This post is also available in: German

Germans are very sensitive when it comes to surveillance, secret courts and the NSA. The reason lies in Germanys history. A grumpy 81-year-old German shares his memories about his youth in Nazi-Germany and how fear and surveillance have slowly poisoned the society.  

Offline Trolling

Marburg is a small university town in the German State of Hesse, about 55 miles north of Frankfurt. Everyone in this town knows Franz Becker. He is a retired butcher, and some call him a great humanist, and others call him a cantankerous troublemaker. Becker sees himself as a citizen who takes an interest in politics. And because he does not own a smartphone nor has access to the internet, he has turned his former shop in the historic part of Marburg into his own facebook page. Whenever he gets angry about anything in the world, he “posts” his opinion on a large poster in front of the shop’s window. And he has done so in no uncertain terms, about the Iraq war, about the conflict in the Middle East, and presently about the NSA surveillance scandal.

Declaration On Our Own Behalf

I, as a citizen of the FRG [Federal Republic of Germany], do not want to be subject to permanent surveillance, not by German, and even less so by American assholes!… and you? 

In a free democracy there is no such thing as 100% security – nor anywhere in the world, for that matter! The only place where you’re relatively safe is in prison. The Chancellor, who has spent 35 years there, should remember what [the Stasi] did there during 40 years.

Instead of flying to Rio and accepting kudos there she should give the Amis a mighty kick in the ass – for all the media to see and to report about it. They abuse the freedom they say they defend all over the world for their own surveillance terror.

Signed Franz Becker

No Facebook But A Display Window 

When I stumbled upon a photo of his latest “offline-thread”, I grabbed the phone and I gave him a call, because he had given his number on the sign, in lieu of a commenting function on it. “[I do that] so that anyone can contact me, if they don’t agree with the content or if maybe they agree very much”, the 81-year-old said on the phone.

We talked for almost an hour – about his sometimes extreme opinions, his childhood in the Hitler Jugend, Hitler’s youth organization, and about the societal consequences of surveillance. This account is an abbreviated version of the conversation. Abbreviations were only made for better readability.

Good morning, Mr. Becker, why did you put up this poster?

What motivated me is the do-nothing attitude of our chancellor. This submissiveness and gutlessness from the head of a sovereign state that can claim a certain economic relevance for itself after all. That for me is the mainstay of my criticism. Friendship – or even the pursuit of common interests –that is just not possible on that basis. Trust has to be the basis of all activity.

So you are not that concerned about the present espionage scandal, but mainly about the surveillance of the citizenry. Why?

Because I feel betrayed somehow, because while our chancellor does represent her interests and those of her government, she does not represent those of her citizens. This letting-matters-rest, that is part and parcel of her policies. That really annoys me!

The citizenry doesn’t seem to care. What do you think is the reason for that?

I think that’s got to do with our prosperity. By and large, most people are doing reasonably well for themselves. As long as everyone’s livelihood is ascertained, the Germans will not take to the streets. And then we still carry that gene in us, going back to the German Empire, that subservience gene.

Yes, we are comparably well-off in Germany. So why fight against surveillance?

I am 81 years old. I was a child during the Nazi era, and I have first-hand experience of how a society gets forced into conformity. I was twelve-and-a-half years old when the war was over and I had been with the “Jungvolk” [Nazi youth organization] for two years. The surveillance terror didn’t even spare us children. If we didn’t conform, or if we so much as said or did anything someone found was not in order we had to see the gang leader. That happened to me twice, once when I was eleven and once when I was twelve. Only in hindsight, decades later, did I realize what they had done to us. That you don’t say or do what you really think, but that you act clandestinely, if at all …

How does that make itself felt in everyday life?

You could observe that after the war, how adults talked among themselves for example. They always turned around and checked if nobody was listening. You might remember that poster: “Be careful – the enemy is eavesdropping!” That was up on every corner. The intent was to keep people from giving away any secrets. But in the long run, the result was that people didn’t trust one another anymore. That you always had to feel as if someone was watching you. That will change a society.

So people act differently if they know they are under surveillance?

Of course. You can notice it in yourself if you pay attention.

What do you think of Edward Snowden?

It is beneath contempt how that man is being treated! It is a disgrace. If German politicians say the man cannot tell us anything new, only so they don’t have to invite him, that is so sycophantic toward the Americans. Our chancellor could make herself immortal if she were to say, even against the will of our so-called friends, “Mr. Snowden is welcome in Germany!” – I would  really respect her for that.

What do you think the government is afraid of?

That’s what I wonder about, too. The world economy is so interconnected nowadays, nothing much can happen any more. So if the Americans are miffed, that’s not going to have any consequences any longer. Whether they like it or not. This behavior towards a man who got the ball rolling, to whom we should be grateful – that’s a disgrace! For America and for Germany. When that came out I stuck protest posters all over my van. I still drive it around town that way.

Did that ever get you into trouble?

Oh yes, it did. I was stopped by the police a few times. First I thought I’d forgotten to buckle up. But then the cops said, no, what did I think I was doing with these posters. Amongst other things I say on them the Americans are state terrorists. One of the cops said that was demagoguery [an offence in Germany] and threatened me with consequences.

And how did it go on?  

I went to police headquarters right away and I talked to the chief there for two hours. And I also mentioned that I was going to make it public that my right to free speech was being threatened. That way I could soften him.

Threatening with publicity protected you?  

That’s right. That‘s why I do publicly whatever I do. Because I have noticed that officials or other people in certain positions don’t fear anything as much as they fear negative publicity.

Do you think of yourself as courageous?

Rubbish! I’ll give you an example for courage: When I was in school we had a teacher who has remained a role model for all my life. He was the only one who defied the Nazis. Instead of having us jump to our feet and yell “Heil Hitler!” as we had to do with the other teachers, he just said at the beginning of each lesson: “Sit down, children, and let us pray!” Then he prayed with us every morning. The other teachers didn’t like that one bit. He was summoned to the Gestapo and he was told to change his behavior. He didn’t do that. When I think of this teacher, even today, it brings tears to my eyes. Because he stuck to what he felt was right, no matter what anyone thought of him.

You are extremely critical of the US, even though the Americans have liberated us Germans from the Nazis. Why?

America – that used to be the beacon of freedom for the downtrodden of the world. Anyone, no matter where they came from, could go there and make their life’s dream come true, could live there freely and without worries. But that is not the case any longer. Just like Germany, America has become a surveillance sate. That country has nothing to do anymore with the America of the old days. Yes, September 11th was a tragic event, but now it is being utilized to induce fear in people.

How do people react to your poster?

Not always positively. Some people say “why do you do that?” My own daughter often complains that I am too critical. She keeps saying “you can’t change anything, anyway!”

What is your answer to your daughter?

Oh yes, I can change something! If only one person walks by that poster and says, well, maybe that guy does have a point, than I have achieved something.

Translated by German/English-Translator Elka Sloan