As the country prepares for the big kick-off this week the uneasy political backdrop cannot be ignored even if some would very much like it to be
As the country prepares for the big kick-off this week the uneasy political backdrop cannot be ignored, even if some would very much like it to be“The team is no longer German,” explains an older gentleman in a baseball cap, calmly loading shopping into the boot of his car. “If you look at how many Germans still play, it’s a joke.”“For me,” the man replies, “a real German is – and I don’t want to offend you – light-skinned.”“OK, yes, good,” says the man with a shrug. “That’s possible, of course.
It was, according to Germany’s coach, Julian Nagelsmann, a “shitty survey”. The vice-captain, Joshua Kimmich, described it as racist. And of course there is a large portion of polite German society that would rather these issues were discussed with a little more delicacy, perhaps not at all, and certainly not just before a homein which an overarching theme is uniting a fractured nation.
Last month, a video taken on the island of Sylt showed young, wealthy holidaymakers singing a Nazi song and doing the Hitler salute. The same month, a group of far-right insurrectionists went on trial in Frankfurt accused of plotting a violent overthrow of the government. In November, far-right groups secretly met in Potsdam to discuss the forced “remigration” of millions of German citizens with foreign heritage, should the AfD ever go into government.
Not to equate these various currents, but there is of course a spectrum, and often it begins with an old male pundit on the telly moaning about the decline of traditional German values and ends with the winning Under‑17 World Cup team being peppered with a torrent of racist abuse after posting a victory photo featuring four Black players. “Racism exists, and it’s a problem, but it’s not our most important problem,” an AfD politician argues in the ARD documentary. “Nothing very important.
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