The pop protest: Helene Fischer has been fighting against right-wing extremism for years

On September 4, 2018, Helene Fischer rose from political lethargy in Berlin. Of non-confession. The night before, Die Toten Hosen, Marteria, KIZ and others held the concert “We are more” in Chemnitz. Right-wing extremists had called for a general hunt for migrants in recent days after a German man was stabbed by two men with a migrant background. Members of PEGIDA and AfD published the personal details of the alleged perpetrators. 10,000 right-wing extremists took to the streets, there were serious anti-Semitic and xenophobic riots, Hitler salutes roamed the streets of Chemnitz.

The concert was a countermeasure. And the musicians in attendance loudly complained that “an entertainment battleship like Helene Fischer navigating the mainstream” had never seen fit to show solidarity with a recalcitrant political idea.

Or as Toten Hosen frontman Campino said the year before: “Helene Fischer, for example, doesn’t comment on things like that. That is your right and I do not want to judge it at all. But what if she said: ‘I am against the AfD and against the right-wing extremist mood’? She would attract incredible hatred. The fact is that you have to be more willing to accept fan losses when you take a political position.”

Until then, Helene Fischer’s answer to every problem in the world is: “Love!” And nothing more. But on September 4, 2018, none of this matters to her; That morning she wrote on social media: “We cannot and should not ignore what is currently happening in our country,” and many people were already calling her a puppet loyal to the regime. In the evening in the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin she stands up and shouts: ‘Get up. Raise your voice with me. Against violence. Against xenophobia. And let’s sing this song together. We are breaking the silence here in Berlin. Are you on my side?”

And together with a large part of her 17,000 spectators she sings the song: “We break the silence!” The song is her contribution to Germany’s fairytale protest culture. And their action is an opportunity for a significant and, at first glance, seemingly risky image correction. Road from Heino-Schlagerland.

Helene Fischer is powerful. Although she serves a very limited market as a German-speaking singer, she is the eighth highest-earning pop star in the world in 2018. In front of her are Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Pink, Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez and Rihanna. Behind her are Celine Dion and Britney Spears. She’s a titan. And the Titan speaks clear language for the first time. This is important: whoever reaches the masses also carries a huge responsibility.

Since then she has been a target of right-wing extremists. Being spied on – also from a police computer. She is threatened, someone advises her never to sing German songs again, otherwise many people will die. During her concerts she calls for tolerance, inclusion and commitment to democracy. The hatred that Helene Fischer has now, a few days after the ‘Stern’ campaign ‘Not with us!’ Combating growing right-wing extremism in Germany is nothing new for them.

Last year, 750,000 people in Germany, Austria and Switzerland attended her tour, and on December 25, 2023, more than five million people watched her Christmas show on ZDF. Even today, no European woman is taller than her. In terms of success, she is the European equivalent of Taylor Swift.

This too had its political awakening in 2018, when it supported the ‘March for Our Lives’ movement, which called for the controlled use of firearms. The rest is history: Today, Swift is 34 and Donald Trump’s most influential enemy. Today Helene Fischer is 39 and the figurehead of the protest by German celebrities against right-wing extremism and the AfD, including Udo Lindenberg, Bully Herbig, Maite Kelly and Florian Silbereisen.

Taylor Swift’s most powerful move yet is encouraging people to vote. An Insta post of hers attracted 35,000 new voters in one day in 2022. Helene Fischer is now also betting on the election card in ‘Stern’: ‘We must now defend our values ​​and our democracy and not leave the field to the anti-democrats. The coming elections, in Germany and in Europe, will decide which country we will live in in the future. Do the right thing, vote!”

Even Roland Kaiser, a man who tends to think that “woke” is a misspelling of “wok,” makes it clear: “It makes me sad, angry and speechless that people today are still committing the same disgusting things that this generation did.” from my parents. .”

And TV chef Nelson Müller writes: “As a teenager with a dark skin color, I experienced the 1990s as a decade in which we as a society were looking for unification and cohesion; the wall had only just fallen. ‘Wind of Change’, barely faded, the parade that danced through Berlin was called ‘Love’. I absolutely don’t understand why today, even though it’s 30 years later, everything feels so ominous and like a step backwards.”

It is to her great credit that Helene Fischer – just like Taylor Swift – has not let herself be deterred from her efforts in recent years, despite massive intimidation from the extreme right, but has actually become increasingly clear. Because logically, like Swift, she owes her career start to a conservative fan base. And of course, there were some extra-conservative fans as well. You remember the fantasies of right-wing extremist Americans to reproduce themselves with the ‘Aryan’ country of Swift and how they had not commented on that for too long. And as a pop singer, Helene Fischer was probably present at many AfD party festivals. Not physically, but musically.

Donald Trump once described the 2020 election as “rigged,” but today his fans are certain the current National Football League season is “rigged,” in which Taylor Swift’s boyfriend Travis Kelce plays a major role. And Helene Fischer is once again insulted in the wildest terms. Or still.

Campino was not right: neither Taylor Swift nor Helene Fischer lost fans with their political views. On the contrary. And even though image preservation may have been a crucial reason in both cases: politicians should take the example of the two pop icons’ struggle against populism. Clarity creates credibility, trust – and fans. So voters. Hugging and hugging doesn’t help. In principle it would be very simple.