Lynch law in Eberswalde
01 January 1991
Lynch law in Eberswalde
artdoc December=1992
The police were nowhere to be seen when right-wing youths went
on the rampage in Rostock, Germany, in August. Where were they
when Amadeu Antonio was killed in Eberswalde in 1990?
Anti-racists are following the subsequent trialof six German
youths and asking what justice can Amodeu's family expect
from the courts.
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On the evening of 24 November 1990, Amadeu Antonio, an Angolan
worker, was murdered on the streets of Eberswalde, an east
German town. The trial of six young men involved in the
killing - but charged only with public order offences - began
in August. This was not the first trial of Germans following
the killing of a black man, but it is the first to involve a
gang of 40-50 neo-Nazis out `nigger-hunting' who were able to
surround and beat three young Africans, managing to kill one
of them, all under the watchful eyes of three plainclothes
policemen.
Prior warning
The local police authority had been warned that the attack was
planned for 24 November and they sent the officers, not to
prevent the attack, but to observe it. Anti-racists are
incensed that even when the police were begged to intervene,
they refused. `Why should we risk our skin for a load of
Negroes', one
policeman replied.
Disquiet about the police's role in Eberswalde violence
has been so intense that the public prosecutor has been forced
to set up an internal enquiry into the conduct of the three
policeman who witnessed Amadeus death.
Anti-racist groups in Germany are also furious that,
after Amadeus's death, the authorities made no attempt to
protect his family or other Angolans in the town. Gaby
Schimansky, Amadeus German wife, was hounded out of the town
just weeks after his death. While she was in hospital having
his son, the pram she had bought for the new baby was daubed
with a swastika.
Driven out
Of 800 Angolans in the town in 1990, fewer than 15 now remain.
Through intimidation and violence, and the support of
organised fascist groups which are well established in the
area, the local racist youth have made the town `foreigner-
free', whilst they enjoy the protection of the police.
`There is a new dimension to racist violence and state
connivance in post-unified Germany, Biplab Basu of the
Anti-racist Initiative told CARF. 'The murderers themselves
came from different racist groups but they managed to bury
their differences when it came to organising a lynching.
Local residents and the police sympathised with the murderers.
And when it came to charging this lynch-mob they didn't even
get a murder or manslaughter charge but causing a disturbance
and involvement in a brawl. This case shows that German law
is unable to deal with racist crimes.'
CARF magazine, September-Ocotber 1992 Europe
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