German police knew murderer’s neonazism, did nothing

This 20 February 2020 video in German is called Nazi Terror in Hanau.

Translated from Dutch NOS TV today:

The attacks on two water pipe cafés seem to lead to a major scandal. That says Holger Schmidt, terrorism expert at the German broadcaster ARD. “The Bundesanwalt (the highest public prosecutor) already received a letter in November with extreme right-wing views written by the perpetrator. But nothing happened to that.”

The attacks were carried out by a 43-year-old German, named Tobias Rathjen, according to the German newspaper Bild. Nine people died, according to the mayor, all people of foreign origin. The perpetrator then shot his mother and killed himself.

Rathjen had a weapons license as a sports shooter. “His gun license was not re-examined after the letter”, says Schmidt. “That’s remarkable.” …

It is certain that he had extreme right-wing sympathies. …

Earlier this week and the end of last week, four members of the terror group “Gruppe S.” were arrested. “Everyone thinks of a connection with that group,” says the terrorist. “With those arrests, detailed plans were found for attacks on mosques.” …

The investigation in Germany now focuses mainly on all contacts of Tobias Rathjen, Schmidt says. “And then comes the question: who are responsible that this could have happened?”

This 20 February 2020 video is called Germany Shooting: Far-right extremist carried out Shisha bars attack: Nine killed at two shisha bars.

Translated from Dutch NOS radio today:

The attack on two shisha bars in the German city of Hanau is not isolated. It is a consequence of the growth … of right-wing extremism in Germany, two experts say to the NOS. …

The German public prosecutor believes that the man had a terrorist motive. …

He then studied business economics at the university in Bayreuth, where he graduated in 2007. …

R. has been a member of a shooting club in Frankfurt since 2012. In 2013 he received a weapons license. He was allowed to own two weapons. …

He wrote: “Certain people from my own country have contributed to the fact that we now have national groups, races and cultures among us who are destructive in every respect”. He also writes that certain nations “must be destroyed completely“. …

The attack in Hanau is the third major attack in a short time in Germany with a right-wing radical background. CDU politician Walter Lübcke was shot by a right-wing extremist last June. In October a heavily armed man with explosives tried to invade a synagogue in Halle. When that failed, he shot two people dead on the street. …

[Political parties like the AfD] “feel little responsibility for attacks, but after a jihadist attack they are quick to blame the whole of Islam for violence,” says [journalist] Sterkenburg. “They should take a more critical look at how their political ideas inspire the ideology of attackers such as this perpetrator in Hanau.”

‘XENOPHOBIC’ SHOOTINGS IN GERMANY LEAVE 10 DEAD Shootings police attributed to a xenophobic motive killed at least nine people and the suspected gunman, and wounded five others in the German city of Hanau. The shootings took place at two hookah bars in heavily immigrant parts of the southwestern German city near Frankfurt. [HuffPost]