Next weekend, well over 1,000 neo-Nazis are expected to gather in Ostritz to indulge in their inhuman and racist ideology.
As a civil society response, citizens of Ostritz and Upper Lusatia are organizing the Ostritz Peace Festival from 20-22 April with a colourful and high-class cultural programme.
The Zittau/Görlitz Academic Choir under the direction of Prof. Neithard Bethke will also be taking part, opening the peace festival with a concert in the Ostritz church on Friday at 6 p.m. - significantly with works by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, a composer who was ostracized by the National Socialists.
Rector Friedrich Albrecht commented: "I am delighted that our choir is showing its face with this concert. I also call on all members of our university to show their presence at the Ostritz Peace Festival and to support this sign that there is no place for right-wing extremist ideas in Upper Lusatia."
As part of the "Weltoffene Hochschule - gegen Fremdenfeindlichkeit" (Open-minded university - against xenophobia) campaign of the German Rectors' Conference (HRK), Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences emphasizes that science can only thrive in a tolerant and open-minded environment.
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Press release Universities against xenophobia
Contact:
Hella Trillenberg
Advisor to the Rector / Press Office
Theodor-Körner-Allee 16
02763 Zittau
Tel.: 03583 612-3030
Mail: h.trillenberg(at)hszg.de