Victim support groups warn of the rise of far-right violence in Germany

German citizens have witnessed a increase in violence far-right, racist and anti-Semitic, which has reached unprecedented levels since 2013.

Victim support group ‘ezra’ maintains that there is a direct relationship between the rise in far-right violence and support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which is currently in second place in national polls, and is expected to obtain a wide support in the upcoming elections in three eastern German states.

Mayar, a 20-year-old nurse who fled Syria during the war, and has lived in Germany for almost nine years, has a strong feeling of german identity, since he grew up in the country. Distressed, he recounts the moment of the attack he suffered.

“The attacker insulted me and then hit me. Then he tried to strangle me. He pushed me against the train car, and then tried to strangle me. She squeezed my throat with her thumbs. His actions were inhumane. Not only did he intend to hurt me, his intention was, clearly, to cause me serious harm.”

Mayar affirms that the aggressor is a “known neonazifamous for his crimes.” Despite this being neither the first nor the last time that the author committed a violent attack, his act resulted in a suspended sentence.

Mayar affirms that the attack affected him greatly. “During the day, things may be normal. I can continue living my life, but in reality, I find it difficult to leave the house at night. Above all, where I live, in that place,” he explains.

According to Mayar, his area is “well known by right-wing extremists“. Thus, he adds: “I can’t go out whenever I want. “I’m very cautious about those things, and the word ‘safety’ is missing when it comes to going out at night.”

Mayar is a direct witness of the increase in racism in Germany. “It’s gotten worse recently. Over the past year, I’ve noticed that it’s become much, much more common. Now it’s seen very often on the street. In my case, on average, every two weeks, once or twice, I myself am part of these cases on the street, or I witness them. It is also a daily occurrence for me to observe racism on the Internet,” he says. The nurse originally from Syria attributes this to the increase in support for the AfD, which has been classified as extremist by a German court.

“Every time I think that at some point in the future, they might deport meOnly because I come from a different country, although I grew up here, it makes me sad. This scares me and makes me feel like an outsider. From time to time I ask myself: Am I part of the Arabs? Am I too German? On the other hand, am I too Arab for the Germans? It’s not a pleasant feeling, certainly not,” she concludes.

In January they broke out massive protests across the country when it emerged that AfD members had held a secret meeting with German and Austrian far-right figures, including neo-Nazi identitarian movement leader Martin Sellner, to discuss a “forced emigration” plan. The figures spoke of deporting hundreds of thousands of people, sometimes naturalized German citizens, to their countries of origin.

Although figures published by the Association of Counseling Centers for Victims of Right-Wing, Racist and Anti-Semitic Violence place the number of assaults At a record 3,384, this number is just the tip of the iceberg. Not all crimes are reported to the police or victim support centres, and the figures come from 11 of the 16 federal states.

Some sentences can take years to be handed down, support groups say

The spokesman for ‘ezra’, Franz Zobel, affirms that there is a direct relationship between the increase in violence and the support for the AfD. “There has been a sharp increase here, especially in the district of Sonneberg. That is the district where an AfD politician was elected district administrator for the first time, and there we experienced a massive increase in right-wing violence.” , it states.

Zobel refers to a representative study by Professor Dancygier of Princeton University, which suggests that between 38.7% and 42.5% of supporters of the hate crimes They would vote for the AfD.

However, Zobel also points out that the increase in attacks is not limited to Thuringia, or even Germany.

“The AfD and other parties of extreme right in Europe They are very well connected and therefore pose the greatest threat to the European Union, and also to the idea of ​​Europe and to the people, because they experience it. “This strengthening does not only occur in Germany, or in Eastern Germany, but we see it throughout Europe.”

Zobel also claims that many AfD supporters “simply feel entitled to hit someone“, and highlights the cases of AfD politicians who have themselves attacked people.

According to investigative outlet Correctiv, “48 AfD representatives and employees at district, state and federal levels have recently been involved in violent acts.”

Apparently, 28 of these politicians have been condemned by a court or criminal orders have been issued against them, and 14 remain politically active.

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At least five other AfD representatives are being investigated, with some of the cases involving physical attacks and hate speech.

“Here,” says Zobel, “the aggressors know that there are no circumstances that threaten them. If there are, they occur over years and with light penalties. “So, they do not have to answer for the political motive behind their inhuman attitude.”

Zobel points out that Thuringia has a problem with the judiciaryand that many of the sentences are very light.

“We have trials that last eight years until, in the end, there is a conviction. Another problem is that the reasons are rarely recognized. So, in the sentences you rarely find that it is, for example, a racist crime.”

In Mayar’s case, for example, the sentence took several years to be handed down.

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“In the case at hand, for example, it involves a neo-Nazi who is part of the organized neo-Nazi scene. He has already been charged with more than ten crimes before, he has been fined repeatedly, and now, finally, he is reimposes a conditional sentence“says the ‘ezra’ spokesperson.

“This encourages perpetrators to commit right-wing and racist violent acts, because without consequences, the authors feel safe“, he indicates.

According to the newspaper ‘Taz’, judges in the Gera district of Thuringia maintain close ties with AfD politicians, both locally and nationally, and cite statistics in which judges decide in favor of asylum seekers in single-digit percentages. The judges They deny having right-wing prejudices.