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Steinmeier and Prien Urge Teacher Action on Extremism, Call for Nationwide Incident Logging

A call for intervention against extremist remarks accompanies a push for standardized incident tracking.

Overview

  • President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said teachers cannot neutrally look away from racist or antisemitic remarks and called for solidarity with staff facing extremist attacks in schools.
  • Education Minister Karin Prien urged educators to take a clear stance against dehumanizing and extremist statements, calling the lack of uniform documentation an unacceptable gap.
  • A Stern and RTL inquiry found ten federal states already record school incidents systematically, while others rely on police statistics, underscoring uneven practices.
  • The GEW union, led by Maike Finnern, warned that the AfD leverages a distorted neutrality debate and past complaint portals to pressure teachers, fueling uncertainty about permissible responses.
  • Steinmeier emphasized democracy education as a lived schoolwide practice, noting rising strain on public willingness to defend democratic values.