First, he emailed everyone on his bookstore distribution list. Then he set up folding chairs among his store’s shelves of contemporary novels, children’s books and an extensive collection of the writings of the German-Jewish writer Kurt Tucholsky. Forty people attended an after-hours meeting. Along with a half-dozen of these attendees, Mr. Braunsdorf co-founded the Residents’ Initiative for Civil Courage.
By last summer, when a third march through the central Berlin neighborhood was announced, the group was ready: They had teamed up with «Berlin Against Nazis,» a city-funded group that targets racism and anti-Semitism. A friend of Mr. Brauns-dorf’s designed posters and fliers, and together they set up three protest stations along the marchers’ route. Between 200 and 300 neighbors showed up with soup spoons, banging on pots and pans, to protest the march.
«We wanted to take back the public space,» Mr. Brauns-dorf said. «At a certain point, you just have to do something.»
In Germany, Mr. Brauns-dorf’s efforts are part of a long tradition in which bookstores play an active role in civil society, said Johanna Hahn, director of the German Association of Booksellers in Berlin and Brandenburg.
In German bookstore circles, the topic of nationalism and fascism is particularly prominent now, Ms. Hahn added. This follows the rise of groups like the Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West and Alternative for Germany, or AfD, which won 12.6 percent of the national vote in September, making it the first far-right party to sit in Parliament in 60 years.
«In every book, there’s a new perspective,» Ms. Hahn said, «so bookstores automatically fall on the side of openness and diversity.»
But how best to serve customers is up for debate. In one of several panels dealing with the topic at the Leipzig Book Fair in mid-March, some independent sellers said they refused to order books from far-right publishers, while others argued that it is important for customers to be able to stay informed.
There are certain titles that Mr. Braunsdorf does not stock. He may order from some right-wing publishers upon request, but will lecture the customer on the topic, first.
Mr. Braunsdorf, 58, who has hosted German-Arabic reading events at his shop for refugee children and moderated debates about gentrification, the economy and politics, said he «can’t imagine running a bookstore just as a selling point.»
A similar bookstore-run political project made headlines this year, when Heinz Ostermann, who owns the bookstore Leporello in Berlin’s working-class neighborhood of Neukölln, had his car set on fire, for the second time. He had started a local group in 2016 dedicated to fighting the far right.
«There’s a lot of solidarity,» said Mr. Ostermann, who added that the attacks, suspected to have been carried out by local right-wing extremists, have not dissuaded him. «I think people in the neighborhood are happy I’m here.»
In March, as the crowd of protesters grew, Ralf Teepe expressed his appreciation for Mr. Brauns-dorf’s bookstore, which he said he visited once a week, in lieu of church, for spiritual enrichment.
Mr. Teepe, a civil servant with the foreign service who recently moved back to Berlin after years in Africa and elsewhere, had joined Mr. Braunsdorf a few blocks from the bookstore. He too wanted to protest the neo-Nazis who were headed to the neighborhood.
«I was born in ’58, and both of my parents were marked by the Nazi period,» Mr. Teepe said. «The older I get, the more I understand how traumatized my father, in particular, was.Today, 70 years later, you have the feeling for the first time that history could repeat itself. That that’s not out of the question.»
After the black-clad line of right-wingers had passed behind a line of police officers — greeted by chants of «Nazis out!» — the crowds dispersed.
Elnura Yivazada, who works in culture management and heard about the protest through the bookstore, took a moment to reflect before heading home to warm up.
«It’s important to show our faces,» she said. «To say, people here won’t just accept this.»
Hubs of activism against fascism and nationalism.
Par Sally McGrane