Hanau commemorates victims of racist attack
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Hesse state premier Volker Bouffier attended a memorial service in Hanau on Wednesday; two weeks after a gunman killed nine people there in a racially motivated attack.
During the service, Steinmeier called the shooting an “attack on peaceful society” and a “brutal act of murderous violence,” adding that it served as a reminder of Germany’s “pre-existing history of exclusion and discrimination of people with a migrant or Muslim background, of so-called outsiders…”
Steinmeier read out the names of the victims as well as the prime suspect’s mother, who was found dead at his residence.
Read more: After attack, Hanau takes a stand against racism
Far-right attack
The alleged gunman, 43-year-old German Tobias R., killed nine people in two different hookah bars in Hanau on February 19. He was found dead hours later at home, along with the body of his mother. Police are still investigating the likelihood that he killed her and then himself after the shootings.
German federal prosecutor Peter Frank told German media that all of the victims had an immigrant background. They included both German and foreign citizens. Prosecutors have attested that the gunman possessed a “deeply racist mentality.”
‘He grew up in Hanau’
Mirveta Mrkalj-Durben, a relative of Hamza Kurtovic — one of the victims of the Hanau shooting — spoke to DW on Wednesday, explaining how her cousin was visiting the hookah bar for the first time when he was murdered.
“He called in with a friend to buy something, and both of them were killed. Hamza was to all intents and purposes German. He grew up in Hanau. He only spent his holidays in Bosnia, perhaps for seven days each year,” she said.
Mrkalj-Durben was expelled from her hometown of Prijedor in western Bosnia in the early 1990s because of her Muslim background and came to Germany as a refugee. She also drew parallels with the conflicts her family had in the Balkans decades ago.
“Today, Europe is being defended in Hanau. He we are defending what we missed the opportunity to defend 30 years ago in Bosnia — in a country that was seen as part of “europe” with a small e.”
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Germany shootings: What we know about the Hanau attacks
Two shootings
The first attack took place at a hookah bar in the downtown area and the second at a cafe about 2.5 kilometers (1.5 miles) away in neighborhood of Kesselstadt.
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Germany shootings: What we know about the Hanau attacks
Getaway car found
Police received information about a getaway car, which they traced back to the suspect’s address. Authorities then sealed off the area while special forces launched a major search.
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Germany shootings: What we know about the Hanau attacks
Two bodies found at suspect’s home
Police said early on Thursday morning that they had found the suspect dead in his home. Another corpse was also discovered, which was later identified as the body of his mother.
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Germany shootings: What we know about the Hanau attacks
Letter of confession
A letter claiming responsibility for the attack from the suspect was found by police. Authorities are also examining a video that the suspect posted online several days earlier in which he details a conspiracy theory about child abuse in the United States.
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Germany shootings: What we know about the Hanau attacks
Federal investigators
Federal prosecutors announced they would be taking over the investigations. A spokesperson said there were “indications of a far-right motive.”
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Germany shootings: What we know about the Hanau attacks
‘Deeply racist mentality’
German Attorney General Peter Frank said the video and manifesto posted by the shooter revealed “not only crazy thoughts and convoluted conspiracy theories, but also a deeply racist mentality.” He said prosecutors must now “find out, if there were any other supporters or accomplices in the Hanu attacks.”
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Germany shootings: What we know about the Hanau attacks
Mourning the dead
Flowers and candles are placed near the Midnight shisha bar. Nine people have so far been confirmed dead in the attacks. Several top EU officials, including European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, have publicly expressed their condolences for the victims.
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Germany shootings: What we know about the Hanau attacks
Merkel gives statement
German Chancellor Angela Merkel delivered a statement on the attacks on Thursday afternoon. She said it was too early to make a final assessment of the attack in Hanau, but that there were many indications that the perpetrator had right-wing and racist motives. “Racism is a poison, hate is a poison. And this poison exists in our society, ” she said.
Read more: Opinion: We all belong to Germany — but racism does not
‘Fundamental values not secure without our support’
During the memorial service, the German president warned: “Yes, racism does exist in our country — and not just for a few weeks. Yes, there is widespread Muslim hostility,” adding that people “with darker skin color or with a headscarf experience discrimination.” Yet he stressed that this applied only to a minority of people, calling on the silent majority to combat such sentiment wherever it raised its head.
“Our fundamental values, our freedom, our peace — these are not secure without us,” Steinmeier said. “Democracy does not live because the constitution commands it to. It lives and endures if we want it and if we stand up for it — against those who want to put it in question or undermine it. We must actively defend it. Us, the state, and me.”
Steinmeier said “there are no second-class citizens” in Germany and “no gradations in being German.” He said every person in the country “must be able to live in security and peace” and that Germany’s institutions, especially people “at the top,” “must do everything possible” to protect people from hostility.
Hanau also held an evening service to honor the victims of the February 19 attack.
“They all helped shape this city, they all belong to this city, they are all Hanauers,” said Hanau city mayor Claus Kaminsky on Wednesday evening.
Kaminsky said a memorial in the city’s main cemetery would be erected for the victims so that “their names” and “their suffering” would “never be forgotten.”
mvb/msh (dpa, KNA)
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Article source: https://www.dw.com/en/hanau-commemorates-victims-of-racist-attack/a-52636930?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf