Complex : Homeland
"We Saxons are bright, the whole world knows that! And if we are not bright, then we have disguised ourselves," says an old Saxon proverb. Since his childhood, photographer Frieder Bickhardt has wondered about the idea that "the Saxons" are something special. Because it's not just in rhyming sayings; politicians also use this local pride in their messages, like Prime Minister Kurt Biedenkopf in 2000 with his much criticised claim that the Saxons are immune to right-wing extremism. By contrast, in the rest of Germany there are often negative perceptions of what "the Saxons" are like.
Where does this still widespread idea that the Saxons are different or even better come from? Why is this needed? What does it mean for our coexistence if we repeatedly distinguish ourselves from "the others"? Who is involved in the construction of Saxon identities?
With these questions and a large-format camera in his backpack, Frieder Bickhardt has set out again and again on a journey. Photography becomes a tool for his own exploration, at the same time allowing him to show his observations and invite people to talk to him. After thorough research and with a steady gaze from a tripod, he has photographed a variety of places, scenes and events in Saxony on large analog prints. These are places where something has happened and is still happening. Something that for many is and can become part of "Saxon" identity.
Ausstellungen
16.03.2023 – 17.04.2023
Schloss & Stadtmuseum Hoyerswerda
Schlossplatz 1
02977 Hoyerswerda
31.05.2024 – 16.06.2024
f/stop Festival for Photography
Historic waiting room at Leipzig Central Station
Willy-Brandt-Platz 5
04109 Leipzig
hand prints
The analogue C-prints from the project, produced in an edition of 2 (plus 1 artist's proof) in 80×100 cm format on aluminium Dibond, are available for purchase from us. Kontaktiere us if you are interested.
You can also find the designs as posters in our Shop.
photographs and captions
Flamingos, Hoyerswerda, 2021
Flamingos live in the wild in warm tropical regions in Africa, South and Central America, Asia, southern France, Spain and Sardinia. The pink-coloured birds live in huge groups of up to ten thousand individuals.
The zoo in Hoyerwerda was established in the 1950s. In the 1970s and 80s, so-called exotic animals came to the zoo. In 1979, for example, 16 flamingos were brought to Hoyerswerda from Dresden Zoo. In 2021, the pink flamingos were transferred to Augsburg due to the planned construction of a second staircase at the neighbouring Hoyerswerda Castle. Chilean flamingos are to move in here once the construction work is complete.
The hall, Dresden Higher Regional Court, 2022
When the trial against the right-wing extremist "Freital Group", which was blamed for five xenophobic or politically motivated attacks, was due to begin in 2017, the Saxon judiciary spent months searching for suitable premises for one of the largest criminal trials ever held in Saxony. As an interim solution, a building that was originally planned as a dining hall for an initial reception centre for asylum seekers in Dresden was converted into a courtroom at a cost of 5.5 million euros.
At the time the photograph was taken, two court proceedings were running in parallel in this courtroom: the trial against Lina E. and three other defendants - Lennart A., Jannis R. and Philipp M. - for allegedly founding a left-wing terrorist organisation. They were accused of attacking right-wing extremists and neo-Nazis in Wurzen and Eisenach. The proceedings are based on investigations by the Special Commission (SoKo) LinX of the Saxon State Criminal Police Office, which was founded in 2019.
In May 2023, the State Security Senate of the Dresden Higher Regional Court sentenced all four defendants to several years in prison. Both the convicts and the federal prosecution appealed against the judgement. Following the written reasons for the judgement at the end of 2023, it is currently unclear when there will be an appeal. Soko LinX is often criticised for its one-sided and politically motivated police work. Since the beginning of 2022, it has only focused on serious politically motivated offences, such as violent crimes. Since then, it has left less serious offences, such as graffiti vandalism, to the local police departments. SoKo ReX, which focuses on right-wing extremist offences, has been working in this way since it was founded.
