What's going on?
Germany is known for its charming and sometimes outlandish Christmas traditions - many of which are simply part of the fun of the festive season. This year, however, one popular custom on the East Frisian island of Borkum sparked fury across the nation after it was reported on by ARD's political news show, Panorama, and SRTG_F.
The Klaasohm festival, which has been practiced on the island for almost two centuries, was at the centre of the unfolding scandal.
This wild street celebration happens on the eve before Nikolaustag on December 6th, involving drinking, dancing and carnival-esque costumes. As part of the festivities, a small group of men dress up as the figure of "Klaasohm" by wearing large helmets covered in fur and feathers.
Surrounded by male "helpers", the groups hurtles through the town, hunting down young women to catch and beating them on the bottom with cow horns.
The tradition allegedly dates back to whaling times, when men would return after a long period at sea and try to re-assert their dominance in the community. The name Klaasohm, meanwhile, is a combination of the Dutch name for St. Nicholas ("Klaas") and "Ohm", meaning uncle or respected elder figure in antiquated German.
In the Panorama report, numerous women shared their personal experiences of the violent tradition, including being left with painful marks and bruises in the days that followed. The report, which has been viewed around 880,000 times on YouTube, also included footage of young women being held down and beaten on their legs and behinds during the festival.
The video caused outrage among viewers, with one describing the tradition as "sick", adding: "I'm really shocked that this happens here in Germany and that several parties remain silent about it."
"What a terrible tradition," another viewer commented on social media. "How deeply rooted the oppression of women still is."
Festival organisers report that they have been inundated with angry letters and emails since the report was released, with the island's mayor also facing pressure to resign.
Meanwhile, Christine Arbogast, the Lower Saxony state secretary in the Ministry of Social Affairs, slammed the fact that the tradition was not discussed openly and had been previously shrouded in secrecy.
"A debate about whether ‘Klaasohm’ is still appropriate in this form is urgently needed," she said. "Customs and traditions survive the test of time best when they move with the times."
How have the islanders responded?
In the face of the growing media storm, the mayor of the 5,000-resident island, Jürgen Akkermann, defended the decades-old custom and argued the reporting painted a skewed picture of the festival.
"In my view, the reporting is biased and dubious," he told DPA. "This assessment is shared by many residents of the island."
According to Akkermann, the video was simply showed a few individuals misbehaving and “can in no way be used as evidence that the island tolerates violence, as the report suggests.”
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On Sunday, around 200 Bochum women also gathered to demonstrate in favour of keeping the controversial tradition. The demonstrators held white banners that read, "We won't let the Klaasohm festival be ruined." as they walked through the town blowing cow horns.
Responding to the unfolding controversy, the Borkumer Jungens (Borkum Boys) association, which organises the festival, also claimed that NRD's reporting "paints a distorted picture and contains numerous journalistic inaccuracies".
However, the association admitted that they had turned down an interview request with journalists that could have helped iron out these "inaccuracies".
When it came to the violent tradition at the centre of the controversy, however, the association took a more conciliatory tone.
"We expressly distance ourselves from all forms of violence against women and apologise for the historical acts of past years," the organisation said in a statement. "We cannot deny that this was an aspect of the festival in the past.
"However, this part of the tradition has never formed the core of the festival, but was merely a minimal component that has been almost completely cancelled in recent years."
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Despite the media attention, the association emphasised that the tradition was "not a tourist festival" and said their main priority was to protect the local gathering from outside interference and commercialisation.
Will Klaasohm still be taking place this year?
The Klaasohm festival is still set to take place as usual on the night of December 5th this year - but this time, without the "beating" tradition.
"As a community, we have clearly decided to leave this aspect of the tradition behind and focus on what the festival is really about: the cohesion of the islanders," the Borkumer Jungens said in a statement.
"Klaasohm should be a festival that reflects the values of today. Violence, in whatever form, has no place in our customs."
Police on the island also announced that they would be taking a zero-tolerance approach to violence against women and encouraged victims of assault to file a police report.
"Anyone who has been a victim should not be afraid," a police spokesperson told the Rheinische Post. "We take this very seriously."
According tot he police, offences such as assault or grievous bodily harm can be filed with the police for up to 20 to 30 years after the incident occurs.
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