NPD Demo Scares off German Football Team

An eastern German town ventured to make a political statement by hosting a soccer match under a slogan of racial tolerance. But when the far-right, neo-Nazi NPD announced it was going to demonstrate, the opposing team, Energie Cottbus, backed out.

The eastern German town of Storkow had planned to host a soccer match this Saturday to celebrate tolerance. But then the opposing team cancelled -- out of concerns about a far-right demonstration.

Energie Cottbus, a team in Germany's second league, was set for a friendly pre-season match against Storkow's football club Germania but pulled out on Wednesday, having learned that the extreme-right National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD) would be protesting the event. Energie's manager claimed he could not guarantee his players' safety.

Storkow, a town of just 800 in the eastern German state of Brandenburg, had been planning Saturday's "soccer fest" under the motto "With Energie for Tolerance" for months. It invited Energie Cottbus to participate because the club, also based in Brandenburg, has taken an especially aggressive approach to racism in football in the past, launching a campaign under the slogan "Show racism the red card" in 1999.

But when last week the NPD announced it would be demonstrating on the day of the match, Energie decided to take no risks and pulled out. The Storkow organizers have voiced their disappointment, seeing the cancellation as a concession to the right wing extremists.

Germania club chairman Johann Kney told reporters on Thursday, "Of all teams, we would have expected Energie to show some spine."

The NPD had written an open letter to Germania, demanding the club change the name of the match. "If Germania Stockow's management can't find a more appropriate motto for the event, the directors of Brandenburg's NPD would be more the willing to help find a name under which the event could be celebrated as a pure sporting event," the letter offered. It also called on its followers to protest.

In the 2008 municipal elections, the NPD took 7.3 percent of the vote in Stockow and it has representation in two eastern German state parliaments.

Racism and soccer have a complicated history in Germany. Many fan clubs, particularly in eastern Germany, have become bastions fo the neo-Nazi movement. Some far-right groups even sponsor local soccer clubs. And non-white players often come in for racist abuse from the stands.

In 2006, a former government spokesman cast a shadow over the excited lead-up to the World Cup in Germany by warning non-white visitors not to go to parts of the former East German. Some called his reference to "no-go" areas exaggerated but when the far-right National Democratic Party (NPD) distributed a pamphlet suggesting that national team defender Patrick Owomoyela, of mixed German Nigerian birth, wasn't white enough to play on the team, many felt confirmed in their suspicion that there was a problem with racism in football. Two senior members of the NPD were later charged and convicted of inciting racial hated.

A regional politician, however, is determined that the NPD won't have the last say on the game planned for this weekend. Following Energie's cancellation, Brandenburg's Finance Minister Rainer Speer stepped in. As president of a local regional club, he has cobbled together an improvised team which will go up against Germania on Saturday.

IS EASTERN GERMANY SAFE FOR FOREIGNERS?

Racism Warning Has German Hackles Raised

On Wednesday, a former government spokesman said black visitors to Germany should be careful where they go in the country. His remarks have drawn criticism -- and support.

It doesn't take much to try Germany's patience in the weeks leading up to the World Cup soccer championships. Nerves are especially raw when it comes to comments and incidents that cast doubt on the country's hospitality and its openness to the millions of international guests expected to descend on the country in June. On Wednesday and Thursday, that sensitivity was laid bare for all to see.

A former government spokesman on Wednesday suggested that dark-skinned visitors to Germany should consider avoiding the eastern part of the country where racism runs high. "There are small and medium-sized towns in Brandenburg, as well as elsewhere, which I would advise a visitor of another skin colour to avoid going to," said Uwe-Karsten Heye, who now leads an anti-racism organization called "Show Your Color." "It is possible he wouldn't get out alive."

The comments came as part of an interview with the public radio station Deutschlandradio Kultur about how right-wing extremism and racism can be combated in Germany. Heye also said there was an increasing tendency in the country to look the other way when it comes to right-wing violence. His comments about "no-go" areas in Germany came as a response to a question about whether tourists from Togo or the Ivory Coast should feel comfortable travelling anywhere in Germany.

