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Germany: racist violence

01 March 1993

A statement put out by the German embassy in London on January 14, claiming that "since October 1992 there has been a rapid decline in the number of xenophobic offences registered" has been condemned by the Campaign Against Racism and Fascism. In a press statement they accuse the German government of "purposely covering up the full extent of racist and fascist violence in an attempt to mollify international opinion".

In a letter to the German ambassador, Baron Hermann von Richthofen, they document twelve murders that "can either be proved to have been racially motivated carried out by neo-nazis or where a racial motive cannot be ruled out" that have taken place since January 1993. The Campaign expressed particular concern at the death of Mike Z., who was brutally murdered in Hoyerswerda, during February, by a group of neo-nazis as two police officers watched without taking any action.

To date most of the convictions of racists and fascists who took part in last years violence against refugees and asylum seekers have resulted in minor sentences. Most of those accused of involvement in the Rostock attacks received prison sentences of less than eight months, or suspended sentences and probation orders. In the most recent case Bernd Teuber was jailed for two and a half years after being convicted of grievous bodily harm for throwing a petrol bomb.

In a separate case, resulting from the fire-bombing of a home for asylum seekers in Neubrandenburg, in north-east Germany, last August, two youths were sentenced for three years while seven others received sentences ranging from ten months to two and a half years; two others were acquitted.

Guardian 4.3.93; Voice 16.3.93.