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Tanja Bueltmann

@tanjabueltmann.net

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Tanja Bueltmann @tanjabueltmann.net · May 8

As a German I will forever be grateful to all who fought for the liberation of Europe.

But as a historian I am looking at front pages today and must wonder: What is the point of remembering #VEDay 80 years on, what is the point of our thanks, when we are failing to protect the sacrifices made? 🧵

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Tanja Bueltmann @tanjabueltmann.net · 12h

the Holocaust is where the Nazi regime *ended*, it is not where it began. It began with undermining the rule of law; othering on the basis of who people are; the normalisation of hate; rights limitations etc. And we are already much closer to some of those patterns than many people think. 2/2

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Tanja Bueltmann @tanjabueltmann.net · 12h

Direct comparisons with the 1930s are ahistorical and unhelpful: 2025 simply is not 1930s Germany. BUT what we can look at are patterns. And on the basis of those patterns we absolutely can see common trajectories here. I would also urge everyone again to remember that death camps and … 1/2

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Tanja Bueltmann @tanjabueltmann.net · 1d

PS: I caution against chiefly seeing this in context of the US. That 100% is relevant context and ‘inspiration’ clearly comes from there, see Badenoch and UK ICE idea. However, on this the Tories have a long history all on their own and are moving further and further into extremist positions. /endPS

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Tanja Bueltmann @tanjabueltmann.net · 1d

… of politicians who have been murdered over recent years and attacks on others. We cannot simply dismiss things like this, as I had already said in relation to Badenoch the other day, as the last horrendous hurrah of a dying party.The harm can still be very real even if it is. /end

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Tanja Bueltmann @tanjabueltmann.net · 1d

But I say this also expressly due to my own past experiences with far right agitators and based on work I currently do where safeguarding is a huge question—I am literally having conversations about things that incl potential threats. None of this is a joke in any way, particularly in light too …

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Tanja Bueltmann @tanjabueltmann.net · 1d

I say all this based on past evidence we already have of the impact of such an approach. Here’s just one example—even Govt ministers warned of the possibility of violence. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Top ministers urged Priti Patel to stop attacks on 'activist lawyers'

The home secretary’s rhetoric targeting the legal profession continued despite party warnings that it led to violence

www.theguardian.com

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Tanja Bueltmann @tanjabueltmann.net · 1d

This isn’t just a point about Jenrick either: the framing adopted by the Express—that this is a war—is also deeply irresponsible and will also serve to inflame further.

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Tanja Bueltmann @tanjabueltmann.net · 1d

I say this with the bluntness it requires: they will get people murdered if this continues. This is not just populism anymore either: it’s completely unhinged and a deliberate choice that does endanger lives. I am not saying this lightly at all.

Screenshot of an Express article; it says: Robert Jenrick lists 30 'activist judges' he vows to axe in war on UK's open border

In a bold move, Robert Jenrick is set to unveil a controversial plan targeting what he calls 'activist' judges, at the Conservative Party conference.

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Tanja Bueltmann @tanjabueltmann.net · 3d

Indeed. Not just through the looking glass, it’s a huge hole in the wall now and yet, so far, being reported just like any other normal news.

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Tanja Bueltmann @tanjabueltmann.net · 3d

Journalists would also do well to ask about Badenoch’s comments on lawyers and what they might well do given precedents like this: www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crim...

Knife attack ‘inspired by Priti Patel’s activist lawyer remarks’

‘It must be ensured that no further lives are endangered as a result of her untruthful and deliberately inflammatory rhetoric,’ company targeted in incident reportedly writes in letter to Law Society

www.independent.co.uk

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Tanja Bueltmann @tanjabueltmann.net · 3d

This, btw, is what ICE operating in US communities looks like.

This is what Kemi Badenoch wants for the UK.

Every single journalist and media outlet in the UK should play this clip to Badenoch and ask her why she wants this for the UK on our streets.

bsky.app/profile/lord...

Daniel Connerton @lordnad.bsky.social · 3d

@govpritzker.illinois.gov

37 and Kedzie, East Garfield, Illinois.

This is assault.

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Tanja Bueltmann @tanjabueltmann.net · 3d

… And these are just a very, very, very small number of examples. /end

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Tanja Bueltmann @tanjabueltmann.net · 3d

Source 5: www.newsweek.com/ice-agents-d...

