The sudden appearance of a large number of German flags in a small town in rural Germany has caused a flap in political and media circles.
As local newspaper Siegner Zeitung reports, the State security agency has launched an investigation into a potential “right-wing extremist” aspect of the action.
During the night of October 17, unknown parties hung more than 20 black, red and gold German flags throughout Nachrodt-Wiblingwerde, a small town of 6,000 inhabitants south of Dortmund (North Rhine Westphalia).
The banners in varying sizes were strung from lampposts and traffic signs. A larger flag was fixed to a local radio tower – together with a sign reading: “National pride is not a crime”.
Flying the German flag is not illegal. Nevertheless, the local State security service – a department of the police that deals with politically motivated crime – in the nearby town of Hagen has launched an investigation.
The Hagen police have also confirmed they received at least one complaint about the flags.
Nachrodt-Wiblingwerde Mayor Birgit Tupat told local newspaper Westfalenpost on October 23 that she had first thought the flags were a harmless prank by local youths and they would soon be taken down by town officials.
She later learned, though, of a trend on social media urging people to show the German flag – an emulation of the British Raise the Colours campaign advocating the display of Union Jack and St George’s Cross flags in public places.
Tupat said she did not mind if someone raised the German flag on their own land, but added: “When it happens on public land and it has a right-wing background, that’s where I draw the line.”
The mayor said that although she was not the one who alerted State security, she was receiving hostile emails: “I am labelled a hater of Germany and the German flag. This is not the first time I have had this right-wing mob breathing down my neck.”
Tupat added: “I have nothing against the German flag. It is a symbol of the free democratic basic order.”
Despite the investigation, the events in Nachrodt-Wiblingwerde have already inspired local copycats. In the night of October 26, dozens of German flags were hung by unknown persons in the nearby town of Hilchenbach.
A spokesman for the local police told newspaper Siegener Zeitung that the act – while not a crime and without indication of a political motive – had been reported to the State security office.