Another trial in the hall was held against members of the so-called Remmo clan. They were accused of stealing a significant part of Augustus the Strong's collection of jewellery and jewels from the Green Vault of the Royal Palace in Dresden. The day after the burglary, Minister President Kretschmer visited the scene of the crime and expressed his shock. He emphasised the importance of the art collection in the Green Vault: ‘This is Saxony. This is our identity.’ He emphasised that not only the Saxon State Art Collections had been robbed, ‘but Saxony as a whole’. The monetary value of the art objects and 21 pieces of jewellery with a total of 4300 diamonds was difficult to quantify, as comparable objects are not freely traded. However, the insurance value was at least 113.8 million euros. In December 2022, members of the Remmo clan handed over a large part of the stolen ‘Saxon Treasure’ to the Saxon police via lawyers. A total of four of the defendants confessed. They had previously been offered a limited prison sentence of five to six and three-quarter years. On 16 May 2023, all five defendants were sentenced to several years in prison. The Berliner Morgenpost titled its article on the trial at the Dresden district court: ‘The clans’ greed for gold’. According to a study by Humboldt University in Berlin, between 2010 and 2020, the German media exclusively reported on ‘Arab clans’ in a negative and criminalising way. In 2015, the BKA estimated the ‘personal potential’ of clan families at 200,000 family members, which was taken up in many media reports. In fact, this does not provide any information about how many of these people are criminals and how many lead a non-criminal life in Germany. In an article in 2023, the author Mohamed Amjahid suggested using the term ‘clan criminality’ for German white-collar criminals who, for example, received businesses and real estate from the Treuhand for virtually free and later ruined them.
Easter procession, near Strohschütz in Upper Lusatia, 2022
The tradition of Easter riding has existed since the end of the 15th century. Every year, groups of Easter riders visit other Sorbian Catholic parishes with their procession to bring the message of Christ's resurrection. Sorbian hymns are sung and prayers are said along the way. On Easter Sunday 2022, around 1,600 riders took part in ten processions.
The custom originated from a pre-Christian fertility ritual for the harvest. Today, prayers continue to be said for the good growth of the seed. In Bautzen, the Sorbs' tradition paused during the GDR era and was resumed in 1993.
Sorbs are recognised as an ethnic and national minority in Germany, Saxony and Brandenburg and are supported accordingly. Slavic-speaking people settled between the Oder and Elbe rivers in the 6th century. Today, there are around 60,000 people who identify as Sorbian, with around 30,000 people speaking Upper or Lower Sorbian or another so-called transitional dialect. Since 2014, Sorbian customs have been inscribed on UNESCO's national list of intangible cultural heritage.
Hanau is everywhere, Leipzig, 2022
On 19 February 2019, Gökhan Gültekin, Sedat Gürbüz, Said Nesar Hashemi, Mercedes Kierpacz, Hamza Kurtović, Vili Viorel Păun, Fatih Saraçoğlu, Ferhat Unvar and Kaloyan Velkov were shot dead in Hanau for racist reasons. The relatives and their supporters have been calling for a comprehensive investigation into the murders ever since. Research to date shows that some members of the SEK unit on duty on the night of the murder belonged to a right-wing group. Emergency calls were not answered on the night of the murder. The murderer was already known to the police before the crime. Overall, the research reinforces the impression that the racist murders in Hanau could have been prevented.Leipzig, 2022
Even three years after the attack, people across Germany remembered the events. In Leipzig in 2022, the rally was organised primarily by people who have been affected by racism themselves. In addition to mourning, the focus was also on the visibility of everyday racism and how it is linked to racist violence.
The fingerprint, Dresden, 2022
Augustus the Strong was Elector of Saxony from 1694 to 1733, as well as King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania for almost as long. He had his residential cities of Dresden and Warsaw expanded - at the expense of other regions and the rural population - into magnificent Baroque cities that were among the most splendid in Europe. The buildings he commissioned and the collections he created still characterise the image of Dresden and Saxony to this day. He significantly increased the size of the Saxon army and reformed it along Prussian lines thanks to its growing economic power.
There are many legends surrounding his physical strength. For example, he had a certificate drawn up stating that he had broken a horseshoe with his bare hands on 15 February 1711. There is a legend that Augustus the Strong pressed his thumb into the railing of the Brühl's Terrace in Dresden - also known as the ‘Balcony of Europe’ - at the point shown here. However, the Brühl's Terrace was not provided with a railing until around 1747, 14 years after his death. A few metres away, a similar mark appeared in the railing a few years ago. The website ‘Das alte Dresden’ claims that this is a forgery and refers to the ‘original historical’ imprint
At the Frauenkirche, Dresden, 2022
The Frauenkirche in Dresden was built from 1726 to 1743 by decision of the city council and mainly from (misappropriated) donations from the citizens of Dresden. Contrary to earlier plans and with the support of Augustus the Strong, the architect and master carpenter Bähr ultimately decided to build a stone dome. Unintentionally, the weight of the dome rested mainly on eight pillars in the interior, which repeatedly caused problems and repairs.
