When it comes to the state compensating terror victims, Germany is still lagging behind in international comparisons. That's why experts want payments to be adjusted to match benefits in other EU countries.
Image: DW/Imtiaz Ahmad
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Twelve people died in the terrorist attack on a Berlin Christmas market in December 2016 when an Islamist terrorist drove a truck into the holiday crowds on Berlin's Breitscheidplatz. To help the families of the victims and those who were injured in the attack, the German government introduced the position of commissioner for victims of terrorism.
The person holding the position has changed — Edgar Franke replaced Kurt Beck in April — but one central demand has remained the same. Both Beck and Franke have called for higher financial compensation for victims and relatives. They believe that the hardship benefit – a one-time lump sum paid out soon after an attack – should be tripled.
"The victims died in an attack on the state," Franke told DW. "The terrorists didn't want to harm them specifically, they wanted to attack the state. That's why the state makes these payments."
Germany to mark anniversary of market attack
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Lump sum likely to triple
Under current rules, individuals are entitled to receive a lump sum of €10,000 ($11,900) for the loss of a child, parent or spouse, or €5,000 for the loss of a sibling. Injured persons receive €5,000. Those sums would thus increase to €30,000 and €15,000 respectively. The increase would be backdated to include the victims of the Berlin attack.
Another proposed change is to give tourists from other countries, including non-EU nationals, the right to such payments — something they were not previously entitled to.
"Neither sum can bring a lost loved one back to life, of course," Franke said. "But the people affected should receive more money, because these higher sums are the norm in other countries."
On December 19, 2016, Anis Amri drove a truck into a Berlin Christmas market, killing 12 peopleImage: picture-alliance/dpa/B.v. Jutrczenka
Germany not doing great in international comparison
In his final report presented in December 2017, Kurt Beck had included a comparison of hardship benefits between Germany and a number of other countries. It showed that Germany's current payments were much lower than those of some of its neighbors.
Many countries, including Germany, have other benefits in addition to the lump sum payment to help terrorism victims. But just in terms of one-time hardship benefits, €10,000 is indeed rather low. In France, spouses and parents of people who died in a terrorist attack receive up to €35,000 and children up to €25,000. In Spain, relatives can even receive a one-time payment of up to €250,000.
So why is Germany currently lagging behind?
A year and a half after the Berlin terrorist attack, Franke is demanding more money for victimsImage: imago/epd/J. Blume
"It's simple: Before Berlin we didn't have this kind of [large-scale, high-casualty] terrorism here in Germany," Franke said. One reason, he suggested, was that Germany had traditionally been reluctant to send troops to international conflicts, meaning it did not suffer "the consequences that they had in London or Paris."
After the Berlin Christmas market attack, the German government had to react quickly to come up with a payment plan, which is now supposed to be increased. Victims commissioner Franke believes the government is likely to go ahead with tripling the benefits.
There are, however, some countries where compensation for the family of terror victims is lower than what Germany is aiming for. In the UK, which has seen a relatively high number of attacks in recent years, family members receive roughly €12,500.
Solid long-term support
In Germany, those who are entitled to these hardship benefits include surviving victims as well as families of victims of terrorist attacks and right-wing hate crimes – i.e. crimes with a politically motivated background that the federal public prosecutor general is tasked with investigating. This includes the victims of the far-right extremist National Socialist Underground (NSU) terrorist cell, alleged to have murdered nine people because of their immigrant backgrounds between 2000 and 2007.
Chronicle of the NSU murders
The crimes of the neo-Nazi terror cell and the way state authorities dealt with them, still reverberate today. DW gives you the background to an affair that has shaken Germany.
Image: picture alliance / dpa
A mysterious string of murders
For years, neo-Nazis of the right-wing organization National Socialist Underground (NSU) killed people across Germany. The suspects: Uwe Mundlos, Uwe Böhnhardt (center) and Beate Zschäpe. Their victims: eight people of Turkish origin, one Greek man and a German policewoman. Their motive: xenophobia. Until 2011, the German public was not aware of the scope of their crimes.
