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Rüdiger Maas from the Institute for Generation Research warns against generalizations in light of the Sylt video. He can even see some positive aspects in the case.
Berlin – The whole country is talking about a video in which party guests on Sylt shout right-wing extremist slogans. In the snippet, which is only a few seconds long, young people are shown on the terrace of the “Pony” club, cheering to the tune of the hit “L’Amour Toujours” by Gigi D’Agostino: “Foreigners out, foreigners out, Germany for the Germans, foreigners out!” The video, recorded on Pentecost, went viral on the Internet and was shared and commented on many times.
The outrage is still great. The self-confident display of nationalism is “a counter-model to the constitutional patriotism that is currently being celebrated,” explains social psychologist Andreas Zick in an interview with this editorial team during the Germany celebrations for democracy and 75 years of the Basic Law. In the clip, “the people are defined ethnically” – especially by people of the generation that grew up in a common Europe. What does that say about young voters?
The Nazi yelling from Sylt and the AfD on TikTok
According to studies, around ten percent of young people in Germany are nationalistic, authoritarian and right-wing radicals. At the beginning of the year, social scientist Klaus Hurrelmann warned in an interview: “We are finding that a party like the AfD is scoring heavily among the younger generation.”
For generational researcher Rüdiger Maas, this view is too general. Certainly, the AfD is present on TikTok and cleverly spreads questionable and even perfidious political content on the platform. “But young voters today are no more right-wing radical than young people in earlier times,” says Maas in a conversation with IPPEN.MEDIAThe Nazi chanting from Sylt therefore says little about the entire cohort.
National sentiment in “Gen Z” has declined
The scientist from the Augsburg Institute for Generation Research conducted a survey on the national feeling of the Germans before the European Football Championship. “It emerged that among Generation Z (the term for people born from the mid-1990s onwards, editor’s note), national pride actually decreased slightly between 2014 and 2024 in view of Germany’s economic and sporting successes.”
![Rüdiger Maas’ research focuses on “Generation Z,” among other things.](https://www.merkur.de/assets/images/34/672/34672538-wissenschaftler-ruediger-maas-generationen-1Pgyf8uxDKBG.jpg)
Against this background, Maas draws his own conclusions from the Sylt video. “Of course, I was also shocked,” he says. “But it used to happen too. Every week, you would hear racist songs somewhere in festival tents.” But the right-wing extremist beer tent tirade often went unnoticed back then because it was neither filmed nor shared on the Internet. Maas is amazed by the unabashed self-confidence that is now being displayed: “I see the Sylt video as an outstanding case of classism rather than racism.”
“Rich kids” who consider themselves part of a social elite
At Pentecost, children of rich parents like to celebrate in Kampen on Sylt. “Rich kids” who have apparently lost all sense of proportion – “and put themselves above other people,” says Maaß. “I could even imagine that some of these privileged people studied abroad for a semester,” says the youth researcher. “They consider themselves part of a social elite and believe that everything they have is theirs as a matter of course.”
Maas can still see something positive in the case. “We are talking about a small party group on Sylt that millions of people are now upset about. Their behavior was sanctioned, some of the people have lost their jobs, and there may be criminal consequences,” says the social psychologist. “Twenty years ago, something like this would have simply been forgotten, but today it is no longer tolerated. In that respect, society as a whole is making progress.”
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