The Stasi Goes to Kindergarten

As we mentioned last week, Anetta Kahane is a former Stasi operative who founded the Amadeu Antonio Foundation, which acts as an extra-governmental watchdog monitoring the ideological conformity of organizations and individual citizens in Germany.

The Amadeu Antonio Foundation has produced a brochure designed to help educators detect right-wing heresy among parents based on the appearance and habits of the children in their charge (see last Friday’s post “Braids Will Tell”).

The following video features an interview with Heinz Buschkowsky, whom long-time readers will remember from years ago, when he was the politically incorrect mayor of the Neukölln district of Berlin, one of the most culturally enriched neighborhoods in the country. Mr. Buschkowsky obviously hasn’t attended any mandatory re-education sessions since he left office.

Many thanks to MissPiggy for the translation, and to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling:

Video transcript:

00:00   Another topic currently being intensely debated is spying in preschools and kindergartens.
00:06   There is a new 60-page brochure about inequality and early childhood education causing a big stir.
00:17   The controversial brochure aims to help educators detect suspicious and
00:22   right-wing parents. So, for an example from the booklet, a little girl is described as coming from
00:30   a nationally ethnic home merely because she wears braids and a dress. From that the parents
00:34   are profiled to be right-wingers, or outed as racists. These sorts of allegations are really in there, and
00:39   it is shocking. We wanted to talk about it with the former district mayor of Berlin Neukölln,
00:43   Heinz Buschkowsky. He is our guest this morning. — Good morning.
00:46   Mr. Buschkowsky, when you heard about this snooping manual, and especially what’s said
00:51   about how educators should act, what was your first thought? —My first thought was, it can’t be
00:56   true. It’s got to be a huge joke, because it is unbelievable. Now all of a sudden the
01:02   kindergarten has the mission to investigate and determine the political sentiments of parents;
01:11   what’s going on? I thought, uh oh, it is the resurrection of the Department 9 for Re-education
01:19   from the Stasi; what is going on? That’s a very interesting example, we’ll get to that in a moment,
01:25   but first let’s look at a quote from this booklet once more just to demonstrate the form in which
01:32   this is written and the form in which the educators are required make observations.
01:39   Case I.3: “Children from ethnic national families” The girl wears dresses and braids, she is taught
01:48   at home to do household chores, the boy is encouraged to be physically strong
01:52   and disciplined. (Source: Amadeu Antonio Foundation)
01:58   The preface was written by Federal Minister of the Family Affairs Franziska Giffey.
02:03   She is part of the new legislature as Family Minister, and formerly she was the district mayor of
02:08   Berlin in Neukölln, your successor. So you know her? — Yes.
02:14   How can the Federal Minister of Family Affairs write such a foreword when it
02:18   contains such things in it? I am stunned. —There is only one explanation:
02:22   Somebody put something in her tea, because I can’t imagine that any normal thinking person
02:28   in the Federal Government would think that something like that is good, and even endorse
02:32   it politically. So, her main task appears to be to represent the interests of the East Germans in
02:41   the federal government. Don’t forget she was socialised in the DDR [GDR], so obviously it
02:48   appears that some kind of influence has remained. Otherwise it is unimaginable.
02:56   The assignment alone, watching children’s behaviour in order to detect some kind of
03:02   deviant political sentiments being taught in the home. —I’ve spoken to people with whom
03:11   we have been working with for many years. Who are here in Chemnitz, committed to democracy,
03:18   who advocate a tolerant and cosmopolitan Chemnitz. Who live in the framework of our
03:23   Federal Democracy Program and engage with people who organise dialogues that are
03:29   brought into schools; giving advice and working with juveniles. Funding projects,
03:35   at the local level, that actually work to help bring democracy to life…
03:39   …that actually help bring democracy to life…
03:43   It is called the Amadeu Antonio Foundation. They published this manual with the preface from
03:48   the Federal Family Minister. Anetta Kahane was an IM [unofficial employee] of the East German
03:55   Stasi [secret police]. She is now the chairperson or director of this foundation.
03:59   What kind of connection can be made there? Or should we even make a connection for
04:03   something that is nearly thirty years old now? — Of course you can make a connection there.
04:07   A certain state of mind is required in order to be able to spy on friends and acquaintances, and
04:13   no one can hide behind the claim that this was so long ago. That’s no excuse.
04:21   We are permitted to say that it is NOT a surprise, because the chairwoman of this foundation is
04:27   familiar with spying tactics. She’s a professional spy. She is able to direct the foundation members
04:36   well and professionally. — Anetta Kahane comes from the former German Democratic Republic
04:43   and she was a secret police [Stasi] spy. She was an unofficial employee [IM] of the secret police
04:50   from 1974 until 1982. Her assignment was to gather information about people and to inform
04:58   on them to the government. Among those she informed on were reporters and artists.
05:02   Today she is the director of the Amadeu Antonio Foundation. It is very interesting
05:09   what this woman does. She is creating fear among the population. Manuals are being created
05:16   that are paid for by the federal government’s Family Ministry in order to incite fear
05:24   and prejudice. Today I tried contacting several kindergarten teachers here in Aachen
05:29   to ask them about this. They were aware of the brochure, but no one was willing to give an
05:34   interview. They were all afraid. Most of them thought these brochures were awful and said
05:42   it was outrageous that they were being instructed to become spies.
05:48   Who paid for these brochures? — You did! It is actually your fault. — And you too. Or do you not
05:55   pay your taxes? — I must admit that I do.
05:59   And that’s the real point. This was paid for by taxpayers’ money. — The Family Minister is
06:05   responsible for this, because she allowed her picture to be published in the brochure, and
06:09   she defended it. She still does. She thinks it is right that a “political” eye is kept on
06:17   children in preschools and kindergartens. That parents are summoned in order to discuss their
06:23   childrearing practices and their political doctrine. I think this is horrifying. —So that would be the
06:28   next step. When my child wear braids in her hair, wears a dress or, God forbid, a soccer jersey
06:33   from Germany’s national team with national colors — that means I could be summoned to a
06:37   discussion. —If you have the misfortune of allowing your child to wear braids and dresses.
06:41   Or your son is physically fit, then someone could think “We have got a bunch of neo-Nazis here.”
06:48   Unfortunately, that could lead to the child being taken away from the parents.
06:52   It is mind-boggling that a brochure like this could be distributed
06:56   uncritically to educators by the government, by this federal ministry.
07:02   People at the local level, that actually work to help bring democracy to life…
07:06   Preamble of the German Constitution: “Conscious of their responsibility before God and mankind…”
 

