The assassination of a politician from Angela Merkel's party and the anti-Semitic attack in Halle shocked German lawmakers. Authorities hope money and personnel will help confront increasing far-right radicalization.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/T. Hase
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Top of the agenda at this week's meeting of the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) in Wiesbaden was the increasing prevalence of hatred and violence in German society — especially from right-wing extremists.
There has also been a rise in right-wing extremists individuals who authorities suspect may be planning deadly terror attacks. In 2012, the BKA had been monitoring four such individuals, but today it is keeping tabs on 46. Münch warned that "the far right poses a pernicious and growing threat," adding that statistically, there are three acts of far-right violence every day.
Horst Seehofer, who as Germany's interior minister is in charge of the BKA, did not attend the summit. He was in Berlin this week for 2020 state budget discussions in the German parliament, the Bundestag. There, Seehofer managed to convince lawmakers to provide Germany's security apparatus with extra funding and personnel. The federal police, domestic intelligence service (BfV) and BKA will benefit most from this extra money. The latter, in particular, will receive an additional €65 million ($71.5 million), boosting its total budget to €800 million, which will allow it to hire 810 new staffers.
Many of them will now be tasked with monitoring and combating Germany's far-right. BKA President Münch said that increasingly, right-wing extremists are committing acts of violence "seemingly out of the blue," without previously having aroused the suspicion of German authorities. The Halle attacker, for instance, had never been their radar. Many individuals like him are radicalized online, anonymously and globally. That's why German security agencies want to expand their cooperation with their foreign agencies.
Mike Bush, New Zealand's Commissioner of Police, spoke at the BKA conference about how the Australian Christchurch attacker had gone online to prepare for his massacre at two mosques — which he then livestreamed. The parallels with the Halle attack, where the uniformed perpetrator also livestreamed his actions, are striking.
Münch hopes to thwart attacks like these by being able to "swiftly launch in-depth investigations" online. Just like police officers patrol streets, Münch wants his agents to also "patrol" the internet.
But that could prove an almighty undertaking in the short term, as one IT expert at the conference made clear. Just 1% of German security officials are tasked with monitoring cybercrime — in the Netherlands, by contrast, 4% of officers are scanning the net for criminals and extremists.
Münch nevertheless expressed optimism, saying the planned increase in funds and personnel would allow his agency to better tackle hate crime and violence. And while he was elaborating on his strategy for achieving this, Interior Minister Seehofer received cross-party support for his tough stance on far-right extremism.
Konstantin von Notz, a security expert with Germany's opposition Green party, sided with Seehofer, arguing that "we need to take action." He urged the Interior Ministry to create a special task force to address the far-right danger. Indeed, Seehofer himself already suggested something along these lines in cooperation with the Justice Ministry and the Family Affairs Ministry after the Halle attack, when he presented a nine-point plan to combat far-right extremism.
Attacks on synagogues in Germany
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.
