A Nation on Trial?

Anti-immigration feeling is as high across Europe as it is in the UK. Often the reaction against immigration has a lot to do with primordial fears about the ‘foreignness’ of other cultures and is often associated with skin colour. Continental Europe, like Britain, is dealing with the effects of multiculturalism and globalization. Legitimate fears about job security, social breakdown, economic decay and crime are wrongly entangled with race, ethnicity, religion and immigration.

Indeed, when things like housing crises occur- the wider society looks for quick explanations and easy scapegoats. Immigrants, especially dark skinned-immigrants, are the most convenient of these scapegoats, as in pre-dominantly white societies, BME individuals are easy to identify and stand out. Organisations like OBV, have always warned that, not only are these assertions false, but to wrongly assert that immigrants are the problem is dangerous and can lead to discrimination or even violence against them. In Britain, with the fears of the rise of UKIP, the three major parties are starting to bang the anti-immigration drum, in a way which legitimises social prejudice.

The trial of Beate Zschaepe in Germany represents the sum of all of our fears - where social prejudice against ‘immigrants’ can lead. Zschaepe, who went on trial a few days ago, is the sole survivor of a group that had travelled around Germany killing immigrants. Ms Zschaepe also dubbed ‘Nazi-Braut’ or the Nazi Bride belongs to the National Socialist Underground (NSU) who are a small neo-Nazi movement in Germany. Ms Zschaepe is accused of conspiring with two others of killing 10 people between 2000-2006.

‘The Bosphorus serial murder’ or ‘Doner Murder’ (both names are related to the ethnic origins of the victims), targeted-mostly Turkish small-business owners- including doner kebab vendors and greengrocers. They also allegedly killed one German policewoman and one Greek locksmith. Most of the victims were killed in broad daylight, with a gunshot to the face at close range. The group is also suspected of committing other crimes including two bomb attacks and fifteen bank robberies.

The gang was caught following a failed bank robbery on 4th November 2011, in which two members of the gang, Uwe Bohnhardt and Uwe Mundlos, were found dead by police. They had taken their own lives following the botched robbery in an apparent suicide pact. On 11th November, Zschaepe surrendered herself to police.

What makes this trial so controversial in Germany is that for years, German police and intelligence services, denied such neo-Nazi groups existed. This is despite various tip-offs and other information received by the security services about their existence. Last July, the head of the German domestic intelligence service resigned, after it was revealed he had shredded his files on the topic.

The German security forces initially (up until Zschaepe was arrested) chose to believe that the murders were the work of the Turkish Mafia. Many of the victims and their families were treated as suspects, despite a lack of evidence to show any foreign criminal involvement. For years the families were told that their loved ones might have been drug smugglers.

Semiya Simsek, daughter of one of the murder victims Enver Simsek, told the German-newspaper die Welt, “Prejudices against foreigners and Turks are deeply rooted in the mind. These impressions have influenced the investigations over the years and steered them in the wrong direction."

The controversy continued in the run-up to the trial as Turkish journalists were not given seating allocation for the trial, until Germany’s constitutional court ruled that they should be given spaces.

After Ms Zschaepe was arrested the police found DVDs in which the cell introduced themselves as the National Socialist Underground. The DVDs showed the Pink Pather cartoon character going on tour of Germany, counting off the murder victims. The search also revealed photos of some of the victims who had been photographed soon after their deaths. Ms Zschaepe is now on trial along with four others who are accused of supplying her and her gang with weapons.

Although the case has now reached the judicial system and German Chancellor Angela Merkel apologised to the victims’ families, what the case reveals is the alarming situation that many immigrant communities in Europe are in. Not only do these face the possibility of attacks from right-wing groups, but they may also face discrimination from the authorities. These attackers are not unique either- Norway had Anders Brevic, who in 2011 massacred 69 teenagers on an island and killed a further 8 people in a bombing in Oslo.

What motivated Brevik and Zschape was a shared fear and hatred of immigrants and foreign cultures - the rise in anti-immigration feeling and Islamophobia informed and fuelled their actions. There is a danger that if anti-immigration feeling, is not curtailed, that Britain may itself see violent actions against ‘immigrants’. The trial has lead to soul-searching in Germany, in a sense the German nation is on trial, as along with suspected neo-Nazism- Germany’s social attitudes and prejudices are on trial with them.

Usman Butt