8 thoughts on “The Stasi Goes to Kindergarten

  1. “Children from ethnic national families”;

    “The girl wears dresses and braids, she is taught at home to do household chores, the boy is encouraged to be physically strong and disciplined. ”

    Seems these new Stasi agents who wrote this guide are still thinking in terms of Mormons or Amish and not modern right wing families.

    If any German families fit this description it is the muslim, except for the braids, unless they hide them under the burka.

    • not fully right, le Canadien.
      Muslim boys are taught to be rogue, not disciplined. They are only strong when in company of 18 cousins and not able to fry an egg.

  2. So is this new Stasi secret police state saying that a proper and good German family is one in which girls are taught to be manly and boys are encouraged to be weak and undisciplined?

    If the girls don’t learn to cook and clean, how will they be good servants in the future for the muslims?

    The boys should be OK. It doesn’t take much physical strength to be a chauffeur or butler.

  3. As every sensitive Jew knows, Germans with pigtails and dresses, and boys that exercise and are into physical culture are definitely proto-Nazis.

    Just go back and watch “Cabaret” with the young people singing “Tomorrow Belongs to Me” or watch the Hitler rallies.

    And don’t even think about blond hair and blue eyes. Those are REALLY Nazi signifiers.

    Until we can get all German girls to shtup Muslims and Africans, wear purple hair and pierce their noses, Germany will never be a cosmopolitan, progressive, and safe place for Jews. Ask Anetta.

  4. Anyone politically successful under the soviets should be monitored for treasonous activity. Though they are so blatant no detective work is really required.

  5. So that’s what it’s like living in a never ending nightmare. Back to Hitler tactics. Next step, brainwash the children to spy on and report their parents.

    • Yes, that’s a common tactic with dictatorships.

      The Khmer Rouge of Cambodia made children the property of the state and took them from the parents. Any parent who cried over their loss was quickly beaten.

      The children were told that they were the new Cambodia and their parents were polluted and worthless.

      Horrifically, many of the executioners of the adults in the ‘killing fields’ were youth under 18 and many were girls.

      In Richard Wurmbrand’s book of life under communism in Romania, ‘Tortured for Christ”, he speaks of some of his fellow prisoners who were exemplary citizens whose children ‘turned them in’ to authorities on false charges. Some of these men and women were tortured to death.

  6. Europe…..one way or another it will seek to micro-manage your lives and eventually it will try to kill you for wanting to mind your own business. A continent full of Lemmings and narcissists.

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