Berliners make socially distanced human chain to protest racism

Protesters across Germany formed socially-distanced human chains in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. They made their stand against racism linked by "ribbons of solidarity."

Watch video   https://p.dw.com/p/3

Thousands attend Berlin anti-racism protest


Thousands of people formed a socially distanced human chain through Berlin on Sunday in a protest against racism, discrimination, and social inequality.

Organizers of the "Indivisible" demonstrate told participants to wear protective face masks and stand apart from each other.

A human chain usually sees participant linking hands or arms, but this time protesters forming the 9 kilometer (5 ½-mile) chain were linked by colored ribbons, forming what organizers called a "ribbon of solidarity"

The line stretched from the iconic Brandenburg Gate and past the landmark Communist-era television tower at Alexanderplatz, down into the ethnically diverse Neukoelln district.


Read more: African nations call for racism debate at UN Human Rights Council

Organizers said they were keen to highlight inequalities in many areas of life.

"The coronavirus is worsening existing inequalities. Many people are threatened with being left behind. We will not allow that," said Unteilbar spokesman Georg Wissmeier in a statement.

"Human rights, social justice and climate justice belong together indivisibly."

Following the rules

Among the groups protesting was "Grannies against the far-right," who gathered at the Brandenburg Gate wearing protective face masks — some in pink knitted hats.

People appeared to keep to the hygiene restrictions during the event, which lasted just over an hour.


'Grannies against the far-right' also took part in the human chains

Police put the number of participants at about 5,000, while organizers estimated it at more than 20,000.

Read more: 'Race' has no place in the German constitution — or does it?

Berlin recently lifted coronavirus-related limits on the number of people who can attend demonstrations, though people are still required to keep at least 1.5 meters (5 feet) apart in public.

There were smaller demonstrations in other German cities.

In the northern city of Hamburg, police said 840 people formed a similar human chain using ribbon as the one in Berlin.

There were also anti-racism demonstrations in Leipzig, attended by some 1,400 people, and several other German cities including Freiburg, Chemnitz, Detmold, Plauen, Münster and Passau.

The events followed protests around the world on Saturday, including rallies Paris where police fired tear gas, and London where officers clashed with far-right counter-protesters.

kmm/rc (dpa/AP)

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Atlanta: Protests erupt, heads roll after police killing of black man

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Thousands attend Berlin anti-racism protest

Date 14.06.2020
Related Subjects Berlin, Coronavirus
Keywords Berlin, social distancing, human chain, coronavirus, COVID-19

HONG KONG DEMONSTRATORS PROTEST EXTRADITION BILL
One country, two systems

China has long promised Hong Kong self-rule under the "one country, two systems" motto. But for those in the sprawling city, the extradition bill is the latest in a long line of examples of creeping Chinese control.




HONG KONG DEMONSTRATORS PROTEST EXTRADITION BILL
Out in force

Thousands of officers, including riot police, have been deployed throughout the city. Over the weekend, demonstrators hurled bottles at security forces and tried to push their way into the parliament building, but were blocked.




HONG KONG DEMONSTRATORS PROTEST EXTRADITION BILL
A question of autonomy and rights

Activists have decried the move to allow extradition to China, because of Beijing's poor human rights and legal record. Many in Hong Kong are also upset by the creeping authoritarianism in the city, after they were promised autonomy when the territory was given back to China from the UK in 19




HONG KONG DEMONSTRATORS PROTEST EXTRADITION BILL
Homage

Some protesters left umbrellas on the police barricades, an homage to the "Occupy Democracy" movement that began in 2014. The massive, months-long campaign was prompted by constitutional reforms that allowed Beijing to approve candidates for Hong Kong elections.

Permalink    https://p.dw.com/p/3dmH

One year on: Hong Kong protesters change tactics

Last June, Hong Kong protesters took to the streets against a proposed extradition bill and started a yearlong protest movement. Now they are fighting against another law, but with different strategies.


Dave Cheung, 25, used to be a frequent protest-goer. He identifies himself as a "radical" – a protester that is usually dressed in black, wears a gas mask, sets up roadblocks and confronts police on the front lines.

He was arrested when the protests started in June of last year, for being involved in clashes with police outside government headquarters, following a peaceful protest that same day. He was later released on bail, but the arrest didn't stop him from participating in more demonstrations.

Read more: Hong Kong: Thousands gather to mark anniversary of protests

The street protests began in response to a now-vetoed bill that would allow suspects to be extradited to China for trials. However, even after the bill was scrapped, protesters later raised other demands, including the resignation of Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam and universal suffrage.

The demonstrations were faced with heavy police crackdowns and mass arrests of protesters, particularly of the "radicals."

However, Cheung believes that taking to the streets is no longer an effective way to continue their fight.

"There's no use in confronting the police now. It's obvious that they are so much more equipped than we are, and that they won't bear the consequences for the things they did," Cheung told DW.

