They are not traveling under cover of night, but with announcement. Neo‑Nazis, enemies of the constitution, political relics who portray themselves as the spearhead of a “homeland reconquest” – yet they are nothing more than bearers of a hatred nobody misses. On Saturday they intend to arrive in Anklam, a town in Western Pomerania that in recent years has worked to give itself a different face: open, hospitable, vibrant. But now it is again in the spotlight – not for a successful exhibit or a festival, but because of an announced neo‑Nazi gathering at the so‑called “Haus Jugendstil” on Pasewalker Street, a building that has long become a symbol of the normalization of the monstrous.
“Support your local Nazi Dealer” – so reads the flyer spread on social media by the right‑wing party “Die Heimat”, formerly known as the NPD. A phrase like a public confession. A direct mockery of democracy. And yet the city where this gathering is supposed to take place seems strangely silent. Mayor Michael Galander speaks of “silence” in local politics. As if they have grown accustomed to the dark shadows. As if protest, in a place that so often had to stand against forgetting, has itself become a kind of monument to retreat.
And yet resistance is stirring. Not from the heart of Anklam, but from Greifswald. The alliance “Greifswald for all” has registered a vigil – “Colorful wave instead of brown cell” is their slogan. A phrase that at least tries to shed light on what is posing as a political message, but is nothing more than intellectual rubble. The location for the vigil is not yet finalized. But the hope remains: to be visible, audible, tangible. Because it is a democracy’s principle not only to stand up where it is comfortable, but especially where it hurts.
The mayor says the administration can support only what emerges from the local community. But what if the community remains silent? If outrage becomes a footnote and opposition to right‑wing agitation becomes a private matter for a few? Then the town is left behind, becoming a backdrop for a scene that presents itself as larger than it really is – and gains strength only from indifference.
The police will be there, they say. They will provide security for what is brewing. But safety is not only a matter of order – it is a matter of courage. Collective courage to take a stand before the next “visit to the north” is announced. From people nobody needs, who are no solution, but always part of the problem. And whose worldview, if allowed, threatens to bury everything that towns like Anklam have painstakingly rebuilt.
On Saturday it will become clear what is stronger: silence or resistance. And whether Anklam is more than a place where hatred gathers – but also a place where it can finally be shown the door.
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