Image: privat/dapd
Unsuccessful bank robbery
The murder spree was uncovered on November 4, 2011, when Mundlos and Böhnhardt robbed a bank in the east German town of Eisenach. For the first time, they failed. Police officers surrounded the caravan in which the two men were holed up. A later investigation concluded that Mundlos first shot and killed Böhnhardt, then set the caravan on fire and killed himself.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Zschäpe turns herself in
Shortly after the death of Böhnhardt and Mundlos there was an explosion at Frühlingsstraße 26 in Zwickau, in the state of Saxony. Beate Zschäpe lived at that address together with the two bank robbers. Zschäpe allegedly set the house on fire to destroy evidence. Four days later, she turned herself in to the police. The terror suspect has been custody since that day.
Image: Getty Images
The truth comes out
In the ruins of the Zwickau flat, police officers found a self-made video in which the terror cell claimed responsibility under the name of the NSU, the National-Socialist Underground. The 15-minute video shows crime scenes and pictures of the victims killed by the right-wing terrorist group between 2000 and 2007.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
NSU claim responsibility
Famous cartoon character The Pink Panther hosts the amateur video, which is full of slogans of hatred against people with an immigrant background and which mocks the murder victims. Before her arrest, Zschäpe allegedly sent out copies of the video in which the NSU claimed responsibility for the crimes.
Image: dapd
Verbal slip-ups
Until 2011, the term "döner murders" was frequently used when reporting about the killings. Nothing was known about the connection between the individual cases, nor about the motive. There were rumors the victims were linked to the drug scene. But the NSU's video left no doubt. The term "döner murders" was chosen as Germany's "Unwort des Jahres" (doublespeak of the year) in 2011.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
NSU also behind Cologne pipe bomb
"The findings made by our security authorities so far show no indication of a terrorist background, but of a criminal milieu," said German Interior Minister Otto Schily on June 10, 2004. A day earlier, a pipe bomb explosion in Cologne left 22 people injured and many shops damaged. In 2011, it became clear: the NSU’s right-wing terrorists were also behind the Cologne bombing.
Image: picture alliance/dpa
Memorial service in Berlin
On February 23, 2012, Germany commemorated the victims. At the ceremony at a Berlin concert hall, the focus was on the relatives of the victims. Semiya Simsek (right), the daughter of the murdered flower stand owner Enver Simsek, gave an emotional speech. German Chancellor Angela Merkel made an official apology to the victims and promised them that all questions would be answered.
Image: Bundesregierung/Kugler
Memorial for Mehmet Kubasik
"Dortmund is a colorful, tolerant and welcoming town – and opposes right-wing extremism!" This statement was made by mayor Ullrich Sierau at the unveiling of the memorial stone for NSU victim Mehmet Kubasik in September 2012. The memorial was set up just meters away from the kiosk in which Kubasik was killed on April 4, 2006.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Solidarity with the victims
On November 4, 2012, exactly a year after the terror cell was uncovered, people in many German cities staged solidarity demonstrations against right-wing extremism. The protesters called for thorough investigations into the racially motivated murders - which in their view was not happening fast enough.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Beate Zschäpe lone survivor
Believed to be the last survivor of the NSU trio, Beate Zschäpe went on trial in May 2013.Over 800 witnesses were heard. Zschäpe did not speak for the first two and a half years of the trial.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Schrader
Life sentence
Beate Zschäpe was given a life sentence. She was found guilty of joint complicity in 10 counts of murder, arson, robbery, extortion, the formation of a terrorist organization and membership in a terrorist organization. Though there was no evidence that she herself was present at the scene of the crimes, the judges felt that the "particular severity of guilt" required for a life sentence applied.
Image: Getty Images/A. Gebert
The co-accused
Ralf Wohlleben received 10 years for procuring weapons for the NSU, co-accused Holger G. got three years for providing false identity papers. Another co-accused, Andre E, received two and a half years for providing the NSU with rail passes in his and his wife's name. He also allegedly rented a mobile home which the cell drove to Cologne to carry out a bombing.
Image: AFP/Getty Images/C. Stache
Long lasting impact
When conservative politician Walter Lübcke was murdered by a neo-Nazi activist in 2019, his name was also found on the 'list of enemies' for targetted killings. Lübcke had come under attack from the far-right following a speech he made in 2015 defending the decision to take in refugees from the Syrian war.
