On Saturday, June 14, Anklam once again became the site of a gathering that sounds harmless at first. \u201cVisit to the North\u201d \u2013 that was the code name under which dozens of far-right actors arranged to meet at the Haus Jugendstil via social media. It\u2019s a familiar location in the scene, long known, well connected, with a history that says more than many would like to admit. But this time, things were a little different. Less martial. Less visible. And yet still present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While the Saturday morning proceeded as usual on the platform at Anklam station, several police vans were already parked on the other side. Presence, security, surveillance \u2013 a familiar image in a city that has long ceased to choose this for itself. The Pasewalker Stra\u00dfe was particularly in focus, where a former supermarket once stood and where now a building sits that, under changing names and banners, continues to house the same thing: far-right ideology. A networking meeting had been planned with up to 200 participants from Saxony, Brandenburg, and the Ruhr region. The Nordkurier reported on arrivals from Dortmund, on Telegram groups with martial rhetoric, on right-wing symbols that no one in the city wants to see anymore. That significantly fewer people showed up in the end is no mere coincidence. It is the result \u2013 of a civil society response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The group Greifswald f\u00fcr alle had issued a last-minute call for a vigil. \u201cColorful wave instead of brown cell\u201d \u2013 that was the motto. Around 30 people gathered in front of the Haus Jugendstil. Among them not only students and activists, but also familiar faces from Anklam itself. Protestant pastor Helge J\u00f6rgensen stood at the roadside with a large banner. \u201cLove of humanity demands clarity \u2013 Protestant church against right-wing extremism,\u201d it read. It wasn\u2019t just a phrase \u2013 it was a stance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
J\u00f6rgensen spoke quietly but unmistakably: he loved this city, he understood the pride many people felt in its development, but - \u201cAs long as the rainbow flag is still perceived as a provocation in this city, I will keep holding it up \u2013 also today.\u201d And every word of it was believable. Because to contradict hate, you don\u2019t need volume. You need resolve. Also present were state parliament member Jeannine R\u00f6sler, as well as former SPD member of parliament Erik von Malottki. Both emphasized that Anklam must not once again lose control of how it is perceived from the outside. And they were right. Because cities are more than fa\u00e7ades. They are stories. And if you don\u2019t give them a voice, you get silence in return.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mayor Michael Galander later expressed gratitude for the vigil \u2013 even though no one from his own political group, the Initiativen f\u00fcr Anklam, took part. From city politics, it was only Dr. Georg Becker of the socio-ecological citizens\u2019 platform who publicly joined the counter-protest. That is the contradiction that remains. The relief that things stayed peaceful \u2013 and the bitter aftertaste that still far too few are willing to take a clear stance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because the Haus Jugendstil is not simply a building with problematic tenants. It is a symbol, a refuge, an architectural echo chamber for a network that appears bourgeois on the outside \u2013 and radicalized on the inside. For years, far-right businesspeople, activists, and ideologues have gathered here. And there are still spaces in which no one asks what is being said \u2013 as long as the rent is paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The vigil was small. But it was dignified. And it had an impact. That day showed: it is possible to take the space away from such meetings without disrupting them. By opposing them \u2013 visibly, peacefully, decisively. But this cannot remain the task of a few. Anklam deserves more than a silently tolerated hub of far-right self-assurance. It deserves clarity. Conviction. Politics that doesn\u2019t flinch when things become uncomfortable. And it deserves that places like the Haus Jugendstil are no longer normalized but finally named for what they are \u2013 on all levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because even if it was quieter than usual on that day \u2013 the house did not stay silent. And it will keep speaking as long as no one contradicts it. If we democrats do not continue to show up \u2013 in Anklam, in Demmin, in Pasewalk, in Greifswald \u2013 then others will. And they are already here. It is time that the state recognizes that too. And acts. At last.<\/p>\n
Am Sonnabend, dem 14. Juni, wurde Anklam einmal mehr zum Schauplatz eines Treffens, das so klingt, als sei es harmlos. \u201eBesuch im Norden\u201c \u2013 so lautete der Tarnname, unter dem sich in sozialen Netzwerken dutzende rechtsextreme Akteure im Haus Jugendstil verabredeten. Es ist ein vertrauter Ort in der Szene, altbekannt, gut vernetzt, mit einer Geschichte, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":4647,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,40,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4646","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daylight","category-history-x","category-topstory"],"yoast_head":"\n