German security officials want more authority to target and prevent far-right violence. Among the proposals on the table is more monitoring of the internet and gathering evidence to outlaw some far-right groups.
Far-right protesters holding banner saying 'Sow the wind, reap the whirlwind'Image: picture-alliance/J. Tack
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Violent right-wing extremists pose a growing threat to Germany's democracy, security officials said Tuesday, announcing a package of measures to crack down on groups spreading hate.
Police have identified 43 so-called right-wing "Gefährder," or individuals intent on carrying out violent acts of terrorism, a number double the count from two years ago.
"Right-wing crimes endanger our democracy," Holger Münch, head of the Federal Criminal Police, said in Berlin. "The situation is serious."
In the latest right-wing act of violence that has roiled the country, a gunman attacked a synagogue last week in the eastern city of Halle. Unable to enter the synagogue, he shot and killed two people on the street.
The attempted attack on a synagogue in Halle is not the first in recent years. Even after the horrors of the Nazi era, anti-Semitic incidents occur in Germany — on individuals, memorials and Jewish places of worship.
Image: Imago Images/S. Schellhorn
Cologne, 1959: Swastikas and hate speech
In December 1959, two members of the Deutsche Reichspartei (DRP) right-wing extremist party painted swastikas and the words "Germans demand: Jews out" on the synagogue in Cologne. Anti-Semitic graffiti emerged across the country. The perpetrators were convicted, and the Bundestag passed a law against "incitement of the people," which remains on the books to this day.
Image: picture-alliance/Arco Images/Joko
Lübeck, 1994: First arson attack on a temple in decades
People across the world were horrified at the March 1994 attack on the synagogue in the northern city of Lübeck. For the first time in decades, a synagogue in Germany burned. Four right-wing extremists were eventually convicted of arson. The day after the fire, 4,000 locals took to the streets under the slogan "Lübeck holds its breath." In 1995, the same synagogue was hit by another arson attack.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/J. Büttner
Essen, 2000: Stones hurled into Old Synagogue
Armed with paving stones, more than 100 Palestinians from Lebanon attacked the Old Synagogue in Essen in October 2000. The incident occurred after a demonstration against "violence in the Middle East." A police officer was injured. Mahmud Alaeddin, deputy head of the general delegation of Palestine in Germany, distanced himself from the attack.
Image: picture-alliance/B. Boensch
Düsseldorf, 2000: Arson and stones
A 19-year-old Palestinian and a 20-year-old Moroccan damaged Düsseldorf's New Synagogue with incendiary devices and rocks in October 2000 as "revenge" against Jews and the state of Israel. "We need the respectable people to rebel" against anti-Semitism, then-German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder demanded. The federal and state governments and various NGOs launched campaigns to counter extremism.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/R. Weihrauch
Mainz, 2010: Molotov cocktail attack shortly after inauguration
Shortly after being inaugurated in September 2010, an arson attack hit the New Synagogue in Mainz during the night of October 30. The spectacular Deconstructivist building by architect Manuel Herz was erected on the site of the former main synagogue that was set on fire during the Kristallnacht, the Nazis' national night of pogroms, in 1938.
Image: picture-alliance/akg/Bildarchiv Steffens
Wuppertal, 2014: Incendiary devices
In July 2014, three young Palestinians hurled incendiary devices at the front door of the synagogue in Wuppertal. In a highly controversial decision, the court ruled there was "no evidence whatsoever" of anti-Semitic motives. Jews in Germany and the foreign media were outraged. The chairman of the Jewish Community Wuppertal declared the ruling as "an invitation to further crimes."
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/C. Seidel
Berlin, 2019: Knife-wielding attacker
A man wielding a knife climbed over a barrier at Berlin's New Synagogue on the eve of Shabbat on October 4, 2019, during the holy period between the holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Security personnel overwhelmed the attacker, whose motive remained unclear. Police released him afterwards, a decision Jewish leaders called "a failure" of justice.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Avers
Halle, 2019: Shooter attempts mass murder on Yom Kippur
About 80 people were in the synagogue on Wednesday afternoon to observe Yom Kippur, the Jewish calendar's holiest day. The alleged attacker reportedly attempted to shoot his way into the synagogue but was prevented by a safety door. Two passersby were shot to death and two were injured. The suspect, who has a history of right-wing extremist, anti-Semitic, and misogynist rhetoric, was detained.
Image: Imago Images/S. Schellhorn
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The terror attack came months after a pro-refugee regional official, Walter Lübcke, was gunned down at his home by a right-wing extremist.
Security authorities have long observed a rising violent right-wing scene numbering around 12,700 people.
Federal security authorities are now preparing to increase observation of known right-wing groups and of radicalization and networking on the internet.
According to a concept proposed to the Interior Ministry, security authorities want to comb the internet for signs of radicalization and to better understand right-wing groups.
The goal is to increase pressure on such groups and eventually outlaw them, including possibly the so-called "New Right" organizations such as the Identitarian Movement.
Security officials also want to establish a central office to combat hate crime on the internet. Under the proposal, internet and social media providers would be required to report to police criminal content that they are already required to delete under current legislation.
