Civil Society Rises and Gives a Signal

“The racially motivated murders by the National Socialist Underground (NSU) have shocked many people. They became aware of the fact that racism kills. This is the reason why we want to get active“ said Jürgen Micksch, chairman of Interkultureller Rat.
The NSU is an extreme-right terror group, which was uncovered in November 2011. A series of crimes were attributed to the NSU, such as the so called Bosphorus serial murders, the murders of nine immigrants between 2000 and 2006. Even though authorities were aware of the list of crimes each member of the terror group committed over the years, there was no intervention and prevention of other ones happening. The group was uncovered after a bank robbery in 2011, by which time two members were already dead. The case received a lot of media coverage all over Europe and opened discussions among German society about state repression and the role of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution.

Discussions about far-right extremism were also visible when looking at the large participation of organisations and individuals all over the country. The Action Week Against Racism in Germany was coordinated by Interkultureller Rat. This year, they report the highest amount of events since their existence.
It is also getting more and more common that civil society organisations cooperate with authorities, organising big events in city centres. There is strong cooperation between sport clubs, congregations, municipalities, trade unions, schools and also political groups. People are sending a signal of their appreciation of diversity in Germany and against far-right groups and the German state covering this up.

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