Victims' families still await justice 3 years since racist Hanau terror attack in Germany

Despite the passage of three years, German authorities have yet to deliver justice for a brutal far-right terror attack in the southern city of Hanau, according to the families of the victims.

A racially-motivated German gunman opened fire on the night of Feb. 19, 2020, at two separate locations within 10 minutes of each other, killing nine people of migrant origin: Kaloyan Velkov, Fatih Saracoglu, Sedat Gurbuz, Vili Viorel Paun, Gokhan Gultekin, Mercedes Kierpacz, Ferhat Unvar, Said Nesar Hashemi and Hamza Kurtovic.

The terrorist, a 43-year-old German man who had posted racist content on the Internet, was later found dead with a gunshot wound, along with his mother at his home.

Families of the victims lament that three years later, they still feel abandoned by authorities in their struggle for justice.

"We are here again and talking about Hanau for the third time. We're still fighting for the same thing. We're still fighting the same battle. From my perspective, far too little has changed. There are hardly any consequences for right-wing extremist attacks," the mother of Ferhat Unvar said in a video message to the Berlin-based Heinrich-Boell Foundation.

Her remarks were echoed by Said Etris Hashemi, whose brother, Said Nesar, lost was killed in the attack. He stressed the urgent need for "justice" for victims' families.

"Dealing with the victims after this attack was insensitive and sometimes disrespectful. Some relatives refer to the time after the attack as the second attack," Hashemi said in his message for the third year since the killings.

"It is important that politicians understand that we do not only have a racism problem, but also a problem with violent right-wing extremists who are a danger to society, democracy and peaceful coexistence in Germany. Ever since the Federal Republic came into existence, the threat from the right has never been as great as it is today," he said.

Government vows to address concerns of victims' families

In response to complaints by victims' families about ill treatment by authorities, the German government has vowed to address the issue.

Federal Anti-Discrimination Commissioner Ferda Ataman has sharply criticized how those affected by racism are treated in Germany and acknowledged that her country has "a racism problem."

"The relatives of Hanau, but also many other people who experience racism, are currently experiencing that discrimination is being played down as 'woke' or 'identity politics' and dismissed as an irrelevant interest of minorities," Ataman told the newspapers of the Funke media group.

She urged officials to implement measures against right-wing extremism more consistently.

"After the racist assassination attempt in Hanau, there was a cabinet decision against right-wing extremism and racism for the first time. That was a turning point politically," said Ataman.

It is all the more disappointing that the federal government has not yet implemented its plans. The controversial term "race" in Article 3 of the German Constitution, for example, "has not yet been changed despite corresponding announcements in a package of measures by the federal government," she said.

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser pointed out that the Hanau terror attack proved that the fight against far-right ideology had to be prioritized.

"Right-wing extremism continues to be the greatest extremist threat to our democracy. Right-wing extremism continues to threaten peaceful coexistence in our society. Right-wing extremist hate speech and violence, hostility and exclusion — many people in our society experience all of this on a daily basis," she said.

"In many dark corners of the net, a climate of contempt for human beings continues to be fueled. That is why fighting right-wing extremism continues to have a special priority for us as the federal government and for the security authorities — with empathy for those affected and toughness against extremists," said Faeser.

She made clear that a strong democratic civil society was "the strongest bulwark against right-wing extremism."

"Many encouraging initiatives have been set up in Hanau, in particular. We want to strengthen democracy from within — through democratic commitment, political education and the prevention of extremism on the one hand. And through consistently acting security authorities on the other side. Both belong together in order to continue to fight right-wing extremism with all consistency," she said.

National trauma

The attack in Hanau was sadly not the only lethal racial attack to occur in Germany, with similar killings happening in Halle, Molln, Solingen, Rostock-Lichtenhagen, and Erfurt, as well as brutal racist murders by the Neo-Nazi terror group, National Socialist Underground (NSU).

The Hanau murders "cannot be viewed separately from the way Germany's political system is handling right-wing extremist violence," according to an editorial in the Berlin-based Tagesspiegel newspaper.

"Hanau stands for a severe trauma. At least in Germany those people who look and have names like Sedat, Said Nesar, Mercedes, Hamza, Gokhan, Kaloyan, Ferhat, Vili Viorel and Fatih. Hanau, that is great pain — and a memory. Because we don't all live in the same Germany," it said.

Germany has witnessed growing racism and xenophobia in recent years fueled by propaganda from far-right, anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim groups, including from the main opposition party, Alternative for Germany (AfD).

Far-right terrorism in Germany has claimed at least 218 lives since 1989, according to the Berlin-based Amadeu Antonio Foundation.

Human rights groups have long criticized authorities for underestimating the threat and not seriously investigating crimes committed by neo-Nazis.