WHEN I SPOKE MY MIND AGAINST NAZIS IN SCHOOL, IT ALMOST KILLED ME.

INTRODUCTION
West Germany in the early 1980s: a new classmate at the secondary school (Junior High School) of Nils Oskamp denies the Holocaust. Nils tells him what he thinks about the mass murders of the of the Nazis. The response is brawls and brutal ambushes. All his attempts to get help against the violence fail. Classmates are not interested or are afraid themselves. The teachers do not notice the problem and Nil’s parents are busy with other things. Nazi hooligans – led by old Nazis – take over the dirty work in a spiral of violence against Nils, culminating in two assassination attempts.

Preview of the international extended edition of THREE STONES. More than a hundred extra pages with new scenes.

ENGLISH TRAILER

TV report ARTE Journal 25 July 2016, activat english subtitles.

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INFOBOX

The autobiographical graphic novel DREI STEINE was published in 2016 by Panini Comics and as a Schoolbook by the Amadeu Antonio Foundation. The title of the graphic novel Drei Steine (Three Stones) is based on the Jewish tradition of laying stones on graves. In the story, Nils Oskamp takes three stones from the ground of a desecrated Jewish cemetery, which had previously been placed on the graves there. In the course of the story, the three stones each take on a different.

The first stone is used for self-defense. The second stone becomes a symbol of the refusal of violence, and the third stone regains its original meaning of commemorating the dead.

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The german – french antifashist heroine Beate Klarsfeld, also known as nazi huntress.

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PROLOG

The story begins with a nightmare: Nils is being chased by several neo-Nazis and beaten up with a baseball bat. Suddenly, his son Tom wakes him up. Using the father tells his nine-year-old son about his youth in Dortmund and why he named him after his best friend Thomas. The recurring nightmare reflects Nile’s experiences in his youth, during which he was almost died. Nightmares like this are a symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), from which Nils Oskamp has suffered since the violent acts described in Drei Steine in the 1980s until the completion of this book.

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INFOBOX

Right-wing violence in Germany since 1990 (the start of the official count of politically motivated homicides) has resulted in over two hundred homicides. But there are still thousands of victims who have suffered trauma as a result of threats and violence.
Many of these victims developed a secondary condition – PTSD. In the case of Nils Oskamp, this manifested itself in constantly recurring flashback nightmares (trauma intrusions). PTSD became known in Germany after the First World War as the so-called soldier tremor. Help can be provided by trauma therapy or behavioral therapy can offer.

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FIRST ACT

1983: At that time, Dortmund Dorstfeld was a mining and steelworker suburb with high unemployment figures. Nils is thirteen years old and goes to secondary school (Junior High School). After a history lesson with the deputy history teacher, which dealt with the period of National Socialism, the new classmate Andreas stands in front of the class and denies the Holocaust. Nils tells Andreas his opinion against Nazis, whereupon Andreas rush the class bully Dirk on Nils. Nils defends himself with a judo trick, so that Dirk ends up headfirst in the classroom locker. On the way back from school Nils passes a Jewish cemetery that was desecrated by neo-Nazis the weekend before by neo-Nazis. The graves are daubed with swastikas and SS runes, tombstones have been were kicked down and torn out of their anchors, small stones, which had been that were laid on the graves in remembrance are now lying in the dirt. Nils picks up these stones and puts them in his jacket pocket. In the school toilet during a break, Nils discovers Nazi graffiti and stickers of the FAP* (Nazi Party). Just as he is about to remove the stickers, Andreas and Dirk enter the toilet. Nils would have dealt with this threat, but it was an ambush, because another neo-Nazi jumped out of a toilet room and put Nils in a headlock so that Dirk could then beat him up. When Nils regained his senses, he went back to class, where he was punished for being late.

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INFOBOX

The Holocaust, also called the Shoah, refers to the cruel systematic murder of European Jews, Sinti and Roma by the German National Socialists. This genocide resulted in the deaths of over 6 million people. Denial or trivialization of the Holocaust is prohibited by law in many countries. In Germany, it is a criminal offense under  §130 of the German Criminal Code as Volksverhetzung (incitement to racial hatred) a criminal offense. This also includes depicting or wearing National Socialist symbols such as the swastika, since cities were bombed and people were murdered in were murdered in concentration camps. Placing stones on graves is a Jewish tradition to commemorate the dead.

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SECOND ACT

In the skating rink, Nils paints over the Nazi slogan „Deutschland erwache (Germany awaken)“ with „Frühstück ist fertig (Breakfast is ready)“. As a result, he is chased by several neo-Nazis. In great distress Thomas comes to his aid. A friendship begins. The neo-Nazis meet every Wednesday for a comradeship evening at old Fritz’s, a former SS officer and thus an old Nazi. Old Fritz has his recruiters for the FAP* at many schools, like Andreas at Nils‘ school.

