Day of Democracy

"Tag der Demokratie" This means "Day of Democracy". It is a day in January that Magdeburg has every year where local organizations and business who support democracy can set up a stand on the street and you can visit them. The day takes on a different role, though. Me and the other Magdeburgers started to call it Nazi day because it is the day that neo-nazis choose to demonstrate. If I learned one thing from this day it is that Germans haaaaaaaaaate nazis. They HATE them. I would to if I was part of a country that was trying to amend its dark past and certain people were ruining that for everyone. Most of the neo-nazis that take part in the demonstration aren't even from Germany. They are foreigners from neighboring countries that are demonstrating in Germany. The town was full of police officers that were there just to make sure nothing happened. I was told that there were over 2,000 police officers and that they were policemen from all over Germany. The neo-nazi demonstrators don't have a very big following so the same neo-nazis have to travel from city to city in Germany if they want to demonstrate there. The policemen follow suit and simply follow them from city to city making sure there is peaceful demonstrating and no violence. I actually had quite a bit of fun this day. It was really cool to see all the interesting ways people advertised against nazis. Some were cool and some were really weird. What I liked most about the day was that the streets of Magdeburg were filled with people. Normally there is not much going on in the city and it was nice to see the city wake up. I personally did not see any neo-nazis that day. I was told that they were all gathered at the university which is the one place I didn't go that day. I was a little disappointed to tell the truth. As someone from a small town in Wisconsin, I have never really seen a neo-nazi and I was curious to see what one looked like. Would they all be skin heads with piercings and tattoos? Maybe not. For all I knew they were all college graduates wearing argyle sweater vests. I have noooooo idea what one looks like. Some people might cringe at the thought of someone wanting to see a neo-nazi but curiosity is a natural human attribute and closing your eyes to a problem like this does not help the situation. My host family is also very open to talking about stuff like that and they had no problem that I was so curious about the events of this day. Some people who live in former east Germany think that all Americans think they are all nazis. I personally did not think this before I arrived in former east Germany and I really hope no one else from the US thinks this. It is not true. There are neo-nazis in the US and there are some in the former east but that does not make everyone there a nazi. I also like how fitting it was that the neo-nazis demonstrated on the day of democracy. Even though I completely disagree with what they stand for, I think it is good that people can openly express their beliefs in Germany no matter how crazy and wrong they are. If the police had prevented the neo-nazis from demonstrating it would have been a step back for progress. Freedom is being allowed to freely express your beliefs no matter what they are and allowing people to make up their own minds as to whether or not they agree...the pictures below show that the German people overwhelmingly disagree with neo-nazis...and how wonderful is it that they were given the opportunity to make that choice.

Someone throwing the swastika away...very nice, very nice.

It reads something like "The risks of the nazi marches; read a history book or ask your grandparents."

It says "Colorful against Brown." Brown is the color that the nazi party identifies with so these people are saying we need a future full of color (many different ideas and beliefs) and not just brown (one set of beliefs like in WWII). This was actually a game where you could win prizes by popping the balloons with a dart. This person was clever and filled the balloons with paint to also make the game an advertisement against nazis.

It is hard to see because of the glare, but the swastika on Hitler's arm has been replaced with a heart and it can clearly be seen that he is wearing pink. His fingernails are also painted on the hand beneath the gloved hand and he is wearing lipstick. This particular sign meant to say that Hitler may have been homosexual. I personally do not know if Hitler was or not and some people might take offense to that. I don't think anyone should take offense to the sign because the greater meaning of the sign meant to say that Hitler was a hypocrite. Hitler also wanted to do away with homosexuals along with many other types of people (handicapped, Jewish, etc.) so this sign was calling him out as a hypocrite. Whether or not he was gay is irrelevant. Hitler was a hypocrite but, more importantly, he was a horrible, evil person.

The streets of Magdeburg full of people!

"Bunt Statt Braun"
"Colorful Instead of Brown"

Even more interesting than the message itself is how they painted it throughout the streets in Magdeburg. They made a special bicycle wheel with the message on it and rigged the bicycle with a bucket of paint to paint this message on the sidewalk as it was wheeled throughout the city. Ingenuity at its best!

Not really sure what this was or what it was trying to say but I simply HAD to take a picture of it. It looks like a hybrid between a turtle, octopus, and praying mantis. So weird.