"We need to change our approach. It's obvious that the government doesn't care about how many people or how often we protest on the streets."

Harsh police crackdown

Since June 2019, police have fired more than 16,000 rounds of teargas, over 7,000 rubber bullets and made nearly 9,000 arrests – almost 40% of which were of students.

Police were accused of excessive use of force and conducting arbitrary arrests, which led to one of the five demands that protesters touted – an independent investigation into the police department's use of force. Instead, however, the government commissioned a police watchdog to conduct an examination, which lawmakers and international experts said was not truly independent and had no investigative power. The resulting report claimed that police "acted within the guidelines."

Cheung, who himself is facing a trial this month on a charge of illegal assembly, said that taking to the streets will now only lead to unnecessary harm. If convicted, he will face a maximum of five years in jail.

With Beijing's plan to impose a new national security law, which would ban treason, secession, sedition and subversion against the Chinese government, many fear that any criticism of either the Hong Kong government or the Communist Party will lead to prosecution.

"We need international attention. We need help from other countries," said Cheung. "We don't have enough power to fight alone."

Read more: A year of Hong Kong protests: Is Beijing finally regaining control?

Watch video https://p.dw.com/p/3dmH
Hong Kong democracy movement faces uncertain future

Garnering international support

The US, UK, Canada and Australia's condemnation of the security law offered protesters a small victory.

"The 'Hong Kong issue' has become very visible internationally," said Nathan Law, a founding member of pro-democracy party Demosisto.

In response to Beijing's decision to impose the law, the US revoked Hong Kong's special trade status, meaning that the city would no longer enjoy favorable tax policies and zero tariffs on imports and exports of goods with the US. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that Hong Kong is no longer autonomous enough to merit such status.

"Hong Kong has now been recognized as standing on the front lines in the fight against authoritarian China," said Law.

"That's what we wanted to achieve. We [Demosisto] have been very active in international lobbying. Hong Kong people need to have their own voice. We need to be the ones telling our own stories, not China," Law told DW.

Until now, the US has treated Hong Kong as a separate entity from the rest of China in terms of trade, as per a deal that was made before Britain handed control of the city back to Beijing in 1997.

The new status could cause huge damage to Hong Kong's economy, but activists see it as a step towards achieving a greater goal; showing China that there are consequences for its actions.

"China has never been held accountable for what it has done in terms of human rights abuses or its violation of Hong Kong's high autonomy," Law said.

"Many countries have expressed that they will impose sanctions if Beijing goes ahead with implementing the law. What we can do now is seize this chance to continue the fight with the changing international dynamics," Law said, adding that Hong Kong itself is a strategically important place, both politically and economically.

Watch video https://p.dw.com/p/3dmH
Will China's new national security law for Hong Kong be the end of autonomy in the territory?

Alternative to street protests While WihleWhile politicians and activists like Law are lobbying and campaigning to attract more international support, others are working on pressuring the local government.

"Because of police brutality, the COVID-19 social gathering ban and the national security law, many people are afraid to speak out. That's why we want to provide a safe channel for our members to express their opinions," said Vic Tse, a representative of a new coalition of labor unions.

Read more: Hong Kong security law: What does China really intend?

The coalition, which comprises 24 unions across 20 different industries, recently called for a referendum on whether to go on strike against the proposed national security law.

"We hope that even when social gathering ban is in place, there are other ways to keep protesting and to keep telling the government that we don't want this law," said Tse, who is also the chairperson of Hong Kong Public Relations and Communications Union that was formed in December 2019, during the protests.

According to Hong Kong's Labor Department, 1,578 applications for union registration were submitted over the first three months of 2020, compared with 142 across all of 2019 and 13 in 2018. As police are increasingly rejecting applications to hold rallies, those who protest anyway are now at greater risk of being arrested for "illegal assembly." Large-scale, organized union actions such as general strikes thus provide an alternative to the traditional protest movement.

Tse's coalition hopes that the referendum will gather over 60,000 votes. If over 60% of the votes support the motion, they will go ahead with a three-phase general strike, with the first phase lasting for three days in order to first warn Beijing against the consequences of implementing the law in Hong Kong.

A general strike in August last year against the now-withdrawn extradition bill sent the city into chaos, leading to the cancellation of more than 200 flights, as well as the disruption of train and bus services. But subsequent strikes haven't created as much momentum, and in many cases, Tse said, have led to serious repercussions for the few people who participated in them. A referendum, she said, would ensure that enough people take part in order to minimize overall risk for participants.

"The paradox of strikes is that the more people participate, the less dangerous it is because the chance of repercussions is lower. They can't just fire everyone," said Tse.

Cheung, while awaiting trial and facing an uncertain future, said he is in favor of a general strike and will participate without a doubt. "We have come so far, and at this point, there's not much to fear. If we don't speak out now, we might never be able to speak out again. And we all know that if we succumb to the repression this time, only more repression will come."