The glorification of National Socialism also takes place through the music and history teacher Hinz. Hinz was already a teacher at the time of National Socialism and is about to retire. In music class, he has the first verse of the Deutschland-Lied (Song of the Germans, national anthem in third Reich) and marching songs sung. In history class, he invokes his heroic deeds on the Eastern Front, among other things. Nils embarrasses this teacher in front of the whole class.

At the fairground, Nils sees old Fritz and skinhead Erwin trying to recruit twelve-year-old boys for his Nazis. Nils is ambushed in a crawler carousel by the neo-Nazis again. He uses the first stone he picked up at the Jewish cemetery to defend himself. Thomas then comes to his aid with several buddies. The Nazis then try to recruit Thomas and invite him to a comradeship evening. Thomas goes there as a spy for Nils. At the comradeship evening. At the comradeship evening, there is a lesson in the Nazis‘ views, in which hatred of humanity is stirred up and Hitler is worshipped.

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INFOBOX

In the 1980s, people who were already followers of Hitler during the National Socialist era Hitler’s followers were called Nazis or Alt-Nazis. The new generation were called neo-Nazis. Since the old generation is no longer active, the term Nazi is generally used today. This term comes from the name of Adolf Hitler’s party, which was called the National Socialist Workers‘ Party of Germany (NSDAP). 

*FAP Freiheitliche Arbeiter Partei: radical right-wing party founded in 1979 by former Hitler Youth leader Martin Pape. The FAP was banned by the Federal Ministry of the Interior in 1995. As a result, free comradeships emerged as replacements (e.g. Nationaler Dortmund or Freies Netz Süd), which were also banned between 2001 and 2014. were banned. The neo-Nazis subsequently founded the nazi-alt right parties Die Rechte and the III. Weg. These parties are still active, as is the NPD, founded in 1964. (National Democratic Party of Germany).

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THIRD ACT

As Nils is feeding his budgie in his parents‘ living room, he is shot at with a rifle. shot with a rifle. The police, who are called in, do not investigate the incident and only writes a report for damage to property against unknown persons. Since with the old Fritz has Wehrmacht rifles in the display case, Nils suspects who shot him. Thereupon he confronts Andreas personally after school. When Andreas tries to When Andreas tries to scratch his eyes out, Nils sees red and grabs a stone. In the end Nils decides not to use violence and merely rams the stone into the ground next to Andreas‘ head. A few days later, the tires of Nils‘ bicycle are stabbed with nails. When he is out of school, he is chased by a motorcycle and knocked down by the driver knocked down. Several neo-Nazis rush out of a hiding place and kick him.

SS Michi (actually SS Siggi, Sigfried Borchardt) from the Borussenfront (Nazi Hooligan Gang) scares away other students who could help. Nils is beaten almost to death and wakes up after several hours and wakes up only after several hours severely injured. He drags himself, bleeding, several kilometers to the family doctor, from there he is taken to the hospital. Thomas is his first visit to the hospital and offers to bring the perpetrators of a mass brawl to justice. in a mass brawl. Nils again decides against violence and reports the perpetrators so that they can be brought to justice.

However, the main perpetrators from the Borussenfront are not summoned to court because they have an alibi for the time of the crime. The Nazi thugs from Nile’s school are represented by the Nazi lawyer Jürgen Rieger, who negotiates a sentence for the perpetrators of 27community service hours. Andreas, the leader of the school’s neo-Nazis, does not receive a sentence, but is punishment, but is only transferred to the parallel class. Nevertheless, Nils was able to graduate from high school in peace and later study.

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INFOBOX

Jürgen Rieger was a lawyer, functionary in the neo-Nazi Partys NPD, FAP and millionaire. In addition he was part of the Hamburg neo-Nazi cell around Michael Kühnen, Christian Worch and Thomas Wulf (Steiner). This Hamburg cell was largely responsible for for the structuring of the neo-Nazi scene in East and West Germany after reunification and was jointly responsible for the pogroms and arson attacks from 1991 to 1993 in Hoyerswerda, Rostock Lichtenhagen, Mölln and Solingen, which were directed against migrants or refugees.

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EPILOG

Hamburg 2011: After a trip to Israel, Nils loads photos onto his laptop. His son Tom notices a photo with a swastika flag. Nils then tells him what he saw in Yad the Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem and how the victims of the Shoah are remembered there. At the Pillar of Heroism, the resistance fighters and soldiers who fought against fascism are remembered and soldiers who fought against fascists and Nazis and liberated Europe. In memory of these brave men and women, Nils will lays the third stone there.

