District Administrator Dr Theophil Gallo took part in the "Never again is now" rally this Friday on Christian-Weber-Platz in Homburg at the invitation of the "Homburg - Diverse instead of simple-minded" alliance. It was important to him as District Administrator and also personally to show his colours at this peaceful demonstration for tolerance, democracy and open-minded coexistence.
District Administrator Dr Theophil Gallo commented: "Unfortunately, we have reason enough to actively stand up for respectful coexistence on the basis of democratic values and principles. The developments and growing structures of right-wing extremist groups in Germany and Europe, and not just in the recent past, are deeply worrying. Our society is nourished by diversity, which is good for it in many respects and is also existentially important for us. And this asset must be protected. As citizens of a functioning democratic constitutional state, we must not allow ourselves to be instrumentalised by others. Otherwise we will lose what our ancestors had to fight for time and again: democracy, freedom of speech and opinion, Europe, peace and freedom in Germany and Europe. The Saarpfalz district cultivates a clear corporate culture based on our Basic Law, according to which human dignity, humanity as such, is inviolable, with a clear orientation: European and cosmopolitan. And - as Holocaust survivor Leon Reif once told his son Marcel Reif - with the diction: 'Be a human being'. For me, that consistently means: let other people be human too and treat them as human. I hope that the citizens of Homburg and the Saarpfalz district, regardless of their social or ethnic background, religion or sexual orientation, will show solidarity in shaping a community without exclusion and in responsible, democratic action. Helping to shape democracy is certainly hard work, but chasing after those who seem to have simple solutions is not an alternative. It is dangerous for our society, for our economy, for all workers and for those who do not fit into this party's image of humanity. The secret conference in Potsdam proves this. I appeal to everyone to inform themselves objectively about our history and about the goals of those who want a different Germany today. This is part of personal responsibility, which means: 'Each individual bears the entire responsibility', as the resistance fighter Willi Graf, who was murdered by the Nazis 80 years ago at the age of 25, put it."