HONG KONG DEMONSTRATORS PROTEST EXTRADITION BILL
Defiance
Despite official calls to disperse, demonstrators continued to march on Wednesday. They overturned police barriers and stood their ground even when confronted with pepper spray and a threat by police to use force if they continued to oppose their orders.

Date 15.06.2020
Author Cherie Chan
Related Subjects Asia, People's Republic of China, Hong Kong
Keywords Asia, Hong Kong, China, protests, Beijing

Why wasn't Germany changed by a shocking racist murder?

Alberto Adriano, a black African man living in Germany, was beaten to death by neo-Nazis. Two decades later, people often ask whether racism actually exists in Germany, even as racial discrimination is on the rise.


Twenty years ago Germany was shocked by a brutal racist murder. Alberto Adriano, a 39-year-old husband and dad-of-three from Mozambique, was set upon at night by neo-Nazi thugs as he walked home from watching football at a friend's apartment.

His three attackers punched and kicked him repeatedly, long after he lost consciousness, in the middle of the Stadtpark in Dessau, in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt. Alberto Adriano died of severe head injuries in hospital three days later, on June 14, 2000.

It was the first right-wing extremist murder in the former East Germany since the Berlin Wall fell 11 years earlier. In an outpouring of grief and anger, 5,000 people demonstrated on Dessau's streets.

Dad-of-three Alberto Adriano was killed by neo-Nazis

German-Nigerian musician Ade Odukoya — better known as Ade Bantu — remembers the shock of hearing of Adriano's death. "I was outraged. I was overcome by fear and I was also paralyzed," he says.

"What made this particular case stand out was the fact that we were all jubilant, looking forward to a new millennium. And then here we have another case of a racist-motivated murder."

Changing what is meant by 'Germanness'

Along with other black German musicians, Odukoya was determined to make a stand. They came together to form the anti-racism project Brothers Keepers [the movement has since been disbanded with members moving on to different projects — the ed], and released the hip hop track "Adriano — Letzte Warnung," ("Adriano — Last Warning") which became a Top 10 hit in Germany. A female version of the movement, called Sisters Keepers, was also set up.

"What we wanted was a conversation around 'Germanness,' because we always felt that being German always excluded people of color," explains Odukoya. "I think with a song like 'Adriano - Letzte Warnung,' we were able to achieve a wider conversation around identity in Germany."

Ade Odukoya says public outrage against racism must be backed up by an 'overhaul of state policy'

Racial discrimination runs deep

Despite the "Last Warning" track, and the raised awareness, two decades later Germany is still struggling to confront anti-black and other forms of racism. On Tuesday, the German Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency (ADS) released its annual report for 2019. The numbers show that there has been a significant rise in racial discrimination in Germany.

1,176 cases of racial discrimination were reported to the agency last year, a 10% rise on the year before and more than double the amount the agency saw in 2015. But according to Anetta Kahane, chair of the board of the anti-discriminationAmadeu Antonio Foundation, these numbers give no real idea of racial discrimination in Germany.

"To be honest, I don't think they tell us anything. Nearly 1,200 reported cases in a country as large as Germany tells us that the ADS doesn't really work," she says. "Racism and discrimination are a very big problem."

She argues that Germany needs a more accessible way for people to register incidents of racial discrimination in daily life, rather than having to jump through the hoops of making an official complaint to the ADS. That way people could build up a much more accurate picture of what is going on.

"We need a much wider view than the ADS with its limited capability can give us. They do good work but they have no chance of offering a realistic representation."

Conversation is stuck

Recognition of everyday incidents of racism is sorely needed. Without it, debates about race in Germany often start from zero. "Every time we talk about racism in Germany, the first question asked is always: Does racism exist in Germany?" says Aminata Touré, vice president of the Schleswig-Holstein regional parliament.

"And this question shows that we are not aware of racial discrimination a lot of people are facing here in Germany."


Another issue that still exists was the one Odukoya was trying to confront 20 years ago; the idea that being German is automatically linked to being white. "I have friends whose great-grandparents came from Poland, came to work in the mines in Essen, for example," he explains. "They are now second, third generation and they're Germans. Nobody is questioning this."

"I have friends who are also third-generation Afro-Germans and they're still being termed Germans with a migration background. I think the language of exclusion has to stop. We must stop using language that defines the other."

Black Lives Matter protests have taken place in multiple German cities
Actions must follow words

Racial equality protests have sprung up around the world following the death of African American George Floyd at the hands of white police officers in the US. In Germany, Black Lives Matter demonstrations have taken place in around 25 cities.

While he is encouraged by the scale of the protests, Odukoya remains skeptical until there is "an overhaul of state policy."

"There's a history of public outrage when it comes to racially motivated attacks. But has that led to change of policy, has that made some black people feel safer in Germany? No," he says.