To those who hallowed the name of God
The fallen in the ghettos
The partisans in the forests
The fighters of the Resistance
The allied soldiers
The brotherly helpers
The lights in the darkness
The heroes of courage and bitterness
All their lives in eternity.

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INFO BOX

NS memorials are central places of political education against right-wing extremism. Here the victims of the Holocaust are commemorated. Yad Vashem is the central memorial site in Jerusalem and research center on the victims of the Shoah. Other memorials are often located at the sites of the former concentration camps such as such as Auschwitz, Buchenwald, Dachau and Bergen-Belsen.

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A TRUE STORY – THE ORIGINAL SCENE
Dortmund and its Nazi scene

In the early 1980s, the city in the western part of the Ruhr region suffered from high unemployment after first the mines and then the steel mills had ceased operations. Years of turning a blind eye by politicians and police led to the consolidation of of Neo-Nazi structures, which were supported by old Nazis. Even before the fall of the Wall. Neo-Nazis from all over West Germany came to Dortmund to organize. The police chief at the time was known for not taking action against right-wing violence.

Between 2000 and 2006, this led to five deaths from right-wing violence in Dortmund. The national headquarters of the party Die Rechte  is now located in Dortmund Dorstfeld, this district is called „Nazikiez“ (Nazihood) by party members. SS Siggi was elected to the city council in 2014 with 2,000 votes for Die Rechte. Since early 1980s, he had spread fear with the Nazi hooligan organization Borussenfront spread fear by beating up fellow citizens with an immigrant background in Dortmund’s Nordstadt district after every BVB home game. The Nazi terror cell NSU murdered in Dortmund on April 6, 2006. Mehmet Kubaşık was killed that day by Uwe Mundlos and Uwe Böhnhardt in his kiosk on Mallinkrodtstrasse, which was only which was only a few meters away from the Borussia Front’s regular pub „Thüringer Hof“ was. None Dortmund neo-Nazi had to testify at the NSU trial against Beate Zschäppe. On the day of German unity in 2021, SS Siggi died. who, as a 31-year-old man with four accomplices, had beaten 15-year-old Nils Oskamp almost to death.

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INFOBOX

The city of Dortmund is now a model project for prevention work against right-wing extremism. There are round tables in the city hall and in the districts, where from politics, education and the BVB coordinate actions against right-wing extremism. The Respect Office of the Youth Welfare Office does preventive work at schools and provides information about right-wing extremism. Victim protection counseling BackUp NRW has a permanently staffed hotline where people affected by right-wing people affected by right-wing violence can get help. The U-Turn organization provides advice on preventing young people young people into the right-wing scene. In addition, 50 schools have received the award „School without racism, school with courage“ in Dortmund (SOR-SMC). Since 2018, Nils Oskamp has been the SOR-SMC school sponsor of the Reynoldus-Schiller-Gymnasium, which is located next to his old Realschule, which is also part of the SOR-SMC network.

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Memorial stone of NSU victim Mehmet Kubaşık

THREE STONES THE PROJECT

DREI STEINE is more than an autobiographical book, it has become a political educational program with exhibitions, readings, workshops and pedagogical accompanying materials for work with school classes.

THREE STONES. The book was published in 2016 at the international Comic Salon Erlangen and was presented there with the original drawings in an exhibition. Two weeks later this exhibition was opened at the Nazi memorial Steinwache (former GESTAPO-prison) in Dortmund. In the meantime the exhibition has been shown 18 times in Germany and visited by over 150,000 people. The exhibition was also shown in five NS memorials. As part of the second exhibition inDortmund there was the first reading from the graphic novel. In the meantime there have been over 300 readings with a total of 270,000 spectators. Since 2017, the series „Creative Against the Right,“ which offers comic and street art workshops on the workshops on the Scholl siblings and Anne Frank, and other formats of creative political education. In 2016, Drei Steine was awarded the comic prize „Rudolph Dirks Award“ for best biography.

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16.01.2017 Franken-Gymnasium Zülpich, NRW. The reading for the awarding of the certificate as a school without racism – school with courage. Together with the school godfather Julius Esser, the reading took place in front of 600 spectators. Photo: Maria Zarada

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16.11.2018. Reading at the Johann-August-Wirth-Realschule in Hof in front of over 400 students. Closing event of the reading and workshop tour through Upper Franconia as part of the exhibition program at the Comic Museum Erika-Fuchs-Haus in Schwarzenbach an der Saale. Photo: Maria Zarada

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From July to November 2018, the Three Stones exhibition was on display at the Comic Museum Erika Fuchs House in Schwarzenbach an der Saale (Upper Franconia). For over fifty years, Erika Fuchs was the translator of Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse. Photo: Maria Zarada

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