Destruction of German memorial to right-wing terror victim prompts investigation

Officials in the eastern German city of Zwickau are investigating the destruction of a public memorial dedicated to the first victim of the National Socialist Underground (NSU), a right-wing extremist terror group that killed ten people in anti-immigrant attacks between 2000 and 2007.

The NSU murders and the resulting court case against the group’s only surviving member, who was sentenced to life in prison last year, led to accusations that German authorities had repeatedly failed to take the threat of right-wing violence seriously. The group was uncovered effectively by chance in 2011, when its ringleaders botched a bank robbery and led police to them.

Read more: Neo-Nazism: What is Germany’s NSU terror trial?

• The victims of the neo-Nazi NSU murder spree

  10 victims, 10 tragedies

  Nine of the 10 victims were of foreign heritage, but they had all made Germany their home when they were killed. The 10th victim was a German police officer. Every one of them was shot in cold blood.

• The victims of the neo-Nazi NSU murder spree

  Enver Simsek

  On September 9, 2000, the florist Enver Simsek, pictured with his wife, was shot eight times. The 38-year-old father of two sold flowers near a small parking lot in the southern city of Nuremberg. Simsek, who migrated from Turkey to Germany in 1986, is believed to be the first murder victim in the NSU series of racially motivated killings.

• The victims of the neo-Nazi NSU murder spree

  Abdurrahim Ozudogru

  Also in Nuremberg, Turkish-born tailor Abdurrahim Ozudogru was shot on June 13, 2001 in his alteration shop. He was 49 years old with a daughter who was 19 at the time of his murder.

• The victims of the neo-Nazi NSU murder spree

  Suleyman Taskopru

  Later that month, on June 27, 2001 Suleyman Taskopru was shot dead in his father’s fruit and vegetable shop in Hamburg. He was 31 years old and had a three-year-old daughter.

• The victims of the neo-Nazi NSU murder spree

  Habil Kilic

  On August 29 of the same year, 38-year-old Habil Kilic, who was also a fruit and vegetable grocer, was killed in his shop in Munich. Like Taskopru, he was shot in the head. His wife and his 12-year-old daughter later left Germany.

• The victims of the neo-Nazi NSU murder spree

  Mehmet Turgut

  Mehmet Turgut lived in Hamburg, but was visiting a friend in the eastern German city of Rostock and helping out at a Doner kebab fast food restaurant when he was shot on February 25, 2004. He was killed by three bullets to the head.

• The victims of the neo-Nazi NSU murder spree

  Ismail Yasar

  Ismail Yasar was shot five times in his doner kebab restaurant in Nuremberg on June 9, 2005. A customer found him behind the counter. The 50-year-old had three children.

• The victims of the neo-Nazi NSU murder spree

  Theodoros Boulgarides

  Just a few days later, on June 15, 2005, Theodoros Boulgarides was shot dead in Munich in his lock and key service shop. He was the only victim with Greek heritage. The 41-year-old father of two was the NSU’s seventh murder victim.

• The victims of the neo-Nazi NSU murder spree

  Mehmet Kubasik

  On a busy street at noon on April 4, 2006 in the western city of Dortmund, Turkish-born Mehmet Kubasik was killed by several shots to the head in his small convenience store. The 39-year-old left behind a wife and three children.

• The victims of the neo-Nazi NSU murder spree

  Halit Yozgat

  In Kassel on April 6, 2006, Halit Yozgat was also shot in the head. He was killed in the internet cafe he ran with his father. Twenty-one years old, Turkish-born but with a German passport, Yozgat was taking night school classes to graduate from high school.

• The victims of the neo-Nazi NSU murder spree

  Michele Kiesewetter

  Michele Kiesewetter, a 22-year-old police officer, was shot dead on April 25, 2007 in the southwestern city of Heilbronn. She was the NSU’s 10th and final murder victim.

  Author: Iveta Ondruskova

New memorial vandalized

The memorial, an oak tree, was located in a public park in the German city of Zwickau, in the eastern German state of Saxony. It had been planted on September 8 to commemorate Enver Simsek, a flower seller with Turkish roots who was killed in Nuremberg by the NSU in 2000. The city announced on Thursday that the tree had been sawed down. 

It is not the first such instance in the city: In 2016 a different memorial to the victims of the NSU in Zwickau was also vandalized.

The NSU terror cell, made up of Uwe Mundlos, Uwe Böhnhardt and Beate Zschäpe, lived underground for many years in Zwickau.

Read more: Neo-Nazi NSU member Beate Zschäpe found guilty of murder, sentenced to life in prison

‘Simply shocking’

German politicians condemned the destruction of the memorial. Zwickau’s mayor, Pia Findeiss, said in a statement, “The sawing down of the tree is a sign of intolerance, a lack of democratic understanding and disrespect toward terror victims and their families.” 

Angela Merkel’s government spokesman, Steffen Seibert, described the incident in a tweet as “simply shocking.” He added that the NSU murders remain a reason for shame.

The vandalism of the Zwickau memorial comes as Germany is seeing an uptick in violence and threats from far-right extremist groupings and individuals.

The murder of German politician Walter Lübcke in the central state of Hesse in early June, which is being treated as a politically motivated terror attack, prompted criticism that the German government was once again underestimating the threat of far-right extremist violence. The German police and army have struggled to deal with right-wing sympathizers among their ranks.

Saxony: Strong far right 

Saxony has a history of strong far-right factions within the state. The neo-Nazi National Democratic Party (NDP) has held seats in the regional parliament in the past and the far-right xenophobic PEGIDA movement was launched in the state in 2014.

In the most recent state elections, the far-right populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) took second place, earning 27.5% of the votes. The party’s leadership in Saxony belongs to a far-right fringe grouping that has had ties with the neo-Nazi scene. 

Currently, the neo-Nazi Revolution Chemnitz group is on trial in Dresden accused of “forming a right-wing terrorist organization” in September 2018.

Read more: Germany’s far-right AfD stronghold: Life is good, but ‘people are scared’

cmb/msh (dpa, epd, AP)

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