Andreas Maier

Herr Koch on the other hand stated the following: He had been on the Zeil and had stood at a stall there, a political stall, and there had been petitions there, and he wanted to sign these petitions, there was even a rather long queue of people who all wanted to sign the petitions. Question: What kind of people? Koch: Well, just people. People like him, normal people. Age? Middle-aged. Social class? Well, just completely normal people. Completely normal people can express their opinions too, can’t they? Nowadays normal people’s opinions just don’t get heard in published opinion. You are forced to declare what you think, what you really think, with a measly signature on a petition. But now you run the gauntlet doing that too. You have to imagine it (Koch continues) something like this. I, Koch, am strolling down the Zeil, because I know that somewhere along it I’ll find that stall, and I meet Herr Meiermüller, an acquaintance, and standing there as we are, we start to chat, and this chat with Herr Meiermüller is the most sensible talk I’ve had in ages, because in other places you aren’t allowed to talk about things like pensions or foreigners, even if you have firm opinions on them, you aren’t allowed to say them, in spite of our democracy. Question: Why aren’t you allowed to say them? Koch, quietly, in an aside: Because our society is ideologized, through published opinion. Society thinks that what it believes is true, but it’s just an ideology. (More loudly:) But with Herr Meiermüller for example, you get into a conversation and suddenly you realize – finally someone sensible, who doesn’t let himself be gagged. You stand around and begin to breathe more freely, you feel better, eat a sausage . . . But then suddenly you look around, and you see how all the other people there on the Zeil are staring at you, because you’re standing at this stall. The stall of a democratic party, a civil party that has ruled our country for many years, but suddenly they’re looking at you as if you were a pariah, just because you’re standing with like-minded people, eating a sausage and adding your name to a petition. So, as I was standing there with Herr Meiermüller being watched by the ideologized, I naturally see this man Kober. What’s he doing? Staring, he is! He stares at us. Question: Did he go to the Zeil just to stare at you? Koch: How should I know? In any case, he walks past the stall, sits down on a bench in front of the little ornamental cherries, and doesn’t budge. And that, Herr Koch, you took personally? Koch: How could I not take it personally? I know that Herr Kober’s views to a T, even if he’s never said what they are. You know people like that. They think they’re morally irreproachable, they go around with their noses in the air, wagging their fingers, ready to give people a ticking off. Herr Koch, do you really believe that? Koch: I come across it again and again! You use the word ‘foreigner’ in public and you’ll see soon enough. Question: How many foreigners are there in your institute? Koch: None. Where do you see foreigners? Koch: Everywhere! In the trams, most of all. In the supermarket. It’s not on! You know what, it makes people nervous. People are afraid of the foreign, that’s the way it is. It’s a fundamental constant of anthropology. Particularly in Frankfurt. And you can’t iron out the differences, because people will always create their own foreign that they’re afraid of. The worst thing is when people have their orientation snatched away from them, and they aren’t allowed to be afraid. Then their fear becomes diffuse, that’s the cancer. Then you’re afraid of everything. Even the neighbours? Koch: Yes, even the neighbours. You see, that’s the truth, but you’re not allowed to say it. Everybody knows it’s the truth, but it still can’t be said.