But by specifically mentioning Brandenburg, the eastern German state surrounding Berlin, Heye ensured a swift reaction. The governor of Brandenburg, Matthias Platzeck, called Heye's statements an "unjustifiable slandering of entire regions within Brandenburg." The state's Interior Minister Jörg Schönbohm demanded Heye's resignation from "Show Your Color." And even the Turkish-German parliamentarian Ekin Deligöz from the Green Party warned against overstating things. "That's want they want," he said referring to right-wing extremists. "They want foreigners to stay home and not even to come to Germany in the first place."

The uproar comes just weeks after an apparently racist attack against an Ethiopian-German in the Brandenburg state capital of Potsdam, just outside of Berlin. Almost a month after the attack, the victim remains in hospital with severe head injuries. Earlier this week, reports of a racist attack on an Italian in Berlin once again stirred up opprobrium, though it was later revealed that the alleged victim may have invented the incident.

And most are willing to admit that there are parts of Germany with a very real problem with racism. Daniel Cohn-Bendit, a Green Party representative in the European Parliament, came to Heye's defense by saying: "The reality is school classes with many immigrant children question whether it is safe to go to Brandenburg or Mecklenburg-West Pomerania" -- another state in eastern Germany -- "for camping trips."

Yonas Endrias, a member of Germany's African Council, likewise supported Heye. "None of us blacks would go on an outing in Brandenburg," he said. "There is also racism in western Germany, but as a black person, the chances of being attacked in an eastern German village are much higher." Following the Potsdam attack in April, the Africa Council spoke of areas in eastern Germany which blacks should avoid.

On Thursday, as a reponse to the furor, Heye clarified his remarks by saying he didn't intend to single out Brandenburg. He also praised the state's extensive efforts to combat right-wing extremism. But he didn't back down. "We cannot make it the responsibility of the victims to decide how to defend themselves from racism and anti-Semitism," he wrote in a statement for the online version of Vorwärts, a Social Democrat Party publication which he edits. "This is the responsibility of the pluralistic society. Unfortunately, the tendency to look away has increased."

Far-Right Party Leaders Convicted in World Cup Racism Case

A German court on Friday convicted the leader of the far-right NPD and two further high-ranking party members on charges of inciting racial hatred during the 2006 World Cup. A party pamphlet was aimed at a black member of the German national football team, who testified against the extremists.

Far-right leader Udo Voigt has been convicted on charges of defamation and inciting racial hatred.

Far-right National Democratic Party (NPD) leader Udo Voigt and two senior party members were found guilty on Friday on charges relating to a pamphlet that was circulated during the World Cup two years ago which suggested that defender Patrick Owomoyela, born of a German mother and a Nigerian father, wasn't white enough to play for Germany's national team.

Voigt and party spokesman Klaus Beier both received seven-month suspended sentences for their conviction on charges of defamation and inciting racial hatred. NPD head of legal affairs Frank Schwerdt was given a 10-month suspended sentence. The politicians were also ordered to pay €2,000 each to the children's advocacy group Unicef. Prosecutors had called for more severe punishment -- one year suspended sentences for each.

In the run-up to the World Cup in Germany, the NPD published and distributed a flyer entitled "White! Not just the jersey color! For a real national team." The German national team traditionally wears white, but the leaflet was decorated with the number 25 -- the number of national-squad player Owomoyela, who was born in Hamburg to a German mother and a Nigerian father.

Owomoyela petitioned a court and obtained a preliminary injunction, leading to the confiscation of 70,000 copies of the flyer. Together with the German Football Association (DFB), the defender filed for charges to be pressed against the party officials. Undeterred, the NPD published another guide to the World Cup which, investigators said, was also insulting to Owomoyela.

The professional soccer player, who testified in the case, said the racist accusations had "insulted, injured and shamed" him.

The conviction adds to a shopping list of problems recently afflicting the NPD. The group, which has been described by Germany's domestic intelligence agency as a "racist, anti-Semitic, revisionist" party, is on the brink of insolvency after being levied with fines of €2.5 million for financial statement irregularities. The party, which has several seats in state governments, must pay its penalties by May 1, and faces financial problems that could pose an existential threat.