The Strange Case of Nadja Drygalla

Ever since 23 year-old Nadja Drygalla, a rower for the German Olympic team, felt compelled to leave the Olympic Village because her boyfriend was active in the neo-Nazi NPD, the case has pre-occupied the German media.  And even the New York Times took notice: 

So while the rest of the world talks about the sprinter Usain Bolt and the swimmer Michael Phelps, Germany debates the past and future of a single rower on the women’s eight that did not even make the finals. The case is making “big waves,” as Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich put it on Monday. A parliamentary committee will discuss the controversy in a hearing next month, according to Dagmar Freitag, the sports committee chairwoman.

The case raises all kinds of questions.  Is Ms. Drygalla being persecuted for the belief system of her boyfriend?  Is this another case where the German authorities failed to recognize right-wing extremism? 

The German right-wing media outlets are outraged at the treatment of the young woman.  The neo-fascist weekly Junge Freiheit screamed "Character assasination" (Rufmord!). And the neo-Nazi NPD – absurdly and grotesquely – compared Ms. Drygalla's ordeal to the persecution of minorities under a Nazi dictatorship: 

Was hier geschehen ist, erinnert stark an das Vorgehen in Diktaturen!

(What happened here is reminiscent of dictatorship!)

But some in the mainstream media were also unhappy with the way things turned out in London for Nadja Drygalla.  Barbara Hans, writing in Der Spiegel, accused the German Olympic officials of extreme overreaction and hypocrisy for hounding the young woman out of the Olympic Village:

Politik und Sportfunktionäre haben die Frage nach ihrer Haltung schlicht mit Aktionismus überdeckt. Weg mit ihr, und zwar so schnell es geht. Sie haben sich zu profilieren versucht als wackere Kämpfer gegen rechts. Damit bloß niemand hinterher hätte sagen können, man habe sich nicht klar positioniert. Das Ergebnis ist nicht Haltung. Es ist Heuchelei.

(The politicians and sports officials have covered over questions concerning their conduct by taking action. Get rid of her – and as quickly as possible.  They had to show that they were in charge and were willing to fight against right-wing extremism.  Just so noone could say later that they were not decisive.  The result is not conduct.  It is pure hypocrisy.). 

On the other hand, Angelo D'Abundo in Der Freitag sees the case as disturbing evidence that right-wing extremism in Germany is not just a fringe movement, and, by focusing just on one woman – Nadja Drygalla – the media is ignoring a much bigger problem: 

Schon wieder muss die deutsche Öffentlichkeit nach dem NSU-Skandal eine Rechtsextremismus-Debatte führen. Und dabei verfestigt sich eine äußerst unangenehme Gewissheit: Rechtsextremismus ist kein Problem des politischen Rands, sondern der Mitte der Bundesrepublik.

(Once again – following on the heels of the NSU scandal – the German public is forced to debate the issue of right-wing extremism.  And this unfortunately leads to the irrefutable conclusion: Right-wing extremism is not just a problem of the political fringe, but is rather square at the center of the Federal Republic.)

RIght-wing extremism is no laughing matter – as we learned here in the US earlier this week after a neo-Nazi committed mass murder at a Sikh temple.