Officials have said a deadly shooting was the result of deep-seated racism, which the suspected perpetrator had posted about online. The attack came hours after the German government approved an online hate speech bill.
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A gunman by the name of Tobias R. is thought to have killed nine people and injured at least four in two shisha bars in the city of Hanau, not far from Frankfurt. He then went home where he is suspected of killing his mother before killing himself. He left behind a letter of confession and a video in which he espouses right-wing ideology.
Ahead of the attack, he is suspected of having spread racist, xenophobic and anti-Semitic hate speech and conspiracy theories online. Federal prosecutors are now investigating whether he had any contact with other far-right terrorists. Peter Beuth, the interior minister of the state of Hesse, has said that he was not known to the authorities before.
The attack is a clear indication: Far-right terrorism is on the rise in Germany. A spokesperson for the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) told the German media outlet Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland that it currently had a list of 60 people that it officially considered as right-wing extremist Gefährder, a criminal designation for suspects considered threats to public safety.
Germany shootings: What we know about the Hanau attacks
Two deadly shootings took place at a hookah bar and a cafe in the western German city of Hanau. This is what we know so far about the attacks.
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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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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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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.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/B. Rössler
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.
Image: Reuters/K. Pfaffenbach
Federal investigators
Federal prosecutors announced they would be taking over the investigations. A spokesperson said there were "indications of a far-right motive."
Image: Reuters/K. Pfaffenbach
'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."
Image: Reuters/R. Orlowski
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.
Image: Reuters/R. Orlowski
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.
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From threats to action
According to the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Germany's domestic security agency, some 12,700 far-right extremists are "oriented toward violence." With more and more communication taking place online, radicalization is happening at a faster pace. The members of a recently dismantled right-wing terrorist cell were allegedly radicalized online. This was also the case of Stephan B, who police say attacked a synagogue in Halle in eastern Germany on Yom Kippur, Judaism's holiest day, with the intention of committing a massacre. He failed to get into the building but still killed two people before being arrested.
Germany’s security services face two serious problems when confronting ideological extremism: They need to be able to detect who could be likely to go beyond their fantasies of violence and commit actual attacks, and they also need to find out where the inspiration and funds are coming from. Prosecutor Christoph Hebbecker from the Federal Criminal Police Office’s Cologne-based cybercrime division told DW that since February 2018 there there have been about 1,000 criminal complaints that authorities suspect were committed by the far right. About half of them had culminated in charges being filed, because the anonymity of online forums makes tracking difficult for authorities, Hebbecker said.
Terrorist cell dismantled
Just last week, German police conducted raids on 13 apartments across the country and dismantled a terror cell that was allegedly planning to plunge Germany into a "state of civil war" by committing "as yet undefined" attacks on politicians, asylum-seekers and Muslims. Four suspected would-be attackers were arrested, as well as another eight individuals suspected of supporting them.
At first glance, it would seem that the police, security services and prosecutors were able to stop a terrorist group with fixed plans. But the challenged facing investigators is now to provide evidence that is sufficiently convincing that the suspected plotters are put on trial.
The difficulty of doing so is well illustrated in the case of Franco A., a lieutenant in the Bundeswehr, Germany’s armed forces. Franco A. was suspended and arrested in 2017 after being charged with the "preparation of a serious act of violent subversion." He spent seven months in pre-trial custody, accused of wanting to commit attacks on famous politicians, including now-Foreign Minister Heiko Maas and Vice-President of the German Bundestag, Claudia Roth. Although there was evidence that he had stockpiled weapons and explosives and the names of potential victims were known, the Frankfurt Higher Regional Court dropped the charge that he was planning a terrorist attack on the basis that there was "insufficient evidence." The court found that he had a "racist ethno-nationalist and anti-Semitic attitude" but said that it was also "highly probable" that he had not yet made a "firm decision" to carry out any attacks.
In the past 10 years, there have been numerous attacks targeting Muslim and Jewish communities, as well as people of color. DW examines some of the world's major right-wing extremist terror attacks.
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Germany 2009: Stabbing of woman in Dresden court
Marwa El-Sherbini, a pharmacist who lived with her husband and son in Dresden, was killed in Dresden's district court on July 1, 2009. She was stabbed by a 28-year-old Russian-German man shortly after testifying against him in a verbal abuse case. He'd previously called her a "terrorist" and "Islamist." El-Sherbini is considered to be the first murder victim of an Islamophobic attack in Germany.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Hiekel
Norway 2011: Mass murderer Breivik carries out terror attacks
Right-wing extremist Anders Behring Breivik killed 77 people in two lone-wolf terror attacks on July 22, 2011. He first set off a bomb in the government district in Oslo before killing young people attending a summer camp on the island of Utoya. Prior to the attack, Breivik published a manifesto where he decried multiculturalism and the "Islamization of Europe."
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/R. Berit
USA 2015: Chapel Hill shooting
Three university students — Deah Barakat, his wife Yusor Abu-Salha, and her sister Razan Abu-Salha — were shot dead by their 46-year-old neighbor on February 10, 2015. The shooter described himself as an opponent of organized religion and reportedly repeatedly threatened and harassed the victims. The killings sparked outrage online, with millions of tweets using the hashtag #MuslimLivesMatter.
