Photo Gallery Hate and Hostels
In April, an arson attack was perpetrated against a building intended to provide accommodations for asylum-seekers in the city of Tröglitz in the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt. German officials registered an astonishing 173 instances of criminal right-wing offenses against accommodations for asylum-seekers during the first six months of this year, almost three times as many as during the same period the previous year.
Many right-wing groups have also been using the Internet to stir xenophobic sentiment. A sampling of posts on Facebook shows the depth of hatred. Wolfgang writes: "Send the thieving gypsy vermin to internment camps and give them the right to stay there for the rest of their lives." Astrid writes: "Yes, the people need to finally take a stand to defend themselves. We can't just stand by and watch as our country is stolen." Blaalaa writes: "They should be sent to Auschwitz for asylum. Convert it into accommodations." Reno writes: "Because the shitty pack of Jews and Muslim slobber are taking more and more away from us, it is we who have no future in our country. It's time to take up arms or whatever weapons you can get your hands on. Use them and defend yourselves. We need to annihilate the maggots."
Saxony's racists meet on a regular basis in Freital, a town located near Dresden, where they shout epithets like "foreigners get out!" In the past, the neo-Nazi NPD party has also been voted into Saxony's state parliament. It lost the most election in the state in part because of the rise of the populist Alternative for Germany party. The sign carried by these protestors reads, "No Place to Flee."
A burned out asylum-seekers home in the city of Remchingen in the western state of Baden-Württemberg. The state government has done a lot of things right in terms of its refugee policy. And that has made the shock about the Remchingen fire even greater. State Governor Winfried Kretschmann described it as a "vile arson attack. We are ashamed that something like that could happen here."
