The Hate Destroyer: Retired Woman Defaces Neo-Nazi Graffiti

We usually look down on people who destroy others' work, but we'll let Irmela Mensah-Schramm slide. Armed with spray-paint and a scraper, she's spending her retirement hunting down Neo-Nazi graffiti in Berlin and defacing it beyond recognition. She's been at it for 25 years, and has now told her story to Italian filmmakers Vincenzo Caruso and Fabrizio Lussu for their upcoming documentary, The Hate Destroyer.

Even though her work is destructive, it would be wrong to say nothing's created in the process. By letting Berliners walk through their streets without having to look at Neo-Nazi slogans and symbols, she's made a more mature city, one more capable of self-reflection and even self-censorship. Mensah-Schramm has endowed Berlin with the same indignant attitude she feels for the Nazi-nostalgics; she couldn't have done more if she'd gone and put up her own graffiti.

(Via Doobybrain)

THE HATE DESTROYER (Demo-version) from Fotogramma25 on Vimeo.

Comments

[jeremylh1]

03:26 AM on 02/28/2011

They didn't win the war, but make nice cars.

[YourNewNeighbor]

11:10 PM on 02/23/2011

Wow, this woman is an unsung hero of epic proportions!

And she's so alone in her work, and so many people here in the comments section don't appreciate what she's doing. The world is just so mediocre these days.....*sigh* but thank goodness for the inspiration and example set by the great ones like this lady when they come along.

[BoFo]

03:21 AM on 02/23/2011

I think she could accomplish her objective in a more artistic and effective way by transforming the graffiti rather than just covering it with ugly patches of black spray paint. Perhaps she could even enlist the assistance of art students.

When people see these ugly swaths of black paint, they probably assume that they are covering something objectionable, possibly neo-nazi graffiti, and in their minds they might even momentarily imagine a swastika, for example, beneath. So, in a way, the neo-nazis have still made their presence felt.

If, however, the spray paint was used to make this graffiti totally unrecognizable by transforming it into something completely unrelated, the end result would have a substantially different effect because it would be seen as just plain old graffiti. With a bit of artistry, it could even be seen as something positive.

Just a quick, simple example: A swastika can easily be converted into a tic-tac-toe grid with brightly colored playing pieces. Looking at this, the last thing you would think of would be a swastika.

[flossophy]

06:27 PM on 02/22/2011

The reemergence of ne0naz!sm is an unintended consequence of government policy.

[SocratesFan]

09:04 PM on 02/27/2011

Please explain further. I do not remember reading about any action government has taken that would require Neo-Nazism to fix.

What do you mean, sir?

[JoeMentia]

05:02 PM on 02/22/2011

This makes Beck and Palin fans very angry. How dares someone come a long and mess up all their hard work.

[peowlemeow]

03:22 PM on 02/22/2011

I like her motto about tolerating intolerance.

[Jazzineva]

03:13 PM on 02/22/2011

Having lived in Berlin for nearly 30 years, I'm happy to report that I can't remember having ever seen Nazi graffiti here, though a whole lot of anti-Nazi graffiti. This lady works fast and must know where it's apt to appear, perhaps some neighborhoods I rarely visit. Nazi symbols are illegal here so she's doing the city government a favor. Anyway, just want to make it clear that the very, very vast majority of Berliners do NOT tolerate Nazi anything but this woman goes way out of her way and I'm proud of her.

[jpscratches]

03:39 PM on 02/22/2011

Thanks! Glad to hear that.

[KarateKid]

02:13 PM on 02/22/2011

I have a hard time understanding why so many of you let words have more power than it deserves.

Graffiti is against the law, but it's there and you all ought to deal with it. People can say what they want, it's their opinion, whether we agree or not, and we can easily repudiate them.

_Censorship in either direction offends my notion of freedom.

I am an American of Japanese ancestry, and growing up in California I got called the two familiar three letter words, all the time, from _ignoramuses with poor upbringing. I was taught to believe by my father, who served under MacArthur while the rest of his family languished in concentration camps at Tule Lake, CA, that it was THEIR problem and don't make it mine by taking the bait.

[wired]

02:23 PM on 02/22/2011

You seem fatalistic in your outlook. Maybe you could look the other way if there was a lot of graffiti against Japanese in your neighborhood and write it off as freedom of expression. The difference is, I'd try to have it removed by the city, but if my patience wore thin, I'd be active myself... like Ms. Mensah.Schramm.

[KarateKid]

02:32 PM on 02/22/2011

It's not my problem if someone doesn't like me because of my race, not unless he or she had power over me in a corporate setting. It's THEIR problem. If someone doesn't like my sitting at a table, they can move.

Fatalistic? Are you kidding me? Read the comments in my profile, then call me that again. *shaking my head*

[Sizzzle]

02:28 PM on 02/22/2011

I have a hard time understanding how anyone can underestimate the power of words! Words are incredibly powerful. And while I support free speech, I do not support hateful rehtoric.

[kareemachan]

02:10 PM on 02/22/2011

Oh, kudos, Ms.Mensah-Schramm!!

[quoveritas]

01:59 PM on 02/22/2011

Banksey should team up with her.

[lushGreen]

01:59 PM on 02/22/2011

never too old to rebel! and for good reason.

[Robert11010]

01:40 PM on 02/22/2011

Looks to me like she's making it worse ... I realize it's harder to actually clean graffiti than to paint over it, but what she's really doing is making it uglier

[wired]

01:42 PM on 02/22/2011

What could be uglier than a swastika on a wall near a bus stop you'd have to look at every day?

[azatrox]

09:45 PM on 02/22/2011

Clueless statement of the week.

[budanatr]

01:31 PM on 02/22/2011

Fantastic Irmela. We should all be doing the same thing wherever that garbage appears. We have it here in our country as well. I am going to go out and buy some spray paint.

[david david]

01:28 PM on 02/22/2011

It's like litter or vandalism: so few people do it, yet so many people see it.

The beauty of what she's doing is that it takes so few people to fix it and clean it up. The vandal doesn't think of theirself as a destroyer, no, they look at what they've done and say "I did that". To undo what they've done is as dispiriting to them as vandalism and littering is to the majority.

Go on: pick up a bit of litter today. It's so fantastically easy.

[george6090]

01:25 PM on 02/22/2011

If the messages scrawled onto walls all over America were:
Go Ki$$ the Tea Partiers, they support Death Panels
Save Social Security, get rid of all old White People
Stop all Medicare payments, they are old and useless any way
Eliminate Short People, they are defective and scary!
Are these OK expressions? Are they freedom of speech?
Or hate disguised as freedom of expression?