Inadequacy of government functioning - Wüst requests NSU victims in Cologne to express remorse
The Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia, Hendrik Wüst (CDU), has issued an apology to those who were affected by the NSU attack that occurred in Cologne 20 years ago. He wrote in a guest article for the "Cologne City Announcement" and the Turkish newspaper "Hürriyet." Targeting all those who experienced the attack in 2004 as well as those who were falsely suspected despite being victims themselves, he acknowledged, "The fact that the state didn't protect people in the Keupstraße during this attack is downright inexplicable. It could not defend them from physical and mental harm, nor from false accusations. I plead for forgiveness from all those who had to face false suspicions for so long and were unjustly dragged into the investigations, despite being victims."
On June 9, 2004, the NSU terrorists Uwe Mundlos and Uwe Böhnhardt detonated a nail bomb in the Keupstraße. A staggering 22 people were injured, some critically. For many years, the police accused suspects from the Turkish community, pointing them in the direction of right-wing extremism. They neglected to look into this further. After Mundlos and Böhnhardt died in 2011, they found evidence that the "National Socialist Underground" (NSU) orchestrated this attack and other killings.
Wüst noted that not only did the residents of the Keupstraße experience the terrible shock of the attack and the fear for their lives, but they also endured an onslaught of bias and slander. During the course of the investigations, there were instances where victims were publicly accused of being complicit. North Rhine-Westphalia has learned from its errors. The police and justice system are now more proactive in reflecting the multicultural make-up of the country as a whole.
A memorial service for the 20th-anniversary of the attack will be held on Sunday, with Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in attendance.
