A youth organization affiliated with the German Green Party wants to cancel remembrance events commemorating the victims of the bombing of Dresden because they fuel right-wing nationalism.
Many Germans congregate at the city’s war memorial each year to remember the lives lost in the carpet bombing of the city by the Allies during World War II, which took place on Feb. 13-15, 1945.
Last year, thousands of people formed a human chain around the memorial, a sign of peace and reconciliation due to be repeated on Tuesday, and a citizens’ choir will perform to commemorate the war dead.
All of this would be canceled by the Green Youth Saxony organization because it claims that the anniversary has been appropriate by right-wing extremists. The group evidences this by a silent march that occurred last year by the Free Saxony nationalist organization through the city that was interrupted by self-proclaimed anti-fascists.
“We consider it a scandal that in our liberal democracy neo-Nazis from all over Europe can move through Dresden, protected by the security authorities. They are the greatest danger to our basic democratic order,” said Paulina Großeibl, a Green Youth Saxony spokeswoman.
“Since the commemoration of the bombing of Dresden on Feb. 13 has been massively used for right-wing propaganda in recent years, we join the ‘Dresden Wi(e)derstellen’ alliance and demand that the commemoration of Feb. 13 be abolished,” she added.
The Greens’ youth group has announced it will be conducting disruptive protests against what it calls right-wing extremism throughout the city on Tuesday as thousands pay their respects to the civilians caught up in the war-time bombing.
“A signal should be sent against right-wing extremism in the evening hours,” the group told its supporters.
The far-left Seebrücke organization, which promotes open borders, has participated in previous protests and is likely to do so again, issuing a call to arms on its website last year and urging its followers to “join us in resolutely opposing the Nazis and blocking them.”
