solidarity!”

“The partial successes of the racists should be taken as a warning,” says Claus Ludwig, a Cologne city councilmember from die Linke party. “There is a layer of society alienated from the parliamentary system, frustrated by the economic crisis, which is open to racist propaganda, open to scapegoating the immigrants.”

In this economically-struggling Western state, the Pro-Köln party – running on an anti-Islam, anti-immigrant platform – holds five city council seats after receiving 5.3 percent of Cologne’s votes in the late-August regional elections. The percentages sound small, but in the representative German voting system each party, which passes the so-called, five-percent-hurdle gains city council seats.

Though the National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD, the country’s largest neo-Nazi party) received less than one percent in the regional elections, it has benefited from the economic crisis and has held some large demonstrations in the area to rally support.

The protests against such demonstrations are the epitome of the oh-so-German word, vergangenheitsbewältigung – struggling to come to terms with the past. Hitler and the details of his rise to power are of great public interest, especially among young people fearfully eyeing the threat of neo-Nazi and far-right extremism. One oft-sited event is the 1932-33 divide in the worker’s movement, which softened organized opposition.

“This should not be allowed to happen again,” says Ludwig. “For this reason, all left and antifascist groups unite in action against the far right, disregarding their differences.”

And they do, with force.

On a Friday afternoon in mid-August, Pro-Köln held a demonstration in front of the pollution-blackened gothic cathedral. The few hundred party members were soon surrounded by a couple thousands protestors. (See video here.) As protesters threw eggs over the police line, a Pro-Kölner grabbed a party placard, which bore the distinctive crossed-out-mosque logo, and used it as a bat. All the while the “pink block” – a group of tu-tu-wearing marching samba band drummers — drowned out the campaign speeches.

About a week later – the day before the regional elections — an eclectic mix of hymn-singing Christians and banner-toting left-wing groups gathered at the same cathedral. About 700 people made their way to a plaza at one of the old city gates. After some speeches, Mohawked and bald alike took numbers and arranged themselves in formation to spell out N-O N-A-Z-I-S.

One fear this super election year is that the far-right extremist groups are using the economic crisis to polarize voters. “Some people simply blame foreign workers for the crisis, but it can also cut the other way as people radicalize and show solidarity,” says Mark Bergfeld, a 22-year old student activist from Cologne, who attended the rally.

“The Left has learned and will not submit itself to sectarian arguments but will jointly combat the fascists wherever they try to take over the streets,” says Bergfeld.

The crescendo came early September, at a demonstration in the run-down industrial city of Dortmund, where an NPD demonstration was held in a park surrounded by abandoned factory buildings.

Police cordoned some 700 neo-Nazis as some 6,000 people arrived in opposition. The event required the largest show of police force in the city’s history, with reinforcements coming from as far as Bavaria. Police Chief Hans Schulze told the press here there were more than 3,000 police on hand. Some 30 groups made the local authorities aware they would be protesting. As the group swelled and began to march down the main avenue, the police threw teargas bombs and un-harnessed a small fleet of German shepherds. Finally organizers negotiated with the police to be able to march through Dortmund in a show of opposition to the NPD’s presence there.

When Germans go the voting booths on September 27, Chancellor Angela Merkel and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, will be the stars. But on ballots in all 16 states, NPD candidates will also be listed. And as the demos in run-down towns like Dortmund continue, the left and progressive groups have vowed to follow in protest.

Wahllos

Random finding on the cafe-lined streets of Aachenerstraße in Köln.

The scene at the Dom on a Friday afternoon. “Liebe ist für alles” above a homeless man cradling his dog and “Drink, be obedient,” scrawled on the marble walls of a near-by shop.

Translation: “Pro-Köln” — the anti-muslim party in Nordrhein-Westfallen — “is stupid.”

The scene before an anti-fascism/anti-racism rally in front of Koln’s pollution-blackened gothic Dom.

A couple of garage-grafitti examples from the Köln suburbs.

See some more here

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