As the participants of the memorial gathering gathered, a trumpet could be heard repeatedly. Eckard Schwanholt from Zerbst played “Besiegt du meine Weisen…”, a spiritual song by Paul Gebhardt from the 17th century, countless times. It is his way of giving comfort to his relatives.
The speeches on Cathedral Square were largely moderate. Prime Minister Rainer Haseloff was held responsible for the attack because the assassin was in the state service. Interior Minister Tamara Zieschang was asked to resign because her authority did not recognize the danger posed by the attacker. And there were calls for the borders to be closed and everyone who had not integrated correctly to be deported. The actual culprits for the attack were quickly found: the politicians of the last governments, especially those of the CDU.
Even though glow sticks were handed out before Alice Weidel's performance, it didn't make the scene any more peaceful. Alice Weidel and especially Ulrich Siegmund have raised their voices too often, unworthy of a memorial event. They were sure to receive applause.
Shortly after the funeral procession, some Magdeburgers had to get an idea of where this could lead. Many of the participants in the memorial event moved purposefully towards the Old Market. We met the participants in the human chain who were on their way home and who were still carrying the candles as a sign of sympathy. This sight led some, now masked, participants in the AfD event to loudly express their opinions. Representatives of all media were insulted and even physically attacked. The police then arrested the bawlers, which in turn took advantage of two masked people from the left-wing scene to climb onto the roof of a tram stop. There they rolled out a banner on the stand: No stage for fascism. – I don’t want to go into detail here about what happened next, what some AfD supporters demanded.
It was only thanks to the massive but prudent and de-escalating actions of the police forces that Magdeburg did not have to mourn new victims that evening.
But what this evening clearly showed is that the appearance of Alice Weidel and the other AfD politicians had nothing to do with commemoration. It was an election campaign event from the start and an attempt to further deepen the division in our society.
All I can hope for is that everyone's spirits calm down again during Christmas, that we start talking to each other again, and also have objective discussions. Because as Martin Luther King said: “Violence is not a solution”.
