Ulf Dunkel

Ulf Dunkel, September 2011

Ulf Dunkel (* August 27, 1962 in Löningen, Germany) is a German salesman, politician, author, composer and intactivist who engages since Summer 2012 to outlaw the medically not indicated circumcision of boys. He is father of five children and Greens politician.

In several Open Letters to all members of the Bundestag and with a 'Poem on the Abolition of Human Rights for Children in Germany', he tried to provide the Bundestag with information and to motivate them to disagree with the legalization of not medically indicated circumcision of boys which German Chancellor Merkel had already required in Summer 2012.

Alternative law draft amendment to § 1631 BGB

In October 2012 after a longer discussion with Volker Beck, Dunkel wrote an Alternative law draft amendment to § 1631 BGB. He presented this draft on the 34th Federal Delegates Conference of his Party, the German Greens, in November 2012 in Hannover (Germany). Together with all other requests of others on the topic circumcision, his draft suggestion was moved from the Conference to a so-called "Religion-political Commission". This commission didn't discuss the draft requests to date.

Shitstorm

His critical statements about the legitimation of German Circumcision Act § 1631d BGB in many discussions, his burst of rage which he posted on Facebook after having watched the circumcision documentation film It´s A Boy!, and his poem ("Gedicht zur Abschaffung der Menschenrechte in Deutschland" - "Poem On the Abolition of Human Rights in Germany") caused a media shitstorm, a death threat and other threatening phone calls for Dunkel and his family. To take the pressure from his family, Dunkel declined on a possible seat in parliament, but this waiver was formally no longer possible and therefore invalid. Dunkel therefore still was technically a possible substitute for the parliament of Lower Saxony in the 17th legislative term (2013-2017).

Party exclusion procedure discontinued

The Greens Executive Committee of Lower Saxony had requested Dunkel's exclusion of the party. In late February, 2014, Dunkel and his Executive Committee made a comparison, which waived the reproach of being anti-semitic and xenophobic. Dunkel confirmed that his statements in the Circumcision Debate in 2012 had served anti-semitic steretypes unintendedly. He again dissociated himself strictly from anti-semitism and xenophobia. The regional party arbitral tribunal warned him because of these expressions. The proceeding was discontinued; revision was not allowed.

Collective Cognitive Dissonance

In the Circumcision Debate 2012, Ulf Dunkel created the concept of Collective Cognitive Dissonance which describes the issue of cognitive dissonance for a group of persons, even existing over generations. The Circumpendium informs about this psychological phenomenon as follows:

It can frequently be found that the loss is denied, much as happens with the loss of other body parts. This denial can lead to fathers having their sons circumcised in order not to be reminded of their own loss. In this process, their own body is defined as "normal" and the foreskin redefined as a foreign object. Their own parents are seen as "good", so that this image is projected onto the circumcision their parents carried out as well, in order to keep the positive emotion intact. The father wants to be a "good" father later in life as well, and so, following an idealised image of his own parents, circumcision, which has been redefined as a "good thing", is passed on to his son by having him circumcised as well.

Political engagement

Since 1998, Ulf Dunkel is member of the German GREENS party (with a break of five years), was member of the District Association of Cloppenburg, elected member of local parliaments like the city council, and candidate for the German Bundestag and Landtag of Lower Saxony. From July 2015 to March 2018, he was the organizational manager of the GREENS District Association of Cloppenburg

He still engages in his party for the integrity of all children, including as a member of the BAK Säkulare Grüne, through educational work and sharp criticism of the proponents of the German Circumcision Act in his political party.

Publications

• "Beschneidung infragestellen: Eine jüdische Perspektive", German translation of the English book "Questioning Circumcision: A Jewish Perspective" by Ronald Goldman, 2019.
• "Beschneidung - das verborgene Trauma", German translation of the English book "Circumcision: The Hidden Trauma" by Ronald Goldman, 2019.
• "Unaussprechliche Verstümmelungen", German translation of the English book "Unspeakable Mutilations" by Lindsay R. Watson, 2015.
• "Komikernation - Beschneidungsdebatte in Deutschland" ("Comedian Nation - Circumcision Debate in Germany", unreleased yet)
• "Beschneidung - Mythen und Fakten" ("Circumcision - Myths and Facts", unreleased yet)

Other publications about intactivism

• Fangt endlich an, vom Kind her zu denken, (At last, start thinking from the child's point of view); in Der Freitag, March 20, 2016
• Noch mehr Doppelmoral, (Even more double standards), December 12, 2015
• Grüne Doppelmoral, (Green Double Standards), November 24, 2015 (Double Standard)
• Unaussprechliche Verstümmelungen, (Unspeakable Mutilations), August 18, 2015
• Pressemeldung zur Veröffentlichung von Celebrating Brit Shalom: Brit Shalom statt Beschneidung, (Brit Shalom instead of circumcision), in Humanistischer Pressedienst, May 15, 2015
• FGM follows MGM, July 25, 2014
• Alternative law draft amendment to § 1631 BGB, October 30, 2012, proposed law enhancement for the 31st Federal Delegate Conference of the German Greens at the end of 2012 (English text here)
• guest article: My comment to the German Ethics Council on their recommendation to the German Federal Government at MOGiS e.V., August 27, 2012

External links

• Press article about the release of Celebrating Brit Shalom: "Brit Shalom instead of Circumcision", HPD, May 15, 2015 (German)
• Blog article: FGM follows MGM, (German/English)
• Greens Party Convent #34, Nov. 2012: Introducing V48 by Ulf Dunkel and others, speaker: Ulf Dunkel
• Greens Party Convent #34, Nov. 2012: Reply to V24 by Sergey Lagodinsky, speaker: Ulf Dunkel
• Blog article: Alternative law draft amendment to § 1631 BGB, (German)