German politician's killing leaves unanswered questions, one year on
It seems Walter Lübcke had no chance of escape when his
alleged killer, Stephan E., moved in on him early in the morning of June 2,
2019.
According to federal prosecutors, "under the cover of
darkness he approached Walter Lübcke‘s house, where he was sitting on the terrace."
The suspect "crept up on his victim and shot him in head from a short
distance with a Rossi revolver."
The killing bore all the hallmarks of a politically
motivated execution. The impression was deliberate: nothing had been left to
chance. The 66-year-old Christian Democrat (CDU) politician had been a target
of hatred in militant right-wing extremist circles since 2015. At that time,
Germany faced a huge influx of refugees into the country and Lübcke was an
outspoken advocate of efforts to welcome them and integrate them into the
country.
Lübcke’s assassination was different from other killings
carried out by far-right fanatics in that it was the first time in postwar
Germany that a serving politician had been murdered by a right-wing extremist.
There were, however, previous targeted killings of asylum-seekers and members
of Germany’s migrant communities.
Walter Lübcke’s death came just under a year after the end
of the trial of Beate Zschäpe, one of the key figures in a far-right terrorist
cell called the National Socialist Underground (NSU). In July 2018, Zschäpe was
sentenced to life in jail for her part in a seven-year killing spree that
included ten murders and two bomb attacks that were jointly planned and carried
out by Zschäpe and two far-right co-conspirators, Uwe Böhnhardt und Uwe
Mundlos, who were both found dead in 2011.
The sentence passed down on Zschäpe did not appear to have
any kind of deterrent effect — on the contrary. After all, Lübcke was gunned
down in a way that was shockingly reminiscent of the NSU killings that left
dead nine members of Germany’s immigrant communities and one policewoman. All
were shot and killed from short range. However, while the victims of the NSU
were entirely unaware of the fate that awaited them, Lübcke was well aware that
far-right fanatics were out to get him.
Hate mail and death threats against him had become an
everyday occurrence since 2015, when he sided with Chancellor Angela Merkel on
refugee policy. Emotions were running
high on all sides after the decision to set up a refugee accommodation center
in the small town of Lohfelden, close to the village where Lübcke lived. He had
defended the project at a heated town hall meeting where a large section of the
local population of 14,000 made it clear that they did not welcome the refugee
center.
The suspected killer, Stephan E., who says that he attended
the gathering in Lohfelden, initially confessed to the killing, but later
retracted the confession. Nevertheless, federal prosecutors remain convinced
that they have the right man. The apparent motive for the killing: "a
fundamentally ultra-nationalist attitude based on racism and xenophobia."
Furthermore, prosecutors believe that Stephan E. was
determined "to use the murder to send out a public signal in defiance of
the current German state as it manifests itself." The call, widely seen
and heard in far-right circles, states that the time has come for deeds to
follow words. It could have cost Lübcke his life, as his name had for years
been reportedly among those of "listed enemies." The kind of list
that was also in the hands of the NSU cell as early as 1998.
Although this sort of incriminating evidence had been
gathered at such an early date, politicians and security services both
overlooked the far-right threat for many years to come. That only changed with
the killing of Lübcke and the October 2019 attempted mass shooting at a
synagogue in the eastern city of Halle. The German government suddenly had no
time to lose in coming up with a far-reaching plan of action against far-right
extremism. And just how necessary such a plan is became clear in figures on
politically-motivated criminal offenses only recently released by the Federal
Criminal Police Office. The numbers prompted Interior Minister Horst Seehofer
of the Bavarian conservatives (CSU) to say that far-right extremists had left a
"long trail of blood."
This trail includes the racist attack on the western city of
Hanau on February 19, 2020 that left ten dead. Just a month later, the German
government responded by creating a special committee to combat far-right
extremism and racism, led by Seehofer and including a wide range of other key
ministries. Whether it will guarantee that Germany’s political leaders will
never again turn a blind eye to far-right violence remains to be seen.
The new committee met for the first time at the end of May,
shortly before the first anniversary of Lübcke's murder. Afterwards, government
spokesman Steffen Seibert announced that "on top of the measures already
taken, there would by November of this year be further concrete measures to
combat right-wing extremism and racism."
Organizations that have long been involved in the battle
against right-wing violence praised the government’s initiatives. But Timo
Reinfrank from the Amadeu Antonio Foundation — named after one victim of
right-wing extremist violence — says that the work of the committee needs to be
more broad-based, including victims of hate crimes, members of civil society,
and academic experts. If the committee it to fulfill its mandate, says
Reinfrank, it must have clearly-defined goals, such as concretely reducing the
number of politically-motivated crimes by the far-right in the next five years.
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