After three air raids on Dresden on 13 and 14 February 1945 during the Second World War, the Frauenkirche was completely burnt out. On 15 February, the pillars could no longer support the weight of the dome.
The ruins of the church were to be cleared away in 1962 to make way for a park, but this plan was thwarted by public protests. In 1966, the ruins were officially declared a memorial against war. On 13 February 1982, Christians in Dresden, as part of the ‘Swords to Ploughshares’ movement, called for the first time for a silent commemoration against war at the ruins of the Frauenkirche. In 1985, the city council included the reconstruction of the church in its long-term planning. In 1990, the ‘Society for the Promotion of the Reconstruction of the Frauenkirche in Germany’ was founded, which worked to convince people and collect donations – a total of 115 million of the necessary 180 million euros was raised through various appeals, with the remainder being paid in roughly equal parts by the city, Saxony and the federal government. The new building, using historical building materials and based on the old construction, took from 1993 to 2005 to complete. In 2006, the Süddeutsche Zeitung wrote retrospectively of the ‘symbolic healing of the wounds inflicted on the city at the end of the Second World War’ at the ‘architectural and sentimental highlight of the Baroque ensemble bombed in 1945’.
Forest fire at Hirschgrund, Saxon Switzerland, 2018
Saxon Switzerland was a centre of the Romantic movement in Germany, and many artists and writers were inspired by the landscape.
The National Socialists used Saxon Switzerland as a backdrop for propaganda films, which contributed to the landscape being romanticised as a symbol of German identity and culture. One example of such a propaganda film is ‘Heimat’ from 1938, which shows a family from Saxon Switzerland defending themselves against a supposed threat from a foreigner from the West. Nationalist and racist motifs are used and the family is presented as the ideal image of a National Socialist community. These films served to spread National Socialist ideology and to win over the people of Saxon Switzerland to the National Socialist cause. They were also intended to convey the image of a wholesome and intact German national community that was threatened by supposedly foreign influences. At a time when many people lived in urban areas, Saxon Switzerland was associated with unspoilt nature and rural idylls.
At the beginning of August 2018, 4000 square metres of forest burned at Hirschgrund, near the Bastei. The extinguishing work took around 24 hours. In the days that followed, the fire brigade had to be deployed several times to extinguish pockets of embers that had flared up in the difficult-to-access terrain. Among other things, they laid a hose system 500-600 metres long to pump water from the Elbe. The forest on the border between Bohemian and Saxon Switzerland also burned in the summer of 2022. A total of 1210 hectares (1,210,000 square metres) of land burned here. The firefighting work took around 4 weeks. Up to twelve fire-fighting helicopters were deployed on the German side. 49 firefighters were injured. As in 2018, low rainfall and high temperatures in spring, together with long, hot dry spells in summer, created an extreme risk of forest fires. In most cases, fires are caused by people: in 2018, an illegal boofe (small dry cave) was discovered near the source of the fire, along with an illegal campfire site, camping chairs and ukuleles.
We are citizens, Chemnitz, 03.09.2018
In the early morning of 26 August 2018, 35-year-old Daniel H. was so seriously injured in a stabbing on the fringes of the Chemnitz city festival that he died in hospital. A work colleague and his brother were also injured. Three suspects were quickly identified. The arrest warrant for a 22-year-old migrant was photographed by Dresden prison officer and AfD state board member Daniel Z. and illegally distributed on Facebook and elsewhere from 29 August 2018, as were photos allegedly showing one of the alleged perpetrators. The false information was spread that Daniel H. had protected a ‘German woman’ from sexual harassment by ‘migrants’, while the wife of one of those attacked testified that the argument had escalated over cigarettes. One of the suspects was sentenced to nine and a half years' imprisonment for manslaughter and grievous bodily harm around a year after the attack on 22 August 2019. The main suspect is said to have absconded to Iraq.
Right-wing extremist hooligans organised demonstrations the evening after the crime, which led to racist and anti-Semitic riots and attacks on migrant passers-by, counter-demonstrators and police officers. The Regional Centre for Education, Integration and Democracy in Saxony reported thirty reported attacks in the days surrounding the demonstration and pointed to a high number of unreported cases. On 27 August, around 6,000 people took part in the demonstrations organised by the right-wing, with around 1,500 people taking part in a counter-demonstration. On the evening of the same day, the owner of a kosher restaurant in Chemnitz was attacked with stones, bottles and an iron bar. Around 11,000 people took part in various marches on 1 September. Once again, migrants were hunted down and one person had to be taken to A&E.
