Berlin theatre scraps pool event for black children citing ‘racist agitation’

BERLIN – A Berlin theatre that has set up an outdoor swimming pool scrapped plans on Aug 14 to reserve it for black children and young people for one afternoon, citing a backlash and security fears sparked by “racist agitation”.

The Volksbuehne theatre and the anti-racism organisation Each One Teach One (EOTO) had intended the event, for black “children, young people and their relatives”, as “a positive measure to support structurally disadvantaged groups”.

However, they said this had sparked inflammatory media coverage as well as racist emails and threats of violence that had raised safety concerns.

The theatre’s new artistic director Matthias Lilienthal recently launched the pool project for eight weeks this summer, in which people can book free time slots online, with some days reserved for partner organisations.

One of the groups, EOTO, is a publicly funded group that runs programmes for people of black and African diaspora backgrounds.

The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) was among those who strongly objected to the special programme at the “Volksbad” pool set up by the state-funded theatre.

The party’s co-leader Alice Weidel wrote in an X post: “Apartheid as a model for Germany? In the tax-funded art project ‘Volksbad’, white people are temporarily denied access.

“What is this supposed to mean? Tax funds for such events should be cut immediately!”

One local conservative politician, Aileen Weibeler, on Instagram spoke of “a really strange and discriminatory feeling”.

“Berlin is a liveable, diverse, colourful and free city,” she said, “so why do we need safe spaces?... To be honest, I don’t quite get it.”

The theatre and EOTO said they cancelled the event because of safety concerns after it “became a target of right-wing and racist agitation”.

Lilienthal said that, despite Friday’s cancellation, “we will, of course, continue to offer positive initiatives for structurally disadvantaged people.

“We stand in solidarity – today and every day – with all those subjected to racism and right-wing hostility.”

Berlin’s anti-discrimination official Cansel Kiziltepe decried the “heated campaign of hostility and threats” sparked by the one-time project and stressed that “racism and exclusion are part of the everyday reality for black people”. AFP