On June 17, 2015, a white supremacist opened fire at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. Nine African-American worshipers were killed, including a pastor at the church, which is one of the oldest black congregations in the United States. The 21-year-old suspect was convicted of a federal hate crime and sentenced to death.
Image: Getty Images/J. Raedle
Germany 2016: Mass shooting in Munich
A mass shooting at a shopping mall in Munich on July 22, 2016 wounded some 36 people and killed 10 — including the 18-year-old shooter. The perpetrator, a German of Iranian descent, made xenophobic and racist comments and idolized school shooters, according to police. He also suffered from depression, was frequently bullied and wanted to take revenge on people with immigrant backgrounds.
Image: Getty Images/J. Simon
UK 2017: Attack on Finsbury Park mosque
On June 19, 2017, a 47-year-old man killed one person and wounded another 10 after driving a van into a group of pedestrians near the Finsbury Park mosque in north London. All of the victims were Muslims who were on their way to take part in special night prayers during Ramadan. The perpetrator later stated that he was motivated by a "hatred of Islam" and was sentenced to life in prison.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/F. Augstein
USA 2017: Car attack during neo-Nazi march in Charlottesville
One woman was killed and dozens were wounded when a white nationalist drove his car into a crowd of counterprotesters in Charlottesville, Virginia on August 12, 2017. The counterprotesters had been demonstrating against the Unite the Right rally, a gathering of white supremacists, white nationalists and neo-Nazis. The suspect was sentenced to life in prison.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/P.J. Richards
Canada 2017: Attack on mosque in Quebec
A gunman opened fire on worshipers at the Islamic Cultural Center in Quebec City in late January 2017, killing six people and wounding over a dozen. The shooting took place during evening prayers. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau condemned the shooting as "a terrorist attack on Muslims in a center of worship and refuge."
Image: Reuters/M. Belanger
USA 2018: Tree of Life Synagogue shooting
On October 27, 2018, a 46-year-old gunman opened fire at a synagogue in the US city of Pittsburgh, killing 11 people and wounding seven. He reportedly shouted anti-Semitic slurs during the attack and previously posted conspiracy theories online. It was the deadliest attack on Jewish people in US history.
Image: picture-alliance/AP/M. Rourke
Germany 2019: New Year's attack in Bottrop and Essen
Shortly after midnight as people were out celebrating, a 50-year-old man carried out targeted attacks on immigrants in the western German cities of Bottrop and Essen — injuring eight people, one seriously. He deliberately drove his car at two Syrian and Afghan families who were out celebrating with their children in Bottrop. German authorities said "he had a clear intent to kill foreigners."
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Kusch
New Zealand 2019: Twin terror attacks on mosques in Christchurch
At least 50 people were killed and dozens others were injured in twin terror attacks at mosques in Christchurch. Officials called it a "right-wing extremist attack" and the deadliest shooting in New Zealand's history. One of the gunmen livestreamed the attack and posted a racist manifesto online before the attack. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern called it "one of New Zealand's darkest days."
Image: picture-alliance/empics/PA Wire/D. Lawson
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The Federal Court of Justice — Germany’s highest criminal court — has since instructed the Frankfurt Higher Regional Court to open criminal proceedings, but no trial date has been set. The tug-of-war shows how high the legal hurdles can be in Germany despite numerous adjustments to the law. It is thus not at all certain that the 12 detained last week will end up on trial.
Cracking down on racist hatred online and offline
Despite the difficulties in tracking and prosecuting those who radicalize online, the German government is taking steps to tackle online hatred even if it does not extend to physical violence. Last month, Interior Minister Horst Seehofer announced a ban on neo-Nazi terrorist organization Combat 18. And on Wednesday, the government approved a bill that aims to crack down on hate speech. If it is signed into law, as is expected, death and rape threats made online could be punished with up to three years’ imprisonment. The maximum punishment is currently one year. Even harsher sentence of up to five years could be applied in cases targeting local politicians with slander and hostility.
Far-right 'enemy lists'
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The bill comes in the wake of increasing online threats against politicians across Germany. Regional politician Walter Lübcke, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) and a supporter of her welcoming policy toward asylum-seekers, had received a number of threats before he was shot dead in front of his house in June last year. Police believe a far-right extremist motive was behind the killing; the suspect in custody is an avowed right-wing extremist who had issued death threats online.
Politicians are also hoping to combat online extremism by requiring internet sites such as Facebook to report certain forms of hate speech and propaganda to the Federal Criminal Police Office, whose president Holger Münch has been cracking down on the far right. The Cologne-based cybercrime division cooperates closely with the media and the Association of the Internet Industry (eco) and has been able to identify 130 individuals suspected of online hate crimes from Germany and abroad over the past two years.
However, prosecutor Hebbecker could not say how often such cases had actually resulted in a trial and was not aware of any suspect who had received a sentence without parole. He said that the division generally dealt with individuals operating as a "lone wolf" who were sometimes known but that there were others who had "never yet turned up in a case file." He said that he could not detect any "big, organized structures." He found one aspect of his research particularly surprising: such suspects clearly displayed a "clear far-right ideology" but did not consider themselves to be right-wing extremists.
