By Michael Sauerbier
That was close! With exactly the necessary two-thirds majority, Brandenburg’s state parliament decided today to change the constitution. In it, the fight against anti-Semitism is named as a state goal for the first time. Only the far-right AfD voted against it.
The new state goal is necessary because: There are more and more attacks and hate attacks against the approximately 2,000 Jews in Brandenburg. Interior Minister Michael Stübgen (62, CDU): “I’m concerned that anti-Semitic statements on the Internet have been increasing for years.”
The Office for the Protection of the Constitution has long been fighting against hatred of Jews, and police officers protect Jewish facilities and events.
But now the Potsdam Parliament is going even further, with a second resolution.
MEPs are demanding from the government
- By the end of the year, she is to create the office of anti-Semitism officer, with specific tasks and competencies, money and staff
- The previous “Anti-Semitism Unit” is to record anti-Jewish incidents, be a contact point for those seeking advice, advise politicians and authorities and work together with the security authorities
- Together with the commissioner, the state should present an action plan to prevent and combat anti-Semitism
The government is to protect and support Jewish life in Brandenburg with five further measures. This includes “making it clear what significance Jewish life had for Brandenburg, German and European society and still has today.”
MEPs stand in applause after the constitutional amendment was approved by a two-thirds majority (59 votes). Photo: dpa
“The decisive factor is the signal from society that it does not accept anti-Semitism,” said Minister Stübgen, “that’s why I’m grateful that this is included in the constitution – although it should be a matter of course.”
After the decision, the President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Josef Schuster, welcomed the fact that combating anti-Semitism is now a state goal. Schuster: “This makes it clear: The fight against Jew hatred has the highest priority in Brandenburg.”
Josef Schuster, President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany Photo: dpa
The fight against hatred of Sinti and Roma now also has constitutional status. Like promoting the Low German language and deepening friendships with neighboring Poland. The Free Voters were against it because Warsaw’s right-wing government had repeatedly broken EU law.
Interior Minister Stübgen countered: “With this national goal, we are not decreing personal friendship between each Brandenburg and Poland. We’re just facing reality. We have a common destiny with Poland.” That would have been shown by the Ukraine crisis, the Belarusian wave of refugees and the dramatic consequences of the border closure due to Corona.
Stübgen: “That’s why it’s right that we always try to establish friendly relations with Poland. Completely independent of what kind of government is there.” Huge applause.
The AfD, on the other hand, is pissed off. She could lose her vice-president of the state parliament as a result of the constitutional amendment. In the future, any opposition faction will be able to hold the second-highest office in the country, so far only the AfD as the second-strongest force in parliament.
The justification of CDU parliamentary group leader Jan Redmann (42): “No one would have thought that one day there would be a parliamentary group in the state parliament in which proven right-wing extremists sit and who despise this parliament and this democracy.”
Brandenburg’s SPD-Jusos, Green Youth, Left-wing Youth and Young Liberals promptly called on the state parliament to immediately vote out AfD Parliament Vice Andreas Galau (50). He recently met with Polish right-wing extremists who publicly preach anti-Semitism.