People laid flowers and other memorials at the scene of the crime in Brückenstraße. When Franziska Giffey (SPD), the then Federal Minister for Family Affairs and the only East German Federal Minister, came to Chemnitz on 31 August, she also laid flowers here. She then visited democracy-promoting groups in the city and called for a law to promote democracy.
On the afternoon of 3 September, while the #wirsindmehr concert was taking place at the same time, only a few people stood at the memorial site. One man held a sign reading ‘We are citizens, not Nazis. The blood of [illegible] is on your hands.’ Relatives, friends and family of Daniel H. had repeatedly spoken out against instrumentalisation by right-wing extremists. Daniel H., whose father was Cuban, was himself the target of right-wing violence for years and was racially insulted with the N-word. ‘We used to have to fight with these right-wingers because they didn't see us as German enough. I ask you not to let your grief turn into anger and hatred,’ wrote a friend of Daniel H. on Facebook.
On 20 December 2018, the city of Chemnitz erected a memorial plaque at the former crime scene at the request of the family, which only contains a peace sign, the name Daniel H. and the date of his death. To this day, there is one account each on Facebook and Instagram for the ‘Daniel H. memorial’, which posted pictures of flowers laid down until 2022. The accounts also used the slogan ‘We are no more’, railed against ‘integration policies gone wrong’ and continued to spread the false information that Daniel H. had wanted to protect a woman from an attack.
At Frühlingsstraße, Zwickau, 2021
House no. 26 stood on this site. The entire first floor was occupied by the flat where the NSU core trio of Beate Zschäpe,
Uwe Böhnhardt and Uwe Mundlos hid from 2007 until they
unmasked themselves in November 2011.
Trotz verschiedener Untersuchungsausschüsse, Ermittlungen und des fünfjährigen Prozesses, bei dem Beate Zschäpe zu lebenslanger Haft verurteilt wurde, bleiben viele Fragen um den NSU-Komplex offen. Neben der Frage, wie groß das eigentliche Netzwerk des NSU wirklich war, bleibt auch unklar, warum Böhnhardt, Mundlos und Zschäpe 2007 nach dem Mord an der Polizistin Michèle Kiesewetter in die Frühlingsstraße umzogen und damit ihren bisherigen Lebensstil änderten. Lebten sie bis dahin zurückgezogen, suchten sie nun Kontakt und Bekanntschaften in der Nachbarschaft und unternahmen wochenlange Urlaube, in denen sie Freundschaften schlossen und ihre Handynummern und E-Mailadressen weitergaben. Am 4. November 2011 legte Beate Zschäpe Feuer, bevor sie die Wohnung verließ, wohl um Spuren zu verwischen. Die dabei durch Brandbeschleuniger entstandenen Gase führten zur einer Explosion und einem großflächigen Brand.
On 23 April 2012, demolition work began on the house at Frühlingsstraße 26. Initiated by Mayor Pia Findreiß (in office from 2008 to 2020) and funded by the Free State of Saxony, the aim was to prevent the creation of a ‘place of pilgrimage for right-wing groups’.
Grove of honour in the former prisoner of war camp, Zeithain, 2021
Under Hitler, the system of Wehrmacht prisoner of war camps extended across the entire German Reich and the territories occupied by the Wehrmacht. Today's Free State of Saxony was one of the regions in Germany with the most POW camps. After the German invasion of the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941, the first prisoner transports arrived at the camp in Zeithain near Riesa on 12 July 1941. Due to malnutrition, cold, harassment, illness and a lack of medical care, around 30,000 people died here alone by 1945. 23,754 deaths are known by name. On 23 April 2021, the commemoration of the 76th anniversary of the liberation of the prisoner of war camp took place in the memorial grove. In her speech on the anniversary, Andrea Dombois (CDU), First Vice President of the Saxon State Parliament and State Chairwoman of the German War Graves Commission, emphasised: ‘The dead of the Second World War are our historical debt, from which we have learnt lessons. [...] The Zeithain Memorial, which has existed since 1985, is today a symbol of the responsibility that we ourselves have taken on to keep it alive in the consciousness of future generations and to continue to fill it with life. It fills me with confidence that many young people in particular are engaging with our history and recognising the message of reconciliation. [...] Saxony holds on to its culture of remembrance to a high degree.’
In 2023, the essay ‘Reconciliation Theatre’ was published by the Berlin author Max Czollek. It describes a situation in which reconciliation is not offered by the victims as the result of a trial, but is claimed by the society of the perpetrators without there having been any significant legal reappraisal.
