- rroma.org

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (2014) reports on the publication of a new study on right-wing extremism in Germany. According to the study commissioned by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, prejudices against minorities like the Rroma remain strong in Germany: “The Foundation publishes the study every two years and examines the extent to which right-wing extremist viewpoints are common among the population. This year, 2,000 citizens were interviewed between June and August. Explicitly right-wing extremist viewpoints have thus become much less common in recent years and are at a new low. […] Nonetheless, still ten percent of the population thinks that National Socialism had its good points – and that Germany would need a “leader” who “rules the country with a strong hand for the benefit of all.” […] The authors of the study warned that there was no cause for complacency. It may be possible that some citizens are simply afraid to express their right-wing viewpoints openly because of the NSU affair. […] Zick [one of the authors] said that there was a ruthless “market-shaped extremism” in Germany, which follows distinct efficiency thinking. People who do not perform enough for society, but rather generate costs, are rejected in this way of thinking. [….] Also other groups – as Muslims or Sinti and Roma – are faced with widespread prejudices in Germany, the study states. Approximately 38 percent of the population thinks that Sinti and Roma are prone to crime.” Due to the genocide of 500,000 to one and a half million Rroma, Germany has a historical responsibility towards the minority. However, the Federal Republic met this responsibly only very slowly: the genocide of the Rroma was not recognised until 1982. Before that, the Holocaust was trivialized with the remark that there had been persecution because of the “anti-social behaviour” of the “Gypsies”, but not due to an eugenically motivated racial fanaticism. An official memorial in honour of the murdered Rroma was not inaugurated until 2012. – For the study of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, 2,000 citizens were surveyed from June to August 2014 (compare Käfer 2014).