Seebrücke International remembers victims of Hoyerswerda pogrom

Seebrücke International has remembered victims of Hoyerswerda pogrom noting that it did not forget the role of German politics, the media and the “so-called bourgeois centre in the attacks.”

Sharing information about the incident, Seebrücke an international movement that wants safe passages and an end of the criminalisation of civil sea rescue, said: “33 years ago, between 17 and 23 September 1991, a pogrom took place in Hoyerswerda (Saxony) that lasted for days. Contract workers and refugees were attacked by a racist mob and their accommodation was attacked with Molotov cocktails.

“The police and politicians reacted by deporting many contract workers to Mozambique. The refugees were taken away to the applause of up to 1,000 Germans and distributed to other places.

Some organised themselves and fled together to West Berlin for fear of further attacks – with the support of autonomous refugee groups from Berlin.

“Although there had already been right-wing extremist attacks and murders of refugees and migrants before 1991, the pogrom in Hoyerswerda is often seen as the beginning of a whole series of pogroms, including Rostock-Lichtenhagen and Mölln.”

Two years after Hoyerswerda, Seebrücke International said “the so-called asylum compromise was passed, which largely removed the right to asylum from the German constitution. Now, 33 years later, politicians are discussing removing the right to asylum from the Basic Law altogether.We must not allow this to happen!

“We remember those affected by the attacks in Hoyerswerda and do not forget the role of German politics, the media and the so-called bourgeois centre in the attacks. #NoForgetting.”