December 19, 2014

Nazis against Nazis – Germany’s most involuntary Walkathon

editor:	Ama Lorenz

This year, Wunsiedel decided to take a different approach and turn the funeral march of the neo-Nazis into the most involuntary walkathon in Germany. Without the knowledge of participants, posters, banners and ground markings were put up all along the demonstration route, giving it the look of a sporting event, complete with motivational sayings and typical competition elements such as start and finish lines. “Donate, walk!” or “Final sprint instead of victory!” on cheerful confetti-strewn posters were intended to motivate nearly 200 demonstrators, because walking was the very idea behind it all: for every metre walked, €10 went to Nazi opt-out programme EXIT Deutschland – money that was collected from private persons, companies and NGOs beforehand. The result? €10.000 and a lot of surprised right-wingers.

Ever since 2000, the initiative EXIT Germany has helped right-wingers to escape from the scene and build a new life for themselves. This work is dependent on donations. This is why a charity walk was organised with the help of numerous local supporters for the march.