"It's on Germany to do better and to implement the promises it keeps making from one generation to another."


Watch video   https://p.dw.com/p/3dZGZ

Germany needs to do more to fight racism, watchdog says

Date 14.06.2020
Author Alex Matthews
Related Subjects Germany, Discrimination
Keywords Alberto Adriano, race, Dessau, Germany, protest, discrimination, Afro-German

Will coronavirus pandemic change Big Pharma's long-term focus?

Many leading pharmaceutical companies have focused on developing cancer medication. A fresh study by EY* looks at whether some may find virus research an even more lucrative business model in the future.



A study published by global consultancy EY on Monday shows that last year the bulk of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies focused on the development of anti-cancer drugs.

A total of 2,586 active agents were reported to be in the stage of clinical development, while "only" 605 anti-virus agents reached the same phase in 2019.
During the same time, cancer-related activities secured the biggest revenues for Big Pharma. Companies were able to boost their turnover by one-fifth last year to €174 billion ($196 billion), also driven by big blockbuster drugs generating revenues of at least $1 billion each.

Medication for the treatment of infections accounted for "only" €46 billion in revenues in 2019 marking a 5.1% increase in turnover year on year, EY notes.
"It's to be expected that research on infections and antibiotic resistance will move more into the focus of pharmaceutical companies going forward against the backdrop of the current coronavirus pandemic," says Siegfried Bialojan, head of the EY Life Science Center in Mannheim, Germany.

"At the same time, the largest pharmaceutical firms are unlikely to stop their long-term programs and will hardly focus solely on COVID-19." Bialojan says the reason for this is simple. "Pandemics are not predictable as a business factor, because you just don't know when and in which form they may occur."

M&A activities down

But COVID-19 has already had a different impact on the pharma sector. The EY study shows that many planned mergers and acquisitions (M&A) have been suspended. "Companies are playing for time and want to see what the situation will be like after the summer months," says Alexander Nuyken, EY's head of Life Science, Transaction Advisory for Europe, Middle East, India & Africa (EMEIA region).

"There are too many imponderables right now and too much insecurity, meaning that potential buyers and sellers really don't see eye to eye on the transaction price."

Nuyken adds, though, that in the long term pharmaceutical companies can learn a lot and profit from the current coronavirus crisis and rethink their in-house processes. He adds it's of utmost importance to increase the immediate availability and processing of health-related data "so as to ensure that we can better help patients and provide help more quickly."


Researchers the world over have been bending over backward to develop an effective vaccine to be used against COVID-19

The power of innovation

The life science segment has been able to unleash its full innovative potential in the current coronavirus crisis, EY notes. Within a very short time span it has managed to present over 160 potential vaccines and over 240 therapeutic active agents. EY also points to some 700 tests that Big Pharma had developed by the beginning of June this year — some of them have already been brought to market.

"There can be no doubt that for the company that wins the race for an approved anti-coronavirus vaccine, it'll be a game changer," says Nuyken. He warns, though, that there's still a long way to go and that there's no guarantee that a really safe and effective vaccine for all will be found in the end.

"We estimate that 97% of the vaccines being tested right now will not be approved, meaning that a lot of companies will just have burned big amounts of R&D money at the end of the day."

Investment drive before pandemic

EY points out that the world's largest pharmaceutical companies logged a marked uptick in investment activities in 2019, following a slump a year earlier.

The 21 biggest firms analyzed by the consultancy on aggregate increased their R&D investments by over 14% after an almost 2% dip in 2018. Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) rose by 11.9% last year — a solid improvement from the 3.2% in negative territory a year earlier.

Overall revenues in 2019 increased by 12.3%, with the biggest winner among those scrutinized being Takeda, which after its takeover of Shire booked revenues of €25.8 billion, while the year before it had bought in €15.6 billion.
Germany's top pharma companies were part of the success story. EY says Bayer's EBIT surged by a staggering 53% last year while Boehringer Ingelheim saw its pre-tax earnings rise by 31%. Merck logged a 28% improvement in EBIT earnings year on year.

"The year before the coronavirus struck was a positive one for the pharma industry," says Gerd Stürz, head of Life Sciences, Health and Chemicals for Germany, Switzerland and Austria at EY. He notes that companies' increased willingness to invest in innovation and flexible work processes in 2019 are now paying off in the current crisis.


Watch Video https://p.dw.com/p/3dlh5

Vaccine efforts a mix of competition and cooperation

Date 15.06.2020
Author Hardy Graupner
Related Subjects Coronavirus
Keywords pharmaceutical industry, big pharma, coronavirus, COVID-19, oncology, strategy, EY

*EY IS ACCOUNTING FIRM ERNST & YOUNG RE-BRANDED

COVID-19 places extra burden on African women

The coronavirus pandemic has exposed and intensified gender inequality in Africa. Many women have to work harder than before while earning even less than they normally would.

