German pensioner battles neo-Nazi ‘muck’
Wielding just nail-polish remover, a camera and an “Against Nazis” tote bag, Irmela Mensah-Schramm is a one-of-a-kind fighter against Germany’s increasingly threatening far-right scene.
Walking the streets of the depressed east Berlin district of Lichtenberg on the hunt for racist and pro-fascist graffiti, 66-year-old Mensah-Schramm’s diminutive frame belies a crusader’s iron will.
“I’m removing Nazi stickers!” the grey-haired, bespectacled pensioner calls almost playfully to a young skinhead sporting a black Thor Steinar sweatshirt, popular among neo-Nazis, and walking two menacing dogs on leashes.[…]
Mensah-Schramm, a retired special needs teacher originally from Stuttgart, has spent the last 25 years eliminating an estimated 90,000 graffiti and stickers used by the far right to whip up support and intimidate minorities.
More about this self described “loner activist” at the link above. It is worth noting that she has no support for what she does and she estimates that she spends 34 hours per week and about 300 euros ($390) a month on her “Hate Destroys” campaign without any government or NGO funds, just out of her own pension.
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