Image: Swen Pförtner/dpa/picture alliance
Securty agency failings
The federal and the state parliaments launched investigations to shed light on the security authorities' failures in the NSU case: The role of paid informants, the lack of cooperation between the various intelligence agencies and state interior ministries, which are responsible for police in the respective states, and allegations of systemic racism on the part of German authorities.
The lump sum is only one of several types of compensation that they have a right to claim. And when looking at some of the other types, Germany does better in international comparison.
"Other benefits like pension payments and aid for people wounded in an attack are pretty well organized in Germany," Beck told DW.
These benefits include regular pension payments for people who can't fully return to their jobs after having been injured or traumatized in an attack, as well as financial support with doctor and hospital bills.
Beck says victims in Germany have easier access to pension payments than in other European countriesImage: picture-alliance/dpa/G. Fischer
It's not just the money that matters
Long-term financial support and psychological help are just as important as appropriately high hardship benefits, Helgard van Hüllen, vice president of the German victims' aid organization White Ring and of the NGO Victim Support Europe, said.
"More than two thirds of the relatives of those killed in the Berlin attacks still receive care from the White Ring," van Hüllen told DW. "Long-term care is the most important thing, especially for victims of terrorism."
That includes long-term payments, van Hüllen said, "so the victim doesn't suffer financially on top of everything else."
In Germany donations from the population, on top of state payments, are also distributed among terrorism victims and families of those who died.
"I believe that it's extremely important that we've seen so much willingness to help in Germany and so many people who have donated," Beck said. "It doesn't matter so much because of the materialist aspect, but because the compassion of the people means a lot to those who lost a loved one."
Berlin attack: an overview in pictures
Authorities are investigating a truck attack on a Berlin Christmas market, which has left at least 12 people dead and dozens injured. Here's what we know so far.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/M. Schrader
Police search for attacker
Police on Wednesday intensified a manhunt for the driver of a truck that plowed through a Christmas market crowd in a busy shopping district in Berlin on Monday night. The militant "Islamic State" group claimed responsibility for the assault. Berlin police chief Klaus Kandt urged people to be "particularly vigilant."
Image: Reuters/C. Mang
Searching for suspects
Police initially detained a 23-year-old asylum-seeker from Pakistan in connection with the attack. Authorities released him on Tuesday, citing a lack of evidence. Berlin police admitted they may have apprehended the wrong suspect. The driver of the truck is believed to be at large. Authorities said one or more fugitives were likely armed and dangerous.
Image: Reuters/F. Bensch
City in shock
Many gathered to place candles, roses and signs near the site of the attack. Memorials to the victims arose just hours after a truck plowed into a Christmas market in the heart of the city. Police remain on high alert in Berlin - and across the rest of Germany.
Image: Reuters/F. Bensch
'This was a terrorist attack'
Condolences have been pouring in from all over the world. "A country is united in mourning," Chancellor Angela Merkel told the nation on Tuesday morning. Calling it a terrorist attack for the first time, Merkel described the incident as "cruel and beyond comprehension."
Image: Reuters/H. Hanschke
Heightened police presence
Heavily armed police patrol the entrance to a Christmas market in the German city of Hamburg. The holiday markets in Germany remained open following the attack in Berlin, but with heavier police presence and tighter security measures.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/C. Charisius
What happened
A truck carrying steel beams drove straight into a crowded Christmas market in a popular shopping area in Berlin late Monday evening. This image is reminiscent of a similar attack in Nice last July, in which 86 people were killed when a man drove a truck through a crowd. In response to the Berlin tragedy, France has beefed up security at its own Christmas markets.
Image: Reuters/F. Bensch
The victims
Police have confirmed 12 deaths so far - six of whom were German nationals. Another 49 people were wounded, some seriously. Rescue workers set up emergency tents on site after the attack. Many of the wounded have been able to leave the hospital.
Image: Reuters/P. Kopczynski
Where it happened
Breitscheidplatz, the square in front of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, is a popular tourist destination. To the northeast of Breitscheidplatz is the Berlin Bahnhof Zoo, and to the south is the famous Kurfürstendamm shopping street.
Image: Google Earth
Clean-up efforts
"Our investigators are working on the assumption that the truck was deliberately steered into the crowd at the Christmas market," police said on Twitter on Tuesday. The truck has meanwhile been towed and taken in for a forensic examination.
