Flawed Press Coverage of Race-hate attack in Germany

Amma Darko

We are all now accustomed to sickening accounts of race-hate attacks in East Germany. Many Africans and Turkish people, some qualifying for new German citizenship, have terrible tales to tell of midnight petrol attacks on homes and businesses. East Germany, a backward region of the Federal Republic, has a long history of racial intolerance.

Even so, the casual treatment in the local press of the attack on defenceless Ghanaian writer and poet Ms. Amma Darko beggars belief.

Ms Darko was attacked in Sassnitz, a small resort area in north east Germany on the coast near Poland, earlier this year. Shouts of "nigger" were heard and bottles thrown. An article "Attack on Ghanaian Writer: Amma Darko Cancels her Tour" appeared in the local Sassnitz paper, about which The Chronicle made enquiries.

Our correspondent in Germany writes:
The newspaper article definitely needs a comment. I felt a strange undertone as I read through it the first time, and have had some German native speakers also read the article. Certain aspects shocked them:

• The journalist's casual style
  Whether or not you subscribe to the theory that journalists should remain entirely neutral as regards the content of their reports, in my opinion at least, the journalistic style is extremely matter-of-fact.

• Questionable journalism
  There is no real sense of regret evident in the piece whatsoever. And if this is just professional journalism; I don't think much of the last sentence. It expresses regret that Sassnitz and its inhabitants might now be looked at in a negative light - no mention of Mrs Darko.

• The newspaper article definitely needs a comment. I felt a strange undertone as I read through it the first time, and have had some German native speakers also read the article. Certain aspects shocked them:

• The views of the police
  The most bizarre comment, however, comes later in the text when the whole incident is very obviously played down by the police as 'just some kids having a go because of the colour of her skin' - really as if it were no big thing!

The Sassnitz incident raises questions about civil law and order and human rights in Germany. Yet, it has failed to attract comment by Government officials and the national press. This has undermined hopes that a wave of racial tolerance would follow new laws granting citizenship to resident black and minority ethnic communities. (See The Chronicle Archives 6.501, section News and Views, Europe).

We reprint a translation of the original Sassnitz article, as follows. Your comments can be sent to: editor@thechronicle.demon.co.uk

Attack on Ghanaian Writer: Amma Darko cancels her tour

By Gerit Schoenen

Sassnitz. The Ghanaian writer Amma Darko was attacked by some ten unknown youths at the Sassnitz railway station on Sunday evening. Amma Darko and her female companion managed to escape in a taxi. The authoress had come to the port to give a reading. After the incident she cancelled her tour, having originally intended to also give readings of her work in Neubrandenburg, Greifswald, and Neustrelitz. So what happened?

The companion in question, an employee of the organisation in charge of the tour, recalls, "I had accompanied Mrs Darko from Bergen. When we got off the train in Sassnitz at 17 o'clock, there were some male youths standing at the station who then abused us using the word 'nigger'. They then threw a bottle which smashed behind us. We were extremely shocked". The employee recalls "Mrs Darko said nothing like this had ever happened to her before". Yesterday she was said to be making a report with the police.

An officer for the Sassnitz police station announced, "We firstly have to see just how to categorise this in terms of the law". There was no actual attack nor any bodily harm. Furthermore, since the youths were unaware that Mrs Darko was arriving by train at that time, it would appear the act was not premeditated. "The bottle did not hit anybody. The youths probably just had a go because of the colour of her skin, nothing more happened", said the policeman. There is no question of action under criminal law since this is classed as a minor infringement of the law.

The incident has shaken those at the publishing house Schmetterling, the firm that publishes the authoress' books and organised the tour. "Mrs Darko informed us of the incident by telephone. She was most distraught and explained she does not feel herself physically in any position to carry on with the readings", said JÖrg Exner, an employee of the publishing house. Amma Darko was yesterday on her way back to Stuttgart. The police commissioner's office in Bergen now investigating the attack are asking for any possible witnesses to come forward with leads on telephone number 038 38/81 00.

The authoress had taken her readings to the new German states for the first time - probably also for the last time. This has further damaged the image that hostility to foreigners is no longer a problem in north-east Germany. The incident unfortunately throws an unfavourable light on the tourist resort of Sassnitz and its inhabitants.