A picture is currently circulating again with an alleged quote from Green MP Stefanie von Berg.

In that picture it is claimed that Stefanie von Berg said the following:

“It’s a good thing that we Germans will soon be in the minority.”

Screenshot mimikama.org
Screenshot mimikama.org

The claim that Ms. von Berg said this has been floating since the beginning of 2016 .

Did she really say that?

No . This is not a literal quote, but rather an interpretation based on a short speech that Ms. von Berg gave on November 11, 2015. By the way, she also uploaded this speech to YouTube herself, you can watch it here:

Two sentences from the speech are used in the picture as a basis for interpretation.

  1. I am of the opinion that in 20 or 30 years we will no longer have any ethnic majorities in our city.
  2. And I'll tell you very clearly (…): That's a good thing.

Note the small but significant difference:
“no ethnic majorities” (meaning: equal proportion of all ethnicities) becomes “Germans will soon be in the minority” in the interpretation in the picture.

You can interpret it that way if you only know two groups, namely Germans and the rest of the world, but if you listen to the whole speech, it is a misinterpretation . It specifically addresses the problems and challenges that a variety of ethnic groups bring with them. The sentence “That’s a good thing,” as she emphasizes, is also aimed specifically at the AfD to tell them that it has nothing against several ethnic groups in one place.

There were threats

Die Zeit this speech and its consequences quite extensively in December 2015 This reduction of the speech to this area, including the inversion of the statement, already brought the politician threats in November 2015. In addition to death threats, there were also sexually aggressive threats. Die Zeit wrote on December 29, 2015:

“The death threats scared me at first,” she says. “But I find the many, many sexual comments lastingly hurtful: I’m a lesbian, I’m being fucked, I need to be really raped – that shocked me.”

The consequences of such sharepics: An interview

an interview in 2017, when the picture was still being distributed, which we would like to reproduce here.

Ms. von Berg, you are probably familiar with this sharepic. When was this image first brought to your attention (and what were people's initial reactions)?

At the beginning of January 2016, I received personal messages on Facebook with mostly very offensive content. This image was obviously the trigger because it was always sent along. Some messages also asked objectively whether I said that and why I thought so. I have mostly answered these questions. At the same time, a wave started on Twitter and by email - I also received a lot of insults and threats on Twitter and by email. To this day it hasn't stopped - this sharepic keeps popping up.

Why did this twisted sentence come about?

In a speech to the Hamburg parliament in November 2015 - which was actually about educating refugee children and young people - I spoke about the future of major German cities. I explained that, according to studies, in 20 to 30 years there would no longer be ethnic majorities in major German cities and that we would instead become a super-cultural society. After unrest arose in the ranks of the AfD, I added the sentence, “And that’s a good thing!” About two weeks later, the AfD Hamburg parliamentary group posted the excerpt of the speech on its Facebook page. The headline of the post was “Green politician drops mask” – my statement was then twisted by the AfD faction into the sentence mentioned in the sharepic.

Do you even know the creator of this sharepic - and if so, have you ever contacted him?

I don't know the creator and therefore couldn't get in touch with him.

Have you filed a report/considered filing a report? (If yes: what happened to it, if no: why not?)

Since at that time I had already had six weeks of shitstorm behind me, which was constantly taking on new proportions and a media lawyer told me that there was nothing we could do about it anyway, I didn't do anything else.

What consequences did this sharepic have for you? Was there any specific hostility or threats?

This sharepic fueled the shitstorm considerably and gave it even more force. It has meant that I continue to receive hostility, insults and threats.

How did your friends react to the picture?

My acquaintances are not on the internet sites where this picture is obviously circulating (Facebook pages of right-wing groups, AfD Facebook pages, PI News, etc.). I've never been asked about it by friends.

Did the picture permanently damage her reputation in any way?

Yes, because it paints me as a German hater. However, I am a strong supporter of a diverse, liberal society because I know that we can all benefit from it in a globalized world - if we create the conditions for integration. This view has been completely distorted.

Do you still have to deal with this picture often?

I don't have to deal with this image as often as I did last year - but, as I said, it keeps popping up. Don’t forget social media.


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Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )