Tübingen’s mayor caused a stir with statements at a conference in Frankfurt. He was criticized for that. Now he’s countering it on social media.
He then explained to them that his Jewish grandfather had to flee from the Nazis and that the graves of his ancestors were smeared with swastikas. “The students dismissed that as irrelevant and continued their insults as ‘Nazi’ and ‘racist’ because I contradicted their thesis that the mere use of certain terms makes a person a racist.”
Palmer was a guest at an event at the Goethe University on Friday evening. Video footage shows Palmer repeatedly using the racist word “Negro” at the event.
Before the event, demonstrators shouted “Nazis out” to Palmer. He accused the demonstrators of stigmatizing his person and compared this to a Jewish star, as can be seen from a video on Twitter.
University President: “Any relativization of the Holocaust is unacceptable”
The President of the Goethe University, Enrico Schleiff, demands an apology from Palmer. “Any explicit or implicit statement that relativizes the Holocaust is completely unacceptable and will not be tolerated at and by Goethe University – this applies equally to the use of racist terms,” said Schleiff on Saturday.
Palmer continues: “My father Helmut was called ‘Moses’ at school and was sentenced to prison several times after the war for calling Nazis Nazis.” To be associated with the worst crimes in human history through the terms “racist” and “Nazi” is simply unbearable for him.
Palmer is disappointed by Schleiff’s reaction
“I would have liked you to check with me first before you publicly issue condemnations and apologies within a few hours,” Palmer said.
Referring to the word “Negro,” Palmer argued that context mattered. If you use it against a person standing in front of you because they have black skin, it is “a justiciable insult”. There is no need to discuss that. However, if one discusses whether Astrid Lindgren’s novel will be called South Sea King or – Palmer uses the racist term here – then “that is a perfectly legitimate use of the word”.
The conference was organized by the “Global Islam” research center and, in addition to Palmer, the psychologist Ahmad Mansour and the deputy federal chairman of the German police union, Manuel Ostermann, were also invited. The cooperation partner was the non-profit Hertie Foundation.