The fact that entire communities can still function despite the coronavirus pandemic is probably due to the efforts of women. They often  take care of sick relatives and look after children and the elderly voluntarily.

Zimbabwean sociologist Martha Mutisi believes that this is particularly true in African societies. "Women always played the role of care givers," Mutisi told DW. "But that has been exacerbated, especially for those who had to take care of the sick and also for those who have to home school their children."

Mutisi says the extra chores around the home have increased, without a parallel increase in sources of income. Coronavirus places more demands on many women — and at the same time threatens to frustrate ongoing efforts for equality.

Mutisi is one of the co-founders of the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) program at the University of Columbia in New York. Its aim is to connect women organizations in as many countries in sub-Saharan Africa as possible and create platforms where women can share their concerns with government bodies and the media.

"We want to give women a voice and strengthen their participation in government decisions," Mutisi says."This is particularly important in crisis situations such as the one we are currently experiencing."

Read more: Religions for peace: Women push for gender equailty

'Feminization of poverty'

Over the past two years, Mutisi has conducted web seminars for women in ten countries including Sudan and Lesotho. According to the women's rights activist, the goal of involving women more in crisis management has become even more urgent due to the coronavirus pandemic.

"COVID-19 exacerbates many risks and problems to which women were already exposed before, for example the problem of domestic violence, or the problem of poverty," Mutisi says. "Let's take my home country Zimbabwe as an example. The economic situation of many women has been considerably aggravated by the coronavirus pandemic."

Women living in poverty have also been left behind during 
the coronavirus pandemic, with some having nowhere to go

Even before the coronavirus crisis, the southern African country had already been struggling with major economic problems. The pandemic has made the economic problems faced by women even more apparent.

"We see a clear feminization of poverty," Mutisi explains. "Presently, thousands of Zimbabwean women are sitting in their homes with nothing to eat and no source of income. Many have been left completely destitute because of government lockdowns."

At the end of March, Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa indefinitely extended a countrywide lockdown.

The informal markets are also largely closed — to the dismay of many women, Mutisi complains. As in many other African countries, women in Zimbabwe are disproportionately affected by poverty. Many have gone from a state of "acute poverty" to a state of "absolute poverty" as a result of the impact of coronavirus.

Less income, more risks

The situation is similar in the West African country of Guinea-Bissau, which has been trapped in a political and economic crisis for years, which coronavirus has now exacerbated.

"We women are suffering particularly from the consequences of the pandemic," says Adama Djalo, the president of the Association of Economically Active Women (AMAE) in Guinea-Bissau.

"A large part of the responsibility, including economic responsibility, rests on our shoulders," Djalo told DW. "Many of us have small shops and bear the responsibility for feeding whole families. We get up early at six in the morning and come home in the evening without a cent because economic life has practically come to a standstill." 

President Umaro Sissoco Embalo has extended the national emergency until 25 June — and with it the challenges that many women are facing.

The lockdown also poses other risks for women throughout Africa. Curfews have led to a large increase in cases of domestic violence, says Mutisi: "We see a lot gender-based violence, not only affecting adult women, but also targeting young girls. Most of our studies have shown that perpetrators of gender-based violence tend to be people that are close to the victim. People enclosed in the same place, not having the chance to move out of the house, there is a lot of exposure."

Women are still resposible for many domestic duties such 
as collecting food during the pandemic

Read more: Sierra Leone: Educating abusive husbands

A step backwards for equality movements

In recent years, the women of Guinea-Bissau have made great efforts to exert more influence on political decisions. But this work has been interrupted by the pandemic.

"I fear that we women are being set back in our efforts to assert our interests, for example on the political and economic level," says Djalo. "Our fight for equality is made more difficult by this pandemic." 

Guinea-Bissau has more than twenty different ethnic groups with completely different cultures and traditions. Many religious communities, such as the Muslim community of which Djalo herself is a member, are dominated by men who still hold outdated views on the role of women in politics and in professional life. Time and time again, women are told they should stay at home, veil themselves, and withdraw from public life. These reactionary views seem to be gaining momentum, especially during the coronavirus pandemic.

But Mutisi is more optimistic. She acknowledges that the pandemic is a real challenge for the women's movement and their ability to mobilize has been limited. But, she explains, "we also see reactions that give hope. We see women raising their voices when there is violence against women or underage girls." Recently there was even a demonstration in South Sudan during the lockdown. The protesters wore masks, of course.

For the women's movement, this pandemic poses a great challenge. But they will not give up easily. "They will continue to fight so that their voices are heard," says Mutisi.DW 

Africa's most dangerous countries for women

A trio of African countries is among the 10 most dangerous for women worldwide, a new expert survey that puts India at the top shows. (26.06.2018)  

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Female Force: How women are leading the COVID-19 response   

Are women the better crisis managers?   

