Germany’s far right campaigns with xenophobic election posters

Berlin election posters

Germany’s extreme right-wing Nationalist Democratic Party (NPD) is using xenophobic election posters in its campaign for the Sept. 18 Berlin state elections.

One of the election posters that went up over the weekend has the words, “Have a nice journey to your home country”, with cartoon drawings of a woman with a headscarf, a man with a turban and a black man. A similar poster were used in earlier campaigns.

Another poster, portraying NPD Chairman Udo Voigt sitting on a motorcycle with the text “Give gas”, was reminiscent of the Nazi gas chambers and triggered outrage from many politicians.

An Internet site was also published in preparation for the far-right political party’s campaign. A video on its homepage shows a woman with a headscarf and the Turkish flag with the words: “We Germans have become foreigners in our own neighborhoods. How much more will we tolerate?”

Meanwhile, another political group named “Bürgerbewegung Pro Deutschland” is using center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) member and former member of the executive board of the Deutsche Bundesbank Thilo Sarrazin’s racist comments about Muslim immigrants living in Germany in its posters.

Today’s Zaman, 8 August 2011

Update:  Berliner Morgenpost reports that the Berlin District Court has issued a ruling prohibiting Pro Deutschland from using Sarrazin’s name on their poster.