Germany: A mounting number of attacks[1]
- 19 February 2020: Hanau shooting. A gunman assassinated nine people in two shisha bars in Hanau. The suspect was found dead hours later in his home. A letter of confession was found, together with a video made by the suspect espousing a mix of bizarre ideologies, which are not consistent with any particular movement. While much of his hatred was directed toward Turkish and North African immigrants (whom he targeted at the shisha restaurants), he also referred to antisemitic and UFO-based conspiracy theories and expressed sympathy with the 'Incel' community.[2]
- 1 December 2019: infiltration of the special forces. DW reported that suspected neo-Nazis had been discovered in the ranks of Germany's special forces.
- 9 October 2019: Halle Synagogue. An armed lone attacker attempted to enter a synagogue in the city of Halle. Unable to gain access to the building, he killed at passerby before driving to a kebab shop where he killed a customer. He had written a 'manifesto' espousing antisemitic, racist and xenophobic views.
- 2 June 2019: murder of politician Walter Lübcke. Lübcke was a German local politician in Hesse, and a member of the Christian Democratic Union party. He was assassinated at his home by neo-Nazi extremist Stephan Ernst.
- 22 July 2016: mass shooting at Munich shopping mall. A shooter killed nine people before turning the gun on himself. Although it was not initially attributed to ERWT, the police later opened a further investigation and in 2019 announced that the killer held Right-Wing Extremist views.
- 2015 and 2016: attacks on refugee centres. In 2016, the authorities registered 995 attacks on refugee centres. In 2015, an ERWT group naming itself Gruppe Freital carried out a number of attacks on refugees. (In 2018, eight members of the group were convicted of founding a terrorist organisation.)
- 1990-1993. In the early 1990s, neo-Nazis set fire to multiple buildings housing asylum-seekers and foreigners. A total of 58 people were killed.
113. The threat is compounded by the growing influence of the Far Right and XRW in the political sphere. The Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party was founded in 2013 in response to the Eurozone bailout measures for Greece, and is currently the largest opposition party in the Bundestag, Germany's lower house of parliament, with a significant presence in state parliaments, especially in the east.
114. On 12 March 2020, it was reported that Thomas Haldenwang, the Chief of Germany's domestic intelligence agency (BfV), had placed elements of the AfD under formal surveillance:
His Agency has placed under formal surveillance the AfD's most radical faction, Der Flugel (The Wing). While there are no formal membership lists, Der Flugel is estimated to have about 7,000 followers, making up a fifth of the AfD's membership. Its influence in the party, however, goes beyond that, with its radically nationalist demands helping to shape the
- ↑ 'Right-wing terror in Germany: a timeline', Deutsche Welle, 20 February 2020.
- ↑ 'Terror in Hanau: Right Response', Hope Not Hate, 20 February 2020; 'Germany mass shooting: Gunman was eugenicist, manifesto shows', Independent, 20 February 2020.
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