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Germany

The Rostock Riots and their Legacy

August 19, 2022

On 24 August 1992, Germany experienced its worst outbreak of racial violence since 1945. In Rostock, a mob threw stones and then firebombs at an apartment block housing mainly Vietnamese workers.

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Die Narbe - Der Anschlag in Rostock-Lichtenhagen
Image: NDR

 The legacy of that night reverberates to this day.

Die Narbe - Der Anschlag in Rostock-Lichtenhagen
Image: NDR

Hung Quoc Nguyen moved to what was then communist East Germany in 1989. He was one of more than 100 Vietnamese residents inside their apartments in the city of Rostock on that day. The attack forced them to climb to safety on the roof. In this film, he speaks out publicly for the first time: "The Vietnamese in Rostock still remember what happened, but nobody wants to talk about it."

Die Narbe - Der Anschlag in Rostock-Lichtenhagen
Image: NDR

Wolfgang Richter, who was then the city Commissioner for Foreigners, was in the building and helped bring the women and children to safety. He is still haunted by memories of the mob who cheered on the attack: "We bear a responsibility to ensure that nothing like this ever happens again."

This film revisits the xenophobic riots in Rostock in 1992 and asks: how could this have happened? And what is the legacy of this racist attack today?

 

 

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