Far-Right Attack in Germany Leaves 11 Dead

Germany has been accused of not taking far-right extremism as seriously as it should and the mass shooting prompted soul-searching in the country and new calls for the state to fight radicalization on the right.

Cem Özdemir, a co-leader of Germany's Greens party who has Turkish origins, said it was time for Germany to recognize it has a problem with far-right terrorism. Özdemir has been threatened by neo-Nazi groups.

“We have to talk about radical right-wing terror,” he said. “In the past, how serious was the fight against right-wing networks and structures in this country?”

He called for “draining the right swamp” both “online and offline” and using the full force of the law to do that.

Authorities have begun ramping up efforts to counter far-right extremists and announced in November plans to have hundreds of more police officers tackling the problem. Last week, German police raided far-right groups and arrested a dozen people who allegedly were planning attacks on immigrants. German authorities also are seeking to root out far-right sympathizers within its military and police ranks.

Racist right-wing violence is common in Germany, with authorities reporting about 1,000 such incidents a year. The spraying of swastikas on Jewish tombstones and other racist acts are common too.

Yan St.-Pierre, an expert on terrorism based in Germany, told Deutsche Welle, a German public broadcaster, that the suspect in Wednesday’s attacks appeared to be an adherent to a conspiracy theory that has gained widespread support in far-right circles that claim governments are planning to replace white populations with foreigners. Far-right extremists behind mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Christchurch, New Zealand, also espoused these views, known as the “great replacement.”

St.-Pierre said exponents believe that “to avert this great replacement people will need to stand up and resist by any means necessary.”

“This is the idea that authorities cannot be trusted with the defense of the so-called homeland,” he said.

St.-Pierre said a growing number of Germans are joining far-right militias and showing willingness to act violently.

The massacre was shaking German politics too. A far-right party, the Alternative for Germany, has become the country’s largest opposition party and is accused of stoking racism with its harsh anti-immigrant rhetoric.

Germany’s largest party, Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union and a sister Bavarian party, is deeply divided over how to handle the political pressure coming from the Alternative for Germany, which has succeeded in siphoning off many voters from Merkel’s traditional conservative party.

Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, Germany's defense minister and chairwoman of Merkel's Christian Democrats, said the tragedy in Hanau was further proof that her party should not go into coalition with the Alternative for Germany, which is known by its German initials AfD. Some within the party feel that the Christian Democrats have strayed too far to the left and need to consider working with the AfD to retain power.

Earlier this month, Kramp-Karrenbauer announced she was stepping down as party chairwoman and would not seek to become Merkel's successor as chancellor after a row blew up within her party when regional Christian Democrats in Thuringia cooperated with AfD members to keep a left-wing candidate from becoming the Thuringian president.

“How important it is to hold this firewall [against the AfD] can be seen on a day like today,” she said, according to Bild, a German newspaper. She charged that the AfD tolerates far-right extremists and “Nazis” within its ranks.

Konstantin von Notz, a Green member in the Bundestag, also attacked the far-right party. He linked the AfD's use of “agitation against migrants” and “anti-Semitic narratives” to the massacre in Hanau.

“This poisoned social climate is the breeding ground for right-wing terrorist structures,” he said.

AfD leaders hit back, saying their critics were seeking to use the massacre for political ends. Jörg Meuthen, the party's chairman, said the attack was “the delusional act of a madman.” He said it should not be called either “right-wing or left-wing terror.”

Beatrix von Storch, an AfD Bundestag member, said her “thoughts and compassion” were with the victims and their loved ones. But she called Rathjen a “psychotic gunman.”

“This act of madness fills us with anger and loathing,” she said.

Matthias Hauer, a Christian Democrat in the Bundestag and opponent to the AfD, called the AfD “intellectual arsonists” for denying that what happened in Hanau was far-right terrorism.

“The seeds of AfD are growing,” he said.

(Courthouse News reporter Cain Burdeau is based in the European Union.)

Follow @cainburdeau

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