• Date 13.06.2020
• Author Antonio Cascais
• Related Subjects Coronavirus
• Keywords COVID-19 in Africa, Africa gender equality, coronavirus, Zimbabwe, Guinea-Bissau, coronavirus pandemic
• Permalink https://p.dw.com/p3/dift

WTF
Berlin authorities placed children with pedophiles for 30 years

The 'Kentler Project' in West Berlin routinely placed homeless children with pedophile men, assuming they'd make ideal foster parents. A study has found the practice went on for decades.

Starting in the 1970s psychology professor Helmut Kentler conducted his "experiment." Homeless children in West Berlin were intentionally placed with pedophile men. These men would make especially loving foster parents, Kentler argued.

A study conducted by the university of Hildesheim has found that authorities in Berlin condoned this practice for almost 30 years. 

The pedophile foster fathers even received a regular care allowance.Helmut Kentler (1928-2008) was in a leading position at Berlin's center for educational research. He was convinced that sexual contact between adults and children was harmless. 

Berlin's child welfare offices and the governing Senate turned a blind eye or even approved of the placements.

Read more: German council to fight sexual violence against children

Several years ago two of the victims came forward and told their story, since then the researchers at Hildesheim University have plowed through files and conducted interviews.

What they found was a "network across educational institutions," the state youth welfare office and the Berlin Senate, in which pedophilia was "accepted, supported, defended."

Kentler himself was in regular contact with the children and their foster fathers. He was never prosecuted: By the time his victims came forward, the statute of limitations for his actions had expired. This has also thus far prevented the victims from getting any compensation.

The researchers found that several of the foster fathers were high-profile academics. They speak of a network that included high-ranking members of the Max Planck Institute, Berlin's Free University, and the notorious Odenwald School in Hesse, West Germany, which was at the center of a major pedophilia scandal several years ago. It has since been closed down.

Berlin's senator for youth and children, Sandra Scheeres called the findings "shocking and horrifying."

A first report on the "Kentler experiment" was published in 2016 by the University of Göttingen. The researchers then stated that the Berlin Senate seemed to lack interest in finding out the truth.

Now Berlin authorities have vowed to shed light on the matter.

• Date 15.06.2020
• Author Rina Goldenberg
• Related Subjects Berlin
• Keywords Berlin, pedophilia, Kentler experiment, Helmut Kentler
• Permalink http://p.dw.cosm/p/3dnX6

Auschwitz: A scene of atrocities even before the horrors of the Holocaust

Eighty years ago, on June 14, 1940, the first 728 prisoners arrived at Auschwitz. The camp was initially meant for Polish resistance fighters, but from 1942 it played a central role in the Nazi genocide of Jews.


"My dear Halusia, Since June 14, I have been in the Auschwitz concentration camp. I am healthy and feel well," wrote Tadeusz Korczowski, Prisoner No. 373, to his fiancée. All correspondence was strictly controlled by the camp administration, so the 26-year-old could write little more in his letter besides praising the "pleasant weather in Auschwitz." But between the lines, he tries to indicate that he will probably be staying there "for some time."

The same transport to Auschwitz on June 14, 1940, also brought Jan Pogonowski, a 19-year-old student. We know that he was condemned to death as a resistance fighter at the camp in 1943 along with 11 other prisoners. While waiting to die with the noose around his neck, he managed to push away the support on which he was standing and hang himself, eyewitnesses said, thus at least deciding the moment of his death himself. The death certificate mailed to the family gave the cause of his demise as "sudden cardiac death."

Korczowski and Pogonowski were among the first prisoners at the Auschwitz concentration camp, which was set up in the spring of 1940 in the buildings of what used to be Polish army barracks. SS commander Heinrich Himmler liked the location's good transport links, which seemed practical for bringing prisoners to the camp from different occupied regions of Europe.


Janusz Pogonowski was one of the first Auschwitz prisoners
Three-quarters of the 728 Poles who were moved to Auschwitz from the prison in the southern Polish city of Tarnow were men aged below 30. They were mostly intellectuals and students. The camp functionaries and guards were 30 German criminals whom the SS had brought to Auschwitz from the Sachsenhausen concentration camp a short time previously.

Murders and deportations of the intelligentsia

The Polish prisoners were victims of a German occupation policy that aimed to wipe out the Polish elites. After German troops invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, the Nazi regime incorporated the western regions of Poland into the Third Reich. By July 1940, the occupiers had murdered 50,000 Poles and deported the same number to concentration camps as part of the "Intelligenzaktion," a genocidal operation mostly targeting intellectuals.


Watch video https://tinyurl.com/y98f5z36

75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz

Read more: Confronting a disturbing truth: 'My father was in the SS'

In the General Government, the Polish areas under German civil administration, there was a similar operation called the 

"AB-Aktion" (Extraordinary Pacification Operation). Deportations, raids and murders became part of everyday life under German occupation in Poland. In one incident, 100,000 residents, including 30,000 children, were driven out of the southeastern Polish city of Zamosc. Many of them died in Auschwitz.

