Is Germany building a dictatorship?

Hertha BSC, a club in Germany s top tier Bundesliga, has fired its goalkeeping coach because of his opinion. V4NA has asked German NGOs about the dismissal; a grave violatation of freedom of opinion and expression. Germany is offering less and less room for voicing certain opinions in public, in part owing to Chancellor Angela Merkel.

POLITICS APRIL 7. 2021 11:53

„Europe is a Christian continent. I am reluctant to watch the moral degradation sweeping across the region. The liberals inflate any contrary opinions: when you don t think migration is good, because criminals have overrun the continent, then they accuse you of being racist,” Zsolt Petry said in a recent interview. Besides immigration, the goalkeeping coach of top tier Bundesliga s Hertha BSC commented on several other social policy issues, including LGBTQ communities.

Speaking about immigration, he said he couldn t understand how Europe could sink morally so low, adding that – in his view – Europe s immigration policy is a manifestation of moral decline.

Zsolt Petry s statements have sparked a major scandal in his German team. On Tuesday the club announced that they have sacked the goalkeeping coach with immediate effect. In their statement, they justified his dismissal by saying that the club has signed the Diversity Charter and is actively committed to values such as diversity and tolerance, because these values are important for the club. Zsolt Petry s public statements, which the coach made as their employee, without consulting the club beforehand, did not represent these values, they said.

Mr Petry added a few sentences to the end of the statement on the club s website. He emphasized that he is neither homophobic nor xenophobic, and wished every success for the club in its effort to remain in the top division.

Non-liberal opinions appear to be tolerated less and less in Germany. Addressing the German Bundestag in 2019, Chancellor Angela Merkel stressed that freedom of speech was a top priority, although she appeared as if she was bent on curbing or restricting it.

„Freedom of speech has its limits, which begin when hate speech occurs. When people s dignity is violated. This house will oppose extremist speech, otherwise our society will not be the same as it used to be,” Ms Merkel said.

Angela Merkel s speech piqued the interest of British comedian Andrew Doyle, a vocal advocate of free expression, who tweeted the following:

The German Chancellor must have a strange concept about free speech. In 2015 she was overheard confronting Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg amid complaints from her government about anti-immigrant posts in the midst of Europe s refugee crisis. „Are you working on this?” Ms Merkel asked Zuckerberg in English, to which Zuckerberg replied in the affirmative.

An opinion poll conducted by Allensbach Institute suggests 59 per cent of respondents believe that they can express themselves freely among their friends, but only 18 per cent believe that they enjoy the same freedom in public. 

V4NA has sent written inquiries to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the Renew Europe Group and the famed advocacy organisation Amnesty International in Germany.

We asked the following:

  • Are you planning to launch an investigation with regard to the status of free speech and the rule of law in Germany after Hertha BSC had fired one of its coaches, who earlier told his views to a daily newspaper on certain social issues?
  • What is your opinion on such an egregious breach of freedom of opinion and expression taking place in Germany?
  • Do you condemn the firing of the coach?

We will publish the answers when we receive them.

POLITICS

Tags:

angela merkel, berlin, freedom of speech, germany, hertha bsc, zsolt petry