German City Declares “Nazi Emergency”
Last week, the Dresden city council passed a largely symbolic resolution that condemned the far-right extremist movement PEGIDA and called on the city’s civil servants to protect minority rights in-the-midst-of “growing anti-immigrant sentiment” in the city. PEGIDA, which stands for “Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the West” has been criticized for holding anti-Semitic, anti-Islamic and xenophobic views.
Instructors, click the link below to download this week’s lecture for use in your classroom. The deck contains a writing prompt and a debate question as well as other assessment questions.
Download the PowerPoint Lecture Spark for German City Declares "Nazi Emergency"
Links
“German city of Dresden declares ‘Nazis emergency’”
https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/02/europe/nazi-emergency-dresden-grm-intl/index.html
“City council in Germany’s Dresden passes ‘Nazi emergency’ resolution”
https://www.timesofisrael.com/city-council-in-germanys-dresden-passes-nazi-emergency-resolution/
“Dresden: The German city that declared a ‘Nazi emergency’”
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-50266955
“Germany: Dresden declares ‘Nazi emergency’”
https://www.dw.com/en/germany-dresden-declares-nazi-emergency/a-51085539
“Germany’s Dresden adopts ‘Nazi emergency’ resolution, but critics say it’s a ‘linguistic blunder’”
https://www.rt.com/news/472484-germany-dresden-nazi-emergency-resolution/
“Germany’s far-right AfD set to embrace anti-Islam PEGIDA”
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-afd/germanys-far-right-afd-set-to-embrace-anti-islam-pegida-idUSKCN1G61ZH
“Pegida: what does the German far-right movement actually stand for?”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/shortcuts/2015/jan/06/pegida-what-does-german-far-right-movement-actually-stand-for
Assessment
- Writing: Briefly describe the Allies’ post-war reaction to Nazism. Are there any parallels that can be drawn to compare Nazi rhetoric and the anti-immigrant rhetoric used in Europe today?
- Debate: Nazism, including in the form of slogans, symbols and gestures should be made illegal in countries throughout the world.
- Poll: Will this city resolution have any real impact on the problem of rising neo-Nazi, anti-immigrant sentiment?
- Short Answer: Given the rise of anti-immigrant and anti-Semitic sentiment in Europe, what can governments do to ease tensions while still maintaining individual right to free speech?
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