Between 1939 and 1945, 140,000 Poles were transported to the camp; half of them did not survive.

"Poland was meant to disappear completely as a state. The population was to become stultified and serve the Germans as slave laborers," says the German historian Jochen Böhler from Jena University.

Destroying the elites that organized resistance was a very important part of this plan. "Unbelievably enough, the Polish resistance set up an underground state that didn't just have schools and universities, but even its own army. That is unprecedented in European history," Böhler told DW.

Early warnings of the Holocaust

This underground state considered it as one of its most important tasks to warn the world about the Nazi crimes, above all because of the extermination of Jews in occupied Poland. Böhler calls it the "tragedy of the Polish Underground" that these warnings were not heeded.


Witold Pilecki was an officer in the Polish Underground Army

As early as 1940, Witold Pilecki, an officer in the Polish Underground Army, had provided the Allies with reports from Auschwitz. To do so, he went voluntarily to Auschwitz as a prisoner, the only person known to have done this. He hoped that the Allies would smuggle weapons into the camp, but his reports received no response.

The same thing happened with similar reports by Jan Karski, a courier for the Polish Underground. In 1943, he personally informed US President Franklin D. Roosevelt about the mass deportations of Jews to the gas chambers. "I wanted to save millions but could not save anyone at all," he said bitterly after the war. Several times, he accused the West of "indifference to the Holocaust."

Jan Karski, who died in 2000, warned the US about mass deportations in 1943

Polish victims often ignored

Even though it was such a unique phenomenon in European history, the Polish Underground State is barely known about outside of Poland, says Jochen Böhler, adding that the same goes for crimes committed by the Germans in occupied Poland.

"In my opinion, the problem is that schools mostly teach about the Holocaust without any reference to the context in which it was carried out. And the context in this case was the German occupation of Poland, one of whose aspirations from 1941 was to murder European Jews on Polish soil," he says.

Read more: Auschwitz, 75 years later: A race aganst time

More than 90% of the 3.5 million Polish Jews died during the Holocaust. But the fact that 3 million non-Jewish Poles were also victims of the Second World War is "completely ignored" in Germany, says Bohler, whose special field is eastern European history. He says that he has to start "literally from scratch" in his seminars about the German occupation of Poland.

'1.3 million individual fates'

The Auschwitz-Birkenau memorial site wants to keep the memories of this time alive. The list of the names of people on that first transport has just been brought up to date. Of the 728 prisoners, 325 survived the camp and 292 died there, while the fates of the other 111 is unknown.

The personal stories of each person are being meticulously reconstructed using the few documents and photos that exist. They have mostly been provided by relatives of the victims, because the SS destroyed most documents from the camp to erase traces where possible.

Read more: Opinion: Why I'm angry at Germany

Since 2007, the 200 hectares (494 acres) of ground where the former camp stood have been on UNESCO's World Heritage list. In 2019, 2 million people visited the site. Recently, its director, Piotr Cywinski, had to ask for donations because the finances of the museum dwindled when it was shut amid the coronavirus pandemic. The curators continued their work, however.

"We are still working on the individual histories. The big history of Auschwitz is made up of more than 1.3 individual fates," Cywinski says, adding that they speak a louder language than mere statistics on deaths. And it is with those fates that he wants to tell the world about the death factory that was Auschwitz.


To the point - Remembering Auschwitz: Could It Happen Again?
VIDEO https://tinyurl.com/y98f5z36

Date 14.06.2020
Author Monika Sieradzka (Warsaw)
Related Subjects Holocaust, World War II, Nazis, Auschwitz, Poland, Concentration camps
Keywords Auschwitz, Poland, Holocaust, Shoah, Nazi Germany, concentration camps, death camps, Sachsenhausen

Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/3djDi

Paris police fire tear gas at unauthorized anti-racism rally

Police have fired tear gas at protesters in Paris, with anti-racism rallies held in other French cities. A group of counter-protesters unfurled a banner against "anti-white racism" from a roof of a Paris building.


Protesters gathered in Paris, Lyon, Bordeaux and other French cities on Saturday to protest racism and police brutality, continuing the wave of unrest sparked by the killing of African-American George Floyd in the US.

Thousands marched in Paris alone, with the leaders invoking the memory of Adama Traore, a young black man who died after being arrested by French gendarmes in 2016. Protesters unfurled a banner showing a face that was half Floyd, half Traore.

"We are all demanding the same thing — fair justice for everyone," Traore's sister Assa told the protesters. Traore's family claims the 24-year-old was asphyxiated when three officers held him down, while French authorities say the cause of his death is unclear.

