October 7, 2010: Dutch politician Geert Wilders gave a speech in Berlin last Saturday (October 2, 2010), igniting a mild protest across the street from the hotel where Wilders spoke to some 500 invited guests. Police said some more than 100 demonstrators held up banners reading "Berlin Against Nazis – it's our Right to Stop Them" and "Send Geert Wilders home," including one caricature depicting Wilders with a mustache similar to Adolf Hitler. Wilders is well known for his anti-Islam and anti-immigration views, but is a friend of Israel and staunchly denies any connection with the neo-Nazi movement or its philosophy.

Wilders was invited to Berlin by Rene Stadtkewitz, who is also a critic of Islam and a former member of Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Stadtkewitz founded his "Freedom Party" during a heated national debate over integration, particularly in relation to Muslims, ignited last summer by a controversial book written by former German Central Bank board member Thilo Sarrazin. Sarrazin's claim that Muslim immigration was undermining German society thrust the subject into the spotlight.

Mainsteam political parties in Germany and the press were critical of Wilders' visit. As expected, the German government did not comment favorably on Wilders' visit. "It is not our style to utterly condemn any religion," German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced via her press secretary Steffen Seibert in Berlin. Earlier Merkel had upset some of her neighbors in the Netherlands when she told the Bundestag's committee on European affairs that she regretted the formation of a minority Dutch coalition government that depends on Wilders' party for support.

Wilders wasted no time in his speech before replying to Merkels' reaction to his visit to Berlin:

"Despite my busy schedule at home, however, I insisted on coming to Berlin, because Germany, too, needs a political movement to defend German identity and to oppose the Islamization of Germany. Chancellor Angela Merkel says that the Islamization of Germany is inevitable. She conveys the message that citizens have to be prepared for more changes as a result of immigration. She wants the Germans to adapt to this situation. The Christian-Democrat leader said: 'More than before mosques will be an integral part of our cities.' My friends, we should not accept the unacceptable as inevitable without trying to turn the tide."

Wilders also explained why Germany is important in the defense of Europe against Islamic influence:

"I am here because Germany matters to the Netherlands and the rest of the world, and because we cannot establish an International Freedom Alliance without a strong German partner. Dear friends, tomorrow is the Day of German Unity. Tomorrow exactly twenty years ago, your great nation was reunified after the collapse of the totalitarian Communist ideology. The Day of German Unity is an important day for the whole of Europe. Germany is the largest democracy in Europe. Germany is Europe's economic powerhouse. The wellbeing and prosperity of Germany is a benefit to all of us, because the wellbeing and prosperity of Germany is a prerequisite for the wellbeing and prosperity of Europe. Today I am here, however, to warn you for looming disunity. Germany's national identity, its democracy and economic prosperity, is being threatened by the political ideology of Islam."

For the most part, German news media presented a negative view of Wilders' speech. However, "Die Zeit" blogger Jörg Lau had an interesting summary analysis on the visit: "A charlatan? Wilders sees himself as a prophet of the final struggle 'for our identity.' He is great at inciting fear, but also as a redeemer – from guilt feelings and civic reservations. Alienating people from politics is his business is, and it is thriving – right in the middle of Berlin, too."