I will never forget, Hoyerswerda, 2021
On 17 September 1991, neo-Nazis and sympathisers began several days of attacks on the accommodation of contract workers in Albert-Schweitzer-Straße and on accommodation for asylum seekers in Thomas-Müntzer-Straße. Many people from the neighbourhood applauded, while the police and politicians only managed to stop the attacks after several days. The asylum seekers were distributed to homes in the surrounding area on 21 September. Almost all contract workers had to leave Germany, regardless of their own wishes and experiences. The pogrom was reported on nationally and internationally. It was mainly the perpetrators who had their say, presenting their ‘success’ in having ‘liberated’ Hoyerswerda from foreigners. Hoyerswerda thus became a role model for the right-wing extremist scene. Further pogroms, such as the one in Rostock-Lichtenhagen in 1992, followed.
To this day, the pogrom that took place in the city continues to be discussed. In addition to individual feelings, the main issue is how these events should be dealt with. 2021 marked the 30th anniversary of the attacks. To mark the occasion, commemorative events were held at various locations in Hoyerswerda and organised by civic and activist initiatives. On 18 September 2021, David Macou, a former contract worker and survivor of the attacks, spoke at the ‘I will never forget’ event in the Lausitzhalle in Hoyerswerda. Macou was officially invited to a commemorative event for the first time in 2021. Mayor Torsten Ruban-Zeh (SPD) also made an appearance, officially recognising the suffering of those affected and asking for forgiveness. Both exchanged gifts and assured each other of their solidarity.
Battle of the Nations near Leipzig, Markkleeberg 2021
The Battle of Leipzig from 16 to 19 October 1813 led to Napoleon's retreat from what is now Germany. France and its allies lost the bloody battle against the troops of the alliance of Russia, Prussia, Austria and Sweden. Probably the largest battle in world history, 530,000 people took part and 90,000 to 120,000 were killed or wounded. The Monument to the Battle of the Nations was completed in 1913 to commemorate the battle.
Since the 1980s, amateurs have been re-enacting the Battle of the Nations in costume and with extensive props. Thousands of participants now come from all over Europe, the USA, Canada and Australia. The ‘Verband Jahrfeier Völkerschlacht bei Leipzig 1813’ presents the event as an opportunity for critical remembrance of the war. Participants are part of a large networked scene with a wealth of specialised knowledge. They share the aim of reproducing the uniforms and events of the battle as faithfully as possible.
Yesterday. Today. Tomorrow ?, Zwickau, 2021
On 6 November 2021, a demonstration was held to mark the 10th anniversary of the NSU's self-exposure, initiated by the Leipzig-based initiative group ‘Racism Kills’.
Speeches highlighted the decades-long continuity of right-wing extremist violence and the inadequate investigative work against the right. The left-wing political scene was also criticised for ignoring the crimes of the NSU - the murders of Enver Şimşek, Abdurrahim Özüdoğru, Süleyman Taşköprü, Habil Kılıç, Mehmet Turgut, İsmail Yaşar, Theodoros Boulgarides, Mehmet Kubaşık, Halit Yozgat and Michèle Kiesewetter as well as the two bomb attacks in Cologne that left numerous people seriously injured. A broad reappraisal of the NSU's disappearance in Zwickau and Chemnitz was called for, and the city's politics and administration were criticised for a lack of will to come to terms with the situation.
The city created a memorial grove in 2019. Its first tree was sawn down by unknown persons after just a few days. As a result, not only was the tree replaced, but a total of 10 trees were planted for all those murdered, which were financed by donations.
The opening event was criticised by the initiative ‘Tribunal NSU-Komplex auflösen’ (Dissolve the NSU Complex Tribunal), relatives and survivors. They had not been able to attend the city's event because they had not been invited. In addition, some of the names of those murdered were misspelled.
In 2023, a feasibility study for a future NSU documentation centre was published. Following the search for a suitable location, the plans were presented in April 2024 at the Chemnitz Stadtwerkehaus, according to which the reappraisal of the NSU complex would be continued here from May 2025, and educational and anti-racism work would be carried out.
Lydia Lierke, project manager at ‘Offener Prozess’, which is sponsored by ASA-FF e.V., emphasised the importance of such a place for migrant people in the city. In the long term, the centre is to be financed by a foundation in order to guarantee the work of the initiative independently of state subsidies.