ICE agents dragged naked children out of homes in Chicago: Neighbors

Two residents reported witnessing federal immigration agents forcibly removing unclothed children from apartments during the raid.

www.newsweek.com

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Tanja Bueltmann @tanjabueltmann.net · 3d

Source 4: www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Why a professor of fascism left the US: ‘The lesson of 1933 is – you get out’

Marci Shore made news around the world when her family moved to Canada. She discusses Trump, teaching history and how terror atomises society

www.theguardian.com

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Tanja Bueltmann @tanjabueltmann.net · 3d

Source 3: english.elpais.com/usa/2025-09-...

The mysterious disappearance of hundreds of immigrants detained at Alligator Alcatraz

Lawyers and family members report that they have been unable to locate the inmates at the infamous Florida prison after they disappeared from the ICE database

english.elpais.com

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Tanja Bueltmann @tanjabueltmann.net · 3d

Source 2: theconversation.com/how-ice-is-b...

How ICE is becoming a secret police force under the Trump administration

The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement meets most criteria that have defined secret police forces in authoritarian regimes. And the worst may be yet to come.

theconversation.com

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Tanja Bueltmann @tanjabueltmann.net · 3d

And for those who still do not understand what is happening in the US, please pay more attention. None of it is benign in any way and some of the greatest cheerleaders of it all are published regularly in The Telegraph, The Times and The Spectator.

Source 1: www.msnbc.com/msnbc/amp/rc...

The case for calling Florida’s ‘Alligator Alcatraz' a concentration camp

This facility’s purpose fits the classic model, and its existence points to serious dangers ahead for the country.

www.msnbc.com

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Tanja Bueltmann @tanjabueltmann.net · 3d

Nothing good will ever be found at the end of the road this leads to.

It is a complete dereliction of duty of our media in the UK, and far too many politicians, that we could *ever* get anywhere close to this point of normalising what absolutely are extremist policies.

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Tanja Bueltmann @tanjabueltmann.net · 3d

So last hurrah or not, this is what the leader of the Conservative Party is inspired by and proposes for the UK.

Together with the proposal to leave the ECHR, it is what the completely deranged normalisation of far right anti-immigration approaches has now led to in the UK.

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Tanja Bueltmann @tanjabueltmann.net · 3d

It’s easy to say that this is the last desperate hurrah of a dying party, but can we be clear: Trump’s ICE agents are literally kidnapping people, detaining them without due process in concentration camps (yes, this is the right term) and 1000s have disappeared. These are fascist practices.

The Guardian @theguardian.com · 3d

Tories to pledge to create immigration taskforce modelled on Trump’s Ice

Proposed ‘removals force’ will be tasked with deporting 150,000 people a year in bid to tackle illegal immigration The Conservatives will pledge to create a new immigration taskforce modelled on Donald Trump’s controversial Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agency, the Guardian understands. The party’s leader, Kemi Badenoch, is expected to announce the policy on Sunday as it heads into its annual conference following a year of historic low poll ratings. The proposed “removals force” will be tasked with deporting 150,000 people a year in a bid to tackle illegal immigration. Continue reading...

www.theguardian.com

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Tanja Bueltmann @tanjabueltmann.net · 6d

The UK has a border with border staff—we have immigration control. And from an economic perspective, as all data show, the UK needs more immigrants, not fewer. In any case: stripping away provisions in place to protect *everyone’s* human rights—that includes *your own* rights—will not help.

Tanja Bueltmann @tanjabueltmann.net · 7d

The changes the Home Secretary announced yesterday will do very much what Starmer criticises Farage for and do so at an even earlier point. And I have no doubt that it will eventually be found to be a systematically racist approach. Unless words and policy match, words are completely meaningless.

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Tanja Bueltmann @tanjabueltmann.net · 8d

I do agree with that. But I would still maintain my point: it being written does add another layer of protection that we don’t currently have at all. So it wouldn’t hurt to do this (plus it would help with some issues Brexit has caused).

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Tanja Bueltmann @tanjabueltmann.net · 8d

We are talking with reference to immigration and on that the CDU absolutely do do this. And plenty of CDU people are very happy to stand alongside the AfD, think of recent meetings in Hungary. I’m sorry, but while many in the CDU do do as you say, overall the role of the CDU could not be clearer.

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Tanja Bueltmann @tanjabueltmann.net · 8d

In many places yes. But Lib Dem / SNP / Plaid better in others — still worth looking at local patterns. But the bottom line is: tactical voting is what got us to this point. It is very clearly not actually going to help in the longer term.

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