'Prosecco Nazis': Germany outraged over video of racist chant on Sylt

A video shared online of young Germans chanting racist anti-immigrant slogans outside a pub on the North Sea island of Sylt has sparked outrage in the country.

The group chanted "Foreigners out!" and "Germany for Germans" as the hit party song "L'Amour Toujours" by Gigi D'Agostino played at a pub in the resort town of Kampen, a destination popular with wealthy German holidaymakers.

In the recording, which is only a few seconds long and has been going viral on social media since Thursday, young men and women shout the racist slogans while laughing. One man appears to indicate a Hitler moustache with his fingers on his upper lip.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz was among those who pointedly condemned the incident: "Quite clearly, such slogans are disgusting, they are unacceptable."

"There must be no confusion about this. And that's why it's right that all of our activities are aimed at precisely preventing this from being a thing that spreads," Scholz said.

Police have launched a criminal investigation into the incident on suspicion of incitement to hatred and the possible use of outlawed extremist symbols or slogans.

"The video shows at least some of the people pictured singing right-wing extremist lyrics ('Germany for the Germans, foreigners out!'). There is also a suspicion that one person is showing the so-called Hitler salute," police said in a statement on Friday.

The use of Nazi slogans or symbols, as well as other types of hate speech, is illegal under German law.

It is not the first incident of this kind involving the song in Germany, a 20-year-old Italian pop hit that has apparently been adopted by German far-right extremists.

Authorities in several German states are investigating similar incidents of racist chanting to the song.

That the latest incident occurred on Sylt, a chic and exclusive holiday destination long popular with wealthy German elites, raised particular ire.

The ritzy setting and the champagne-sipping crowd in light-coloured blouses and sunglasses belting out the racist chants defy the typical stereotypes many Germans have of far-right extremists.

Long-time Green Party politician Jürgen Trittin derided "Prosecco Nazis" in a post on X, while the co-leader of the Green Youth, Svenja Appuhn, denounced "fascist snobs."

The operators of the pub, Pony, distanced themselves from the incident in a post to Instagram and said they were "deeply shocked" by the video.

"We distance ourselves from any kind of racism and discrimination," they wrote in a post on Instagram. "If we had known about the incident, we would of course have expelled the guests in question. There is no place for racism!!!"

Every guest, regardless of ethnicity, is welcome and the people recorded in the video will be banned from the premises, they said.

In another post, the operators wrote that they had now received the names of "these Nazis" and would "report this disgusting behaviour and use all criminal law options!!!"

The pub's owner, Tim Becker, told dpa that all five people shown in the video had been identified, and that they had passed along their names and additional evidence such as security camera footage to authorities.

Becker said he was horrified by the incident and would ban the song from being played there in the future. He said he would also pursue civil claims against those involved, and that they had been banned from his pub and wouldn't be welcome elsewhere on the island.

"They don't need to show their faces on Sylt any more. We have lots of friendly restaurateurs," Becker said.

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said the incident should be an embarrassment for the entire country.

"Anyone who shouts Nazi slogans such as 'Germany for the Germans - foreigners out' is a disgrace to Germany," Faeser told the Funke newspaper group on Friday.

Faeser said the incident raises the question of what kind of hate-filled climate encourages such people to make such abysmally racist statements in public.

"There must be no creeping normalization here," Faeser said.

Racists must face loud opposition everywhere - among friends, at work, in sport - in addition to facing possible criminal penalties, Faeser said.

The mayors of the towns on Sylt denounced the chants in a joint statement on Friday: "We have zero tolerance for these chants. This behaviour is repulsive and completely unacceptable to us. We will not tolerate it."