Sparrow's nest, Hirschsprung near Altenberg, 2022
My great-grandparents Margarete and Kurt Bickhardt rented this house as a summer and holiday home from Easter 1942. When Leipzig was bombed on 4 December 1943, their children Hans, Peter, Klaus and Jürgen, aged between six and thirteen, moved permanently from Dresden to the holiday flat. The four children went to school in nearby Altenberg and were looked after by relatives and friends who lived here with them. Margarete and Kurt Bickhardt stayed in Dresden and pursued their work. It was during this time that the family nicknamed the house ‘Spatzennest’.
Shortly after the end of the war, the landlord of the house registered his own requirements in order to be able to accommodate bombed-out relatives, and my grandfather went back to war-ravaged Dresden with his brothers.
#wirsindmehr, Chemnitz, 03.09.2018
After days of demonstrations and racist riots in Chemnitz following the death of Daniel H. in a stabbing, a call went out for people to come to Chemnitz on 3 September 2018 for a large free concert against the right. The event was initiated by the Chemnitz band Kraftklub and organised by Stadtmarketing Chemnitz. They were able to get well-known bands such as Die Toten Hosen, Feine Sahne Fischfilet and K.I.Z. to perform. Around 65,000 spectators travelled from all over Germany and beyond. Minister President Michael Kretschmer thanked the band Kraftklub for their commitment, which he had labelled an ‘impossible left-wing band’ months earlier.
On the following days, there were still large demonstrations
registered by right-wing extremists, such as on 7 September with about 2,350 people (there were about 1,000 people
at a counter-demonstration that day) and on 14 September
with 3,500 people.
According to an evaluation by Twitter, #WirSindMehr was
the most used German debate hashtag in 2018.
Vereinigte Schleenhain, Central German Lignite Mining Area, 2021
Lignite mining in the Central German mining area has a long history that dates back to the 19th century. In the decades that followed, numerous open-cast mines were opened to extract coal for energy production. One of the most important in the Central German mining area is the Vereinigte Schleenhain opencast mine, which was opened in 1958 and has been producing coal continuously ever since.
However, lignite mining also has a significant impact on the environment and the local population. The so-called coaling, in which the open-cast mine is mined to a certain depth, has led to the destruction of numerous villages and landscapes. In the meantime, there are plans to close the Vereinigte Schleenhain opencast mine. According to a press release from MIBRAG in 2021, a total of 600 jobs will be lost by 2025 as a result of the closure.
In the background, the photo shows the cooling towers of the Lippendorf lignite-fired power plant, which was one of the ten most harmful coal-fired power plants in Europe in 2010.
Angry speech, Facebook, 29.08.2018
Stephan Conrad is a social worker at Treibhaus e.V. in Döbeln, which was founded in 1997. Since 2001, the association has moved into a house at Bahnhofstraße 56 and maintains a café with an event programme, a migration counselling service, a graphics workshop, a service centre for international youth work and a media education project. The club is also the sponsor of a skate hall and in 2017 took over the management of a house in Döbeln's city centre, which is used by various sports and leisure groups. The History Working Group has been researching chubs under National Socialism for decades and has developed an app for this purpose, among other things.
After his post a few days before the #wirsindmehr concert against the right in Chemnitz, Stephan Conrad was interviewed by various regional and national media. On 11.09.2018 he explained to the Leipziger kreuzer that he had wanted to step on the toes of his friends who had gone to Leipzig, Dresden or Berlin with the post. In the end, he had also been to the concert himself, but emphasized that it had the character of a folk festival and that on the Saturday after only 1,000 people had demonstrated against the right-wing group "Pro Chemnitz".
In September 2019, the AfD tried to prevent renewed funding of Treibhaus e.V. in the Döbeln city council by accusing it of a lack of political neutrality. In the previous weeks, she had already railed against the association itself and its educational work. The CDU also did not clearly support the association in the city council, so that only a smaller municipal share of regional funding was approved. As a result, the cultural convention of the Erzgebirge-Mittelsachsen cultural area also postponed its funding for the coming year for the time being, so that a large part of the association's work was endangered. On 29.01.2020, the funding for the year 2020 was finally approved. In the same year, the State Agency for Civic Education in Brandenburg also defended itself against the demand of an AfD member of parliament that political education must be neutral. Martina Weyrauch from the regional headquarters made it clear on Deutschlandfunk that, on the contrary, it is obliged to act in accordance with the basic democratic order. Non-partisanship should not be confused with neutrality.
