Bremen bans this innocent hand gesture in schools, but why?

The use of “silent fox” has already been on the decrease in Germany in recent years

In German it’s called ‘Leisefuchs’ (quiet fox) or ‘Schweigefuchs’ (silent fox) and it’s widely known as the hand gesture that teachers make to quickly silence noisy kids in class without having to shout above the ruckus. Well, according to Weser-Kurier, the City of Bremen is banning its use in daycare centres and schools in the future. The reason is that it looks exactly the same as the ‘wolf salute’ used by Turkish nationalists.

Raising your pinkie and index finger while joining the two middle fingers with the thumb is an easy way to create something approximating the head of a fox, wolf or dog (some imagination is also required). For years, it’s been an innocent, and even cute gesture to tell a group of kids or even adults to keep quiet and pay attention to the speaker.

Nationalist wolf salute

However, the gesture now feels corrupted given that it’s also traditionally used by Turkish far-right nationalists although they call it the ‘wolf salute’. The latter pays homage to the symbolism of the grey wolf in Turkish mythology – an animal taken up as the cultural icon of pan-Turkism. However, given its uncomfortable political association, it has been banned in Austria since 2019.

In Germany, where there is a large Turkish immigrant diaspora, the popularization of the ‘wolf salute’ has led to a decline in the ‘silent fox’ gesture. Very recently, it made headlines again when a Turkish football player, Merih Demiral, demonstrated it during the Euro Cup in a match against Austria. It resulted in a diplomatic spat and the suspension of Demiral for two games.

There is also debate in Bavaria on whether the ‘silent fox’ should be banned in schools and daycare centres, however, for the time being, the regional Ministry of Social Affairs has decided to leave it to each teacher’s personal discretion on whether to use the gesture.