We started out in school by analysing the murder of Friedrich Schumm on April 1st 1933. He was a jewish lawyer born in #Kiel and where his parents still lived. On the day of a visit at home due to the marriage of his little sister, the SS was enforcing a boycott of the shop his father was operating.

He wanted to the enter the shop of his father but was hindered by the SS picket. A short fight ensued, a shot rang out and a man from the SS was seriously injured. Schumm fled, presented himself at a police station and was arrested.

Later that day, a lynch mob compromised of members of the SA/SS formed. The ransacked the shop of his father and with the help of Nazi politicians they entered the prison and his cell. They shot him 30 times.

2/5

This didn't happen in secret. We went to the archive of the local newspaper and got articles about the event from back then. And it was all in there. The newspaper (which still exists today) stumbled over his own feet in order to justify the lynching. I couldn't believe what I was reading: "We strongly condemn any lynching but this case was clearly justified". The newspaper argued against any prosecution of the lynch mob. They said that "gesundes Volksempfinden" (healthy popular sentiment) made the event inevitable.

It was a huge story back then that dominated the news for quite so time. It was not hidden on the second page, but the top news of the month. There were quotes from local Nazi politicians who claimed to be proud of the deed. All was there in broad daylight. The SS wasn't even attempting to hide it.

3/5

So knowing what we knew, we went out to ask people who were adults at the time of the deed. We asked them where they were living and which newspaper they had back then. After establishing that, we started asking about the murder.

And again we got the famous "I didn't know" again and again. We had copies of the newspaper from the incident and confronted them with it. They stuck to it. Nobody knew anything at all. The thing happened, became top news and nobody ever even heard of it.

They became angry at us for asking. Sometimes we were chased away. This was because we clearly noticed that they were lyiing and being teenager, we were not good at hiding the fact that we knew.

4/5

The frustrating thing about history is: When you study it, you see it all happening again. When one day the grandchildren of the young adults in the U.S. today will ask "Why didn't you say something when they deported innocent people to camps in El Salvador?" I can already tell their answer today "I didn't know."

5/5

@boby_biq
Looking forward to the mental gymnastics when Germany, who are currently rabidly pro genocide, about face and suddenly think that “never again” also applies to brown people when Europeans are doing the killing.

@masek

@Mogleg @boby_biq @masek While Western governments remain staunchly supportive, Israel's continued atrocities against Gaza's civilian population has sharply affected public opinion in the West.

Most (all?) polls show the majority of the German population disapprove of Israel's actions.

@Outpatientzero @prutser @Mogleg @boby_biq @masek
I'm sure at some point I (an American) will be blamed for the Gaza genocide despite being firmly, publicly opposed, donating to relief efforts, calling my congresspeople about it, etc. The problem is that I voted for Kamala Harris, who had no plan whatsoever to stop the killing and oppression. There were only two viable options: Harris or Trump, and Trump seemed (I think this has been borne out) dedicated to making the genocide even worse. But yes, I voted for someone who was not meaningfully anti-genocide in any public way or with any actual policy statements.

There was a brief period when it seemed Trump might begin to support an end to the genocide by peaceful means, by pressuring Israel and cutting off arms shipments and money. That turned out to be illusion and rumor, but if that had happened... I still would have voted for Harris, because the totality of the damage Trump would do to the US, the rest of the world, etc. would have outwieghed even the ongoing genocide in Gaza (note: Trump seems pro-genocide in many places around the world).

My guess is that Germany has a diversity of opinion as well, and that sometimes German citizens, even those trying to do the right thing, feel trapped by limited choices in elections.