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Ministry of the Interior in Magdeburg: "Measures against racism, anti-Semitism and xenophobia among the police"
Photo: Stephan Schulz / picture alliance / dpa
The Ministry of the Interior of Saxony-Anhalt has received an anonymous letter accusing police officers in Magdeburg, according to SPIEGEL information, of racist and right-wing extremist statements.
A spokesman for the ministry officially confirmed receipt of the letter, but did not comment on the contents.
The letter had been forwarded to the public prosecutor.
The letter, written on the computer, was received by post on Monday, comprises two pages, details of the sender, address or other data are missing.
The "Mitteldeutsche Zeitung" first reported about it and wrote that the letter had been written by an "alleged policewoman".
According to SPIEGEL information, the authorities have doubts about this.
The letter is therefore inaccurate, there are no specific allegations against individual officials, superiors or units within the Magdeburg riot police.
No specific chat is mentioned, no specific history is shown, and no mobile phone number is given.
In addition, abbreviations are mentioned that are allegedly not used by the police.
In addition, it is unusual that the letter initially praised the Ministry's previous measures against extremism.
Study on extremist mindsets planned by the police
In October, Saxony-Anhalt's Interior Minister Holger Stahlknecht (CDU) decided on "measures against racism, anti-Semitism and xenophobia in the police".
Among other things, there should be a study on extremist ways of thinking in the police.
In addition, an extremism officer is to be appointed and a special commission set up.
In order to enable independent work, it is linked to the Ministry of Justice.
These measures were triggered by anti-Semitic statements by riot police officers.
For years you are said to have disparagingly referred to a canteen operator as a "Jew".
The anonymous letter states that words like "goat fucker", "cunt" or "Kanake" were uttered between riot police officers.
The insults are said to have been directed against colleagues.
A picture is also said to have been attached to the letter, it is said to show a scantily clad woman in a presumed SS uniform and a swastika.
The SPD and the Greens, who govern Saxony-Anhalt together with the CDU, spoke up after the allegations became known.
"The allegations are grave, and unfortunately one has to assume that they are not completely out of thin air," said the domestic policy spokesman for the SPD parliamentary group, Rüdiger Erben.
It is Stahlknecht's job to provide clarification.
However, it is just as important to create a leadership culture among the riot police, "which guarantees that superiors do not look the other way and that officials who address grievances are not considered to be polluting the nest."
The Greens are calling for an independent police officer to be appointed: "Police officers need an independent body to whom they can turn confidently and bypassing official channels, without fear of consequences," says Sebastian Striegel, domestic policy spokesman for the Green parliamentary group.
It speaks volumes "that those responsible only found out about the right-wing radical chat group through an anonymous letter."
In the past few months, right-wing extremist chat groups had already been uncovered by police officers in several federal states.