"The death of George Floyd... is a direct echo of my brother's death," Assa said. "it's the same thing in France, our brothers are dying."

Banner against 'anti-white racism' cut down

The Paris rally was not authorized by the French officials. The country, which is still reeling from the coronavirus outbreak, maintains a ban on gatherings of more than 10 people. Ahead of the event, police ordered restaurants and shops along the route to close, fearing outbreaks of violence.

Read more: As media watch US uprisings, EU has a racism problem, too

While no major incidents were reported in the early stages of the rally, protesters threw firecrackers and police fired tear gas and urged the protesters to disperse on Saturday afternoon.


Parallel to the anti-racism protest, a group far-right counterprotesters unfurled a banner reading "Justice for the victims of anti-white racism" from a rooftop of a building overlooking the anti-racism march. The banner was quickly cut into pieces after the building's residents emerged onto their balconies to remove it.

A police source told Le Parisien daily that 12 people were arrested over the incident, all of the members of the right-wing Identitarian movement.

Police push back against reform

French authorities have already announced a series of measures to limit potential misuse of force by the police, including a partial ban on chokeholds and automatic suspension in case of a "confirmed suspicion" or racist actions or remarks.

Read more: Opinion — George Floyd killing opens racism wounds for European blacks

The reform was quickly slammed by police representatives, who staged protests of their own. Police union representatives telling Interior Minister Christophe Castaner that without restraint methods they would be left ineffectual. Commenting on the police rallies, Assa Traore said she "wasn't even angry."

France: Police protest against chokehold ban, racism accusations

"I was ashamed of the French police," she said. In the whole world, the only country where police officers demonstrate to keep their permission to kill is France.''

The day also saw violence in London, where far-right protesters had gathered to confront members of the "Black Lives Matter" movement,

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Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/3djDM

FOTO ESSAY

Toppled monuments: A selection of controversial figures

Global anti-racism protests following the killing of George Floyd fuel the controversy over the interpretation of the colonial and Confederate eras. In Europe and the US, monuments are damaged, razed and removed.

Edward Colston: slave trader and philanthropist

Controversy over the statue of Edward Colston in Bristol was rife for years. On June 7, demonstrators removed the bronze from its pedestal and tossed it into the water. While Colston was working for the Royal African Society, an estimated 84,000 Africans were transported for enslavement; 19,000 of them died along the way. But he went down in history as a benefactor for his donations to charities.

    Robert Baden-Powell: initiator of the Boy Scouts

Activists accuse Robert Baden-Powell, the man who initiated the Boy Scout movement, of racism, homophobia and admiration for Adolf Hitler. His statue stood on Brownsea Island in southern England. Amid the current wave of monuments being toppled by protesters, local authorities have now removed Baden-Powell's statue as a precaution.

DON'T FORGET LADY BADEN POWELL WHO FOUNDED GIRL GUIDES

Leopold II: Belgian colonial-era monarch

Belgium has quite a few statues of King Leopold II. The monarch ruled the country from 1865 to 1909 and established a brutal colonial regime in Congo that is in fact considered one of the most violent in history. Protesters smeared several statues of Leopold II with paint. Authorities removed the above statue from its pedestal in the Antwerp suburb of Ekeren and sent it to a museum depot.

Christopher Columbus: revered and scorned

In the US, too, disputes have flared over monuments dedicated to controversial historical figures. Among others, protesters have targeted Christopher Columbus. A statue in Boston was beheaded (photo). North American indigenous groups reject the worship of Columbus because his expeditions enabled the colonization of the continent and the genocide of its autochthonous population in the first place.

Columbus in Latin America: a different point of view

Some people see Columbus as one of the most important figures in world history, but for many people in Latin America the explorer's name stands for the beginning of a painful era. From the perspective of the indigenous population, Spanish colonialism is a dark chapter in their history. In Latin America, too, statues of Columbus have been destroyed or damaged in the past.

Jefferson Davis: Civil War president

Jefferson Davis was President of the Confederate States of America, one of the leaders in the country's mid 19th-century Civil War. Protesters toppled and spray-painted the Confederate president's statue in Richmond, Virginia. House speaker Nancy Pelosi urged the removal of Confederate statues from the US Capitol because they were monuments to men "who advocated cruelty and barbarism."

Robert E. Lee: a divisive figure

Another Confederate statue in Richmond, this one a monument to General Robert E. Lee, is to be removed in the next few days. Governor Ralph Northam has given orders to take down the monument. Many African Americans regards the statues of Confederate politicians and soldiers as symbols of oppression and slavery.

Christopher Columbus: revered and scorned

In the US, too, disputes have flared over monuments dedicated to controversial historical figures. Among others, protesters have targeted Christopher Columbus. A statue in Boston was beheaded (photo). North American indigenous groups reject the worship of Columbus because his expeditions enabled the colonization of the continent and the genocide of its autochthonous population in the first place.