Radicalism - Scholz remembers incidents of violence - plea against hate.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz from the SPD urges citizens to speak out against hate and aggression as we approach the anniversaries of the murder of Kassel's local president Walter Lübcke and the NSU nail bomb attack in Cologne-Mülheim. In his video message "Chancellor compact," Scholz stated that anyone who targets, threatens, or demeans others should be challenged, whether online or in person. "Resisting hatred is essential. Even though confronting these situations can be difficult, it's the only way to combat the poisonous sentiments that confuse people," he added.
Scholz labeled the events in Kassel and Cologne as "two horrific incidents." Reminiscing about these tragedies, he highlighted the significance of remembering them, particularly now. The Chancellor emphasized the rise in insults, attacks, and defamation, with over 60,000 politically motivated crimes reported by security authorities in 2023. "We've reached a regrettable milestone," he stated. Perpetrators must always be held responsible and promptly punished, he reiterated.
Five years ago, extremist Stephan E. fatally shot Kassel's local president Walter Lübcke. Today, a commemoration ceremony was set to take place at Kassel's Martinskirche to remember the CDU politician. President Frank-Walter Steinmeier was set to attend as the guest of honor.
In Cologne's Mülheim district, the two NSU perpetrators Uwe Mundlos and Uwe Böhnhardt detonated a bomb filled with nails on June 9, 2004, injuring 22 people, some seriously. The authorities initially assumed the culprits were connected to the Turkish community. It wasn’t until they discovered Mundlos and Böhnhardt's bodies in 2011 that they realized the neo-Nazi terrorist group "National Socialist Underground" was behind the crime.
