Jörg Otto is a punk and came to Sylt with the 9 euro ticket. He is only slightly surprised that Nazi slogans were being sung in a posh club there. These are just arrived snots who are just getting the upper hand.
A video is circulating online that shows young people on Sylt chanting the right-wing extremist slogan “Germany for the Germans, foreigners out.” The scene was recorded in the Kampen Pony Club. Jörg Otto is outraged about this.
He is a punker and came to the island in 2022 with many others with the nine-euro ticket for a “Storm on Sylt”. While his colleagues left the island, he stayed.
Last year he even ran for the Left in the local elections. In an interview with FOCUS Online, Otto talks about his view of the noble club and the incident.
FOCUS Online: Have you ever been to the Pony?
Jörg Otto: Yes, I actually wanted to go to the club twice a while ago. I even had the pony logo patched on my punk jacket because I thought it was funny. I didn’t get in on the first try. The second time I had a whiskey and cola there. It was pretty empty that day and I honestly thought the pony was a bit too hyped. Sure, there are celebrity pictures on the wall, but I like it better elsewhere.
But on the video with the Nazi slogans it looks quite busy.
Otto: Pentecost is something completely different. Normally anyone can get in there, even if you’re not rich. But this weekend is the opening of the season on Sylt every year, and that is the big highlight. The entrance fee is then extremely expensive and you go into the store to see and be seen. There is a chic flair. There used to be a lot of celebrities there, but that has decreased.
Who are these young people celebrating Pentecost in the pony?
Otto: The really rich people on the island prefer to be left alone. These are wannabes who arrive for the Pentecost weekend. They do their bank clerk training and then come to Sylt to get some of the chic flair and escalate at parties.
Are you surprised that a video with Nazi slogans emerges from the pony?
Otto: Not really. When “Layla” was a hit, people shouted loudly about it, even though it is a pretty sexist number. I’m guessing that this time it was people who wasted their money in the pony and went crazy on drugs or alcohol. But that’s no excuse, they’re definitely on the right too.
The operator of the pony says no one heard the slogans. But the club is right on the street and there is a bar on the terrace at Pentecost. Do you believe the owner?
Otto: The DJ must have noticed, but he’s probably an outsider. I don’t know if others notice this. It’s already extremely crowded at Pentecost and the disco music might make it go unnoticed.
Do you think that such slogans are being sung because young people felt safe in the club? Sylt is considered a very exclusive and elite island, you feel like you’re among yourself.
Otto: Kampen in particular is very elitist, you might get that feeling. But these people probably felt safe mainly because the AfD and right-wing attitudes are currently in vogue again. You think you’re getting the upper hand. Then the ugly side of these people turns out.
But Sylt is much more diverse than you think. On the one hand, there have been die-hard Nazis here since the Nazi era. At the same time there are also punkers and more left-wing party people. And then there are also many people who have immigrated from abroad, especially from Poland. They came to Sylt as workers in the tourism sector. These Nazi slogans do not reflect the true image of the island.
There are some on social media who are now half-seriously, half-jokingly demanding that the punkers have to go back to the island – just like two years ago, when you and others arrived with the 9 euro ticket.
Otto: It really is. There are already actions planned for the summer, but now more punks will surely come to protest against these Nazi slogans. We should take a stand against right-wing ideas, that’s a shame for this beautiful island.
We see ourselves as part of the protest culture and the island is also ours. We want to show that and stand up for the ordinary people here. That the workers on the island can live affordably and that holiday apartments do not displace the locals.
