This coming weekend, well over 1,000 neo-Nazis are expected to gather in Ostritz to indulge in their inhumane and racist ideology.
As a response from civil society, residents of Ostritz and Upper Lusatia are organizing the Ostritz Peace Festival from April 20–22, featuring a diverse and high-quality cultural program.
Also participating is the Zittau/University ChoirGörlitz, conducted by Prof. Neithard Bethke, which will musically open the Peace Festival with a concert in the Ostritz Church on Friday at 6:00 p.m.—significantly, featuring works by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, who was ostracized by the Nazis.
Rector Friedrich Albrecht commented: “I am very pleased that our choir is making its presence felt with this concert. Furthermore, I call on all members of our University to attend the Ostritz Peace Festival and to support this message that there is no place for far-right ideology in Upper Lusatia.”
As part of the “Cosmopolitan University—Against Xenophobia” campaign launched by the German Rectors’ Conference (HRK), Zittau/Görlitz University emphasizes that scholarship can flourish only in a tolerant and cosmopolitan environment.
Links:
Press Release: Universities Against Xenophobia
Contact:
Hella Trillenberg
Advisor to the Rector / Press Office
Theodor-Körner-Allee 16
02763 Zittau
Tel.: 03583 612-3030
Email: h.trillenberg(at)hszg.de