Police are investigating two men after they reportedly chanted a song at the Bergkirchweich beer festival which includes the Nazi slogan “Ausländer raus” ("Foreigners out"). The investigation follows a similar incident on the island of Sylt over the Whitsun holiday weekend.

Police investigate Bergkirchweih guests for Nazi slogan song

Police in Erlangen, Bavaria, are investigating two men who reportedly chanted a Nazi slogan at the Bergkirchweih beer festival.

Police appealing for witnesses who may have seen the men chanting the lyrics “Ausländer raus, Deutschland den Deutschen” (“Foreigners out, Germany for the Germans”) to the tune of L'Amour Toujours by Italian artist Gigi D'Agostino.

After the incident, the 21-year-old and 26-year-old guests were reportedly thrown out of and barred from the festival. 

"Xenophobia and racism have no place in Erlangen's Bergkirchweih," said a post on X from the city of Erlangen, “L'Amour Toujours” will no longer be played at the festival”. 

Bergkirchweih racist incident follows “Ausländer raus” chant on Sylt

News of the incident at Bergkirchweih comes shortly after a video of partygoers on the German island of Sylt singing the same Nazi slogan to L'Amour Toujours, made headlines across the German-language media.

The video shows a group drinking and dancing while chanting “Ausländer raus” to the song, while one guest imitates a moustache and Hitlergruß (Nazi salute). First used in the 19th century and later adopted by the Nazi Party, the slogan - and the salute - are both illegal in Germany.

The exclusive Pony bar, where the video was filmed, has since distanced itself from the guests, explaining that staff were “deeply shocked” by the events. “Racism and fascism have no place in our society,” the bar wrote in an Instagram post.

Guests at the bar had reportedly paid 150 euros per person to enter the summer party where the video was filmed. Within Germany, the northern Friesian island of Sylt is widely known as a go-to holiday destination and second home location for Germany’s rich and famous.

Agostino’s L'Amour Toujours co-opted by German far-right

Since a video surfaced in November 2023, which showed the racist slogan being chanted to D'Agostino’s song at a disco in Kalbach, Fulda, it is widely believed that D’Agostino’s song has been co-opted by the German far right in an attempt to normalise the chant’s racist sentiment.

According to Bavarian broadcaster BR, the youth movement of Germany’s far-right populist Alternative for Germany (AfD), “Junge Alternative”, took part in the chant at a disco in Greding, following an AfD party conference in January. The AfD also uses the song as background music on its highly popular TikTok channel.

In February 2024, students training to work at the Finanzamt as judicial officers in Hesse were accused of singing the chant at a party in the Rothenburger Study Centre for Financial Administration and Justice.

Thumb image credit: Takashi Images / Shutterstock.com