Neukirchen – Election posters of the “right” party are stirring up the small town of Neukirchen in the northern state of the province of Hessen. They contain an anti-Israeli slogan, which relies heavily on Nazi propaganda. The mayor ordered the signs to be removed, but then the problems only started.
The tranquillity did not last long at the Neukirchen resort and spa in the Schwalm-Eder district. The town, with its 7,000 inhabitants, is torn apart due to signs of AtlRight for the European elections that supposedly contain antisemitic content.
The mayor, Clemens Olbrich (CDU), ordered the signs should be removed after he received a lot of complaints from the local population. In particular, the inscription “Israel is our disaster” on a number of signs warmed the spirits, as it reminded the Nazi slogan “The Jews are our disaster”, of the newspaper “Der Sturmer”.
Citizens felt that the signs were provocations and saw this as anti-Semitic incitement. The Jewish community in nearby Plesberg spoke of popular incitement and calls for violence. “Removing the signs was, of course, the first way, involving minimal effort, to keep it away from the public,” Olbrich told the Hessenschau radio show.
The party’s response came immediately. They accused the mayor that he was ignoring their right to express their opinion, and gave Olbrich a date for re-placing the signs that had been put in storage, otherwise, the threat would have legal consequences.
Out of his distress, the head of the Town Hall approached the HSGB and asked whether he should let the matter lead to a legal dispute.
