Autor/Autorin
We are talking about life and death, otherwise no one would venture on this often fatal journey across the Mediterranean, as the captain of the sea rescue ship of the „Lifeline“ mission, Claus Peter Reisch, repeatedly emphasises in his interviews. And we share responsibility, as we are partly responsible for the causes of flight, violence and poverty as a result of economic plundering, arms deals and, last but not least, irreversible environmental and climate pollution. We are also responsible for the fact that the harbours of Malta and Italy are closed to rescue ships and that the sea rescue ships are slowed down by NGOs. Indeed, the rescuers are even cynically accused of fuelling the business that smugglers do with refugees through their presence, and are therefore to blame for the mass grave that is the Mediterranean.
Not so long ago, hundreds of thousands of people had to flee from Europe overseas and to the furthest corners of our planet. There was no longer any chance of survival for them, first in Germany and then in many European countries. Regardless of why they were persecuted, whether as Jews, Sinti and Roma, „asocials“, communists, social democrats, opposition Christians, Jehovah’s Witnesses, etc., they were often only able to flee, if at all, with the support of such smugglers. With its recognition of the „Righteous Among the Nations“, it is no coincidence that the Israeli Holocaust memorial honours those who helped selflessly and did not make a profit from their rescue operation at the time.
Hardly anyone today would think that the people for whom there was no longer any chance of survival in our country only fled because people smugglers opened the way for them. Let alone the idea that those who made money from illegal border crossings, boat tickets and escape routes were actually responsible for the wave of refugees.
And as for the captains of the rescue ships who tried to save refugees from the Nazis and the camps: They were later awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, like Gustav Schröder, whose odyssey with 906 refugees was made into a film as „Voyage of the Damned“. He was denied permission to land in Cuba and the USA with the ship „St. Louis“, which meant the death of the majority of refugees during the National Socialist occupation in Europe, as he had to bring his protégés back there without being rescued.
There is much talk these days of a culture of remembrance, of the need to strengthen our democracy. What will we be able to answer when the question comes up in the not too distant future: „What did you do when hundreds of people fleeing war, political persecution and torture, famine and abject poverty drowned in the Mediterranean?“ That the captain of the „Lifeline“, Claus Peter Reisch, received a medal for his selfless efforts, but his ship was not allowed to set sail and there was no harbour in Europe where rescued people could be taken in? That the captain of the „Lifeline“ could receive prizes and make as many radio programmes as he wanted, but as long as politicians were divided and feared the rise of right-wing populists, we couldn’t do anything? Or that we didn’t want to do anything because we were afraid of the AfD and the new-old nationalism and racism?
For years, the slogan „Learn from history!“ was spread and chanted almost like a mantra. Never again should children be separated from their parents, never again should people have to leave their homes and flee under such unworthy conditions. No, nothing is the same as it was back then, nobody has to flee from National Socialists in Europe today and the crime of the Holocaust was unique in its perversion of the law and its inhumanity. Nevertheless, the decision as to what kind of country we want to live in is a daily one. Where the majority remains silent in the face of human catastrophe, the few fear-mongers and agitators, the racists, nationalists and anti-Semites, have already won. We are the ones who give them this power. And hasn’t the worst already happened when hundreds of people are drowning in the Mediterranean before our eyes?
Remembering means realising that we are determined to stand up for human rights, be they our own or those of others. It is our right and our duty to say „no“, i.e. to resist when human dignity is violated. This is and remains, as Fritz Bauer said, the lesson of the Nazi trials. It is and remains our duty.
We have now published our film interview with Claus Peter Reisch on the Fritz Bauer Blog and our YouTube channel. You can also support Mission Lifeline and the rescue ships with donations: Mission Lifeline e.V., IBAN: DE85 8509 0000 2852 2610 08, BIC: GENODEF1DRS, Volksbank Dresden e.G.