SecondThis is not an ordinary crime committed near Bad Griesbach in the Black Forest on August 26, 1921-the circumstances alone show it: seven bullets hit the victim, two of which hit the head at close range . A symbol of the Weimar Republic was murdered with them: Matthias Elzberg.
On November 11, 1918, when the armistice agreement was signed for the German Empire, Elzberg, who was born in a small village in Alb, Swabian, walked out of the shadow of history First world war End it. In the following months, as the main director of the center, he helped the “Treaty of Versailles” obtain a majority in the Weimar National Assembly. Erzberger’s outstanding historical achievement was to maintain the unity of the German nation-state with others through the Treaty of Versailles at the end of the First World War. On the other hand, the so-called “patriots” of the right-wing demanded rejection of the treaty, which would provide France with an excuse for hope to implement what it failed: the split of the empire into small states and the reorganization of central Europe through the second Westphalian peace treaty. .
Fearless courage
Erzberger realized that his behavior would make him the most hated person in Germany. Nevertheless, he did not flinch. He is characterized by fearlessness and determination to do the right thing for his country-this still requires the utmost respect today. The 100th anniversary of his assassination is certainly an opportunity to reflect on the challenges that our democracy must deal with in the 1920s. I want to list three.
First: Erzberger is a victim of a right-wing extreme terrorist organization. Our country is also faced with terrorist threats from different sources. These threats are unique in the history of our country. To this day, there is still no completely appropriate answer. Therefore, in the next legislative stage, it is important to finally take a comprehensive stand against the fact that the power and possibility of our security authorities depreciate due to the advancement of digitalization.
Second: Over the years, we have seen political discourse become barbaric, some of which no longer meet the standards of civilized behavior. Because words can easily become actions, we must all pay attention to our language. We politicians are also given the task of dealing with disputes in an appropriate way—handling each other while respecting all differences of opinion inherent in the democratic decision-making process. Whenever this kind of discourse crosses the crime-related boundaries in social media, we must fight back more decisively.
Steps against the cruel debate
Measures have been taken to this end, but we still encounter obstacles in tracking hate speech on the Internet, which prevents us from being able to determine who is using a pseudonym or email address to communicate. This must also be changed, for example by forcing certain providers to collect and verify identifying characteristics and provide them with judicial approval.
Third, our democracy faces more and more dispersed groups, such as imperial citizens, horizontal thinkers, and other conspiracy theorists. For them, politics does not start from looking at reality but from their imagination. This has led to discourse. Fundamental change. If a decision in a democratic dispute is criticized as inappropriate or wrong, it is now considered untrue, illegal or even authoritarian. These groups have gained the right to resist, thereby creating an atmosphere of aggression and violence. defend.
More importantly, we strengthen and maintain the classic system of a democratic constitutional country: independence from the judiciary and the media, as well as freedom of speech and minority rights. Most importantly, this requires a consensus from the political center. In Weimar, this was lost, and democracy was lost with it.
The author is the Chairman, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior of the CDU of Baden-Württemberg.
