Terror in GermanyFar-Right Extremism "Biggest Threat in Our Country": Germany’s Interior Minister

On Friday, Horst Seehofer, Germany’s Federal Minister of the Interior, was visibly distraught when, two days after Wednesday’s terrorist attack in Hanau, he told a hushed press conference that “The threat posed by right-wing extremism, anti-Semitism and racism is very high in Germany.” He added: “I would like to emphasize that right-wing extremism poses the greatest threat in our country.”

The twelve dead in Hanau – including the gunman, who committed suicide, and his 72-year old mother, which he killed before killing himself – were but the latest victims of a rising tide of far-right extremist violence in Germany. Reporters kept asking Seehofer why the security services could not prevent the latest atrocity, just as they had failed to detect and stop the previous three deadly far-right extremist attacks since last July.

Seehofer arrived at the press conference, held at the Federal Press Conference Center in Berlin, accompanied by Federal Minister of Justice Christine Lambrecht, Attorney General Peter Frank, and the President of the Federal Criminal Police Office Holger Münch.

“The act in Hanau is clearly a racist terrorist attack,” Seehofer said. “Since the NSU [the National Socialist Underground, which, between 200 and 2011, killed a score of Muslim immigrants and  police officers, and robbed several banks to finance the group’s activities] and the rampage in Munich [where, in July 2016, an 18-year-old far-right extremist killed nine people at a shopping mall in Munich before killing himself], a trail of right-wing extremism has been running through our country.”

After the murder of the Walter Lübcke in June 2019 — he was a pro-immigration politician from Chancellor Angela Merkel Christian Democratic Party — and the attack on the synagogue in Halle, this is the third right-wing terrorist attack in Germany in a few months.

On Friday last week, twelve members of an extremist far-right terrorist cell called “The Hard Core” were arrested after the German domestic intelligence service saw them moving closer to launching a series of mass-killing attacks against German Muslims. The idea of The Hard Core was to kill a large number of Muslims, leading to retaliation by Muslins against white Germans. The ensuing chaos would create the conditions for allowing a “strongman” to rise to power, dispense with democratic niceties, and expel non-white and non-Christians from Germany.

Seehofer said that the attacks planned by The Hard Core were prevented, but that the situation is worrying. “There is a very high level of threat from the right. That really drives me as a minister responsible for his citizens.”

Seehofer warned that in the wake of terrorist attacks, imitators are always to be expected, but also “anger and emotionalization, which in turn can cause dangers.” Seehofer appeared to be implying that the security services are also worried about acts of revenge by Muslims.

“We will increase police presence across Germany. We will increasingly monitor sensitive facilities, especially mosques.” He said that the federal police would support the state police and also monitor borders and airports more closely.

Christine Lambrecht, the Federal Minister of Justice, said: “We have to make it clear where the borders are in this constitutional state.”

Both Lambrecht and Seehofer kept referring to the draft law against right-wing extremism and hate crime which the cabinet sent to the Bundestag last week. The new measure stipulates that online threats can be dealt with much more severely, and it tightens regulations governing firearms purchasing and ownership. Background checks will become more intrusive, and anyone under the age of 25 will also have to prove their psychological suitability to own a firearm.

Attorney General Peter Frank said the aim of the investigation is now to find out whether the gunman had supporters who helped him carry out the attack.

Frank revealed that last fall, the gunman, known as Tobias R., filed a complaint with the Federal Attorney General against an unknown worldwide secret organization which was allegedly following his every move. No investigation was initiated. The gunman, a sports shooter and marksman, owned several firearms, for which he had a license.