No, violence between rightwing and leftwing youths had never really interested Bernd P., a taxi driver from Eberswalde. He has always been indifferent to politics. At most, he is annoyed when there is a traffic jam due to a demonstration.
This man, in his mid-forties and the father of two children, lives according to the principle: “I do my job, feed my family – and nothing else.”
On a Wednesday in early summer, at exactly 9:03 pm, the taxi driver was confronted with a part of the reality in Eberswalde that he had ignored up to that point. On this Wednesday, a young man tumbled in front of his taxi on Spechthausener Straße.
Falko Lüdtke, 22, was hit by the right front section of the car, was thrown into the air, destroyed the windshield with his body and was left lying on the street. Two hours later he was dead from a tear in his lung.
It was on May 31, 2000 that the 22-year-old punk Falko Lüdtke was pushed by the 27-year-old rightwing extremist Mike B. in front of that taxi and mortally struck by it in Eberswalde (Brandenburg). Only seconds before the impact Falko, a punk with brown dreadlocks, was fighting at a bus stop on the side of the road. He foundered in his fight against Mike B., a muscular 27-year-old skin covered with tattoo after tattoo. Falko Lüdtke spoke to Mike B. about the swastika tattoo on the back of his head. When the bus came, they got on and continued their discussion about Mike B.’s rightwing views. The two of them left the bus at the stop on Spechthausener Straße. The argument escalated and the two came to blows. Ultimately, Mike B. hit Falko Lüdtke hard in the chest, causing the 22-year-old to fall in the direction of the street. A taxi driving by hit him with full force: he was thrown high in the air and left lying on the street. Two hours later, Falko Lüdtke died of a tear in his lung. The District Court of Frankfurt (Oder) sentenced Mike B. in December 2000 to a prison sentence of four-and-a-half-years due to bodily harm with fatal consequences. Moreover, in his sentence, the judge stated that the behavior of Falko Lüdtke was a form of civil courage and not a provocation on the part of the punk. Ultimately, Falko Lüdtke’s misgivings about Mike B. were justified as he clearly allowed himself to be associated with the rightwing scene by his swastika tattoo.
The rightwing scene in Eberswalde amused itself at the time about this with a new joke: “How do you hail a taxi?” Answer: “In English you put your thumb up, the USA you wave your arm – and in Eberswalde you lie down in the street.”
Mike B. appealed his sentence. The German Federal Court of Justice ultimately decided the act only constituted negligent homicide, as Mike B. acted wihtout deliberate intentions. The punishment was then reduced by the District Court of Cottbus to one year and eight months without parole. Even though the judge once again stated in the decision that the rightwing views of Mike B. were the cause of the act, they should not be seen as aggravating.
Most citizens, meanwhile, are only too happy to believe the astonishing version of the public prosecutor’s office, where the case had no political background – please.
Looking away is a tradition in Eberswalde. Before the eyes of three police officers, who were holed up in a gatehouse, the Angolan contract worker Amadeu Antonio was beaten and kicked to death by 50 drunk skinheads in 1990 – the first fatality after German Reunification.
On the basis of a study by the Moses Mendelssohn Center from the year 2015, the case was subsequently recognized as a rightwing act of violence.
