German teachers pushed out for calling out ‘far-right’ pupils

Two teachers have been pressured out of their jobs in a small German town after denouncing the alleged right-wing extremism of their pupils, in a case that sparked a national outcry.

Laura Nickel and Max Teske were working in the high school in Burg, a picturesque town in the eastern state of Brandenburg popular with tourists, when they noticed worrying behaviour among some of their students.

“Right-wing extremism was on full display in the school,” Nickel, 34, told AFP. “From Hitler salutes to swastikas drawn on dictionaries and students’ lockers, not to mention racist and homophobic language.”

“They were really the loudest pupils — they did not hide,” she added.

In April, the teachers sent an anonymous letter to the local press denouncing the behaviour they had witnessed.

The letter’s publication led to other schools in eastern Germany reporting similar incidents and renewed soul-searching about the growing appeal of extremism.

The far-right AfD party has climbed to record highs in opinion polls in recent weeks, boosted by discontent with the ruling coalition. It is making most progress in the former communist east.

Many in the east — known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR) during communist rule — still feel they lost out when national reunification happened in 1990.

A study by the University of Leipzig has indicated that democracy is less deep-rooted than in the west, while some miss aspects of authoritarian rule from the GDR era.

After reporting the behaviour, Nickel said the teachers at the Mina Witkojc school found some of their colleagues supported them but others did not, and the school management “was passive”.

At the end of the school year, an anonymous letter from some students’ parents was sent to the management, demanding the resignation of the two teachers.