Five years ago, in Hanau, less than five kilometers from where I have lived all my life, nine of our fellow citizens with a migration background were murdered in a racist and right-wing extremist act of terrorism by a paranoid German. His name is unimportant.
It is their names that must not be forgotten: Gökhan Gültekin, Sedat Gürbüz, Said Nesar Hashemi, Mercedes Kierpacz, Hamza Kurtović, Vili Viorel Păun, Fatih Saraçoğlu, Ferhat Unvar and Kaloyan Velkov.
Germany has had more right-wing extremist offenses than any other European country. Since 1990, well over 200 people have died as a result of right-wing violence in Germany. It started with what they called „Dönermorde“, kebab murders, blaming the victims for their criminal lives – which were as criminal as yours and mine.End of 2023, politicians from far-right AfD party, from the conservative CDU party, Austrian neo-Nazis and German businessmen met near Potsdam to fine-tune their plan for the forced deportation of millions of people currently living in Germany. They called it „Remigration“.
That lead to hundred thousands of demonstrators taking the streets to make statements against racism, anti-Semitism and right-wing extremism. And again. And again before our „Bundestagswahl“. The first time that I remember we had a rally in the suburb where I live.
Lately, „my“ school has become a „School with Courage sans Racism“. Serpil Unvar, the mother of Ferhat, gave us a speech. She pointed out that the hatred that took her child’s life was part of the larger problem: hatred is the result of a world in which differences are often made more important than what unites us all. „Be it religion, political conviction or ethnic origin. Every form of division ultimately leads to pain and loss.“ She closed with the words „Love is stronger than hate“.
It was only in September that the current police chief publicly apologised to the bereaved families of the victims. This year, for the first time, an other policeman laid a wreath at Mercedes Kierpacz’s grave on the anniversary of her death.
On Sunday evening, I was forced to realise that despite all of this, over 20% of Germans voted for a „party that is at least partly secured on the extreme right“. Because they had succeeded in narrowing the election campaigns down to the one issue of violent criminal illegal migrants? The climate catastrophe, stretched social systems, the fact that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer, and the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine were virtually irrelevant.
The probability of falling victim to a violent offence today is half as high as it was thirty years ago. Who was afraid of that in the 90s? I don’t understand it.
Idiots defaced graffiti for Hanau victims. It was fixed fast!
Say their names: Gökhan Gültekin, Sedat Gürbüz, Said Nesar Hashemi, Mercedes Kierpacz, Hamza Kurtović, Vili Viorel Păun, Fatih Saraçoğlu, Ferhat Unvar and Kaloyan Velkov. The name of their murderer is unimportant.