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Wednesday, Oct. 3, 2000
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Anetta Kahane, 46, German anti-racism activist
By CHARLES P. WALLACE Berlin
One of the least attractive legacies of the reunification of Germany has been a steady rise in violence by right-wing extremists in the former East Germany. The trouble began in November 1990, only a month after reunification, when skinheads in the town of Eberswalde northeast of Berlin beat to death an Angolan named Amadeu Antonio. Since then, another 122 foreigners have been killed. Countless others suffered beatings and verbal attacks. "The main problem is that there has been no democratic culture in east Germany for a long time," says Anetta Kahane.
A Jew raised in the east, the 46-year-old activist notes that communism moved in almost as soon as the long reign of the Nazis was crushed. One of a small number of Germans struggling to reverse the popularity of right-wing extremism in the states of the former east, Kahane works for three organizations aimed at instilling democratic values. One is a foundation named after Antonio, the first victim. "We have a very high level of racism in eastern Germany," says Kahane. She cites a recent poll indicating that 80% of the population of the former East German states admits to anti-Semitic beliefs, compared with barely 30% in the west.
Kahane's organizations try a variety of approaches to fight racism in the east, such as opening youth clubs where democratic values are taught alongside the fun and games. She has sponsored kindergartens, advised municipal administrations on how to be friendlier toward immigrants and even sent Wolfgang Thierse, the president of Germany's parliament and himself an easterner, to visit schools as an example of the triumph of the democratic process. One of the more innovative programs helps teenagers who are caught up with skinhead groups to break away from their influence. "Kids don't want to be different from their neighbors," Kahane says. "We have to show kids that respect for the individual is not only heavy and difficult," she says, but also rewarding.
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PHOTO BY MARCO LIMBERG/ZENIT
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