Evgenija Filova is currently on fieldwork in Berlin, capturing the city through her photographs (see below). It is right before the EU elections and the city is plastered with posters from parties both left and right, with parties on the right spectrum openly advocating for anti-migration. This comes simultaneously with the scandal from the luxury holiday resort on the Sylt Island on the northern coast, when a video went viral of a white crowd chanting in German “Germany to the Germans, foreigners out” while partying and displaying Nazi-era gestures. While the video was horrifying crowds on social media, the German media merely gave attention to an issue that is ripping through the German public scene, with more and more videos shared online of similar crowds at parties and in night clubs chanting for “re-migration”. Only a few months ago, another scandal broke out of a mass gathering held in secret by different groups on the right spectrum meeting to discuss “mass deportations” from Germany. While hundreds of thousands gathered in front of the parliament to protest the emerging rise of the far-right, public figures across the political spectrum and politicians in high positions of power have been likewise talking of anti-migration.
Germany today is a scary reality to be living in.
P.S. While I choose to focus on the alarming presence of anti-migration content, the resistance is omnipresent. One of my favorite stickers reads: “They see but do not recognize, they hear but do not comprehend.”