A now-deleted video published on X by Bavaria’s interior ministry has drawn comparisons to Nazi-era propaganda for its depiction of an ethnic minority.

“What unbelievable racist garbage,” former member of the German Bundestag Niema Movassat said of the clip, which depicts the radicalization of a Muslim woman in a manner some X users have described as reminiscent of anti-Jewish propaganda from the 1920s through the 1940s.

“Der Stürmer is back and runs the propaganda department of the Bavarian Ministry of the Interior,” wrote Movassat — who now works as a lawyer — adding that he will examine whether pressing charges is possible. “Muslims are demonized in the clip,” he said.

  • some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org
    41·
    2 months ago

    The ministry’s official X account ran the video — which has been viewed over 900,000 times — shortly after midnight on Monday, just a few hours after results of two eastern German state elections confirmed the far right’s biggest success since World War II. The video was deleted late in the evening.

    I hate that the far-right is gaining ground worldwide.

    Approximately 5.5 million Muslims live in Germany, the majority of whom are German citizens. In 2023 an independent report commissioned by the government to research anti-Muslim racism found that half of the population holds hostile views toward Islam and perceives it as a danger to German society. A third called for restrictions on practicing the Islamic faith. This would violate the fundamental right to freedom of religion.

    Holy shit! And I thought we had racism in the USA. HALF!

    “We are extremely sorry if the video has led to confusion and misunderstandings,” a deputy spokesperson said. “As prevention and deradicalization work in the fight against Salafism is very important to us, we will revise the video scenes — but the dangers of Salafism must not be played down.”

    It said exactly what we wanted to say and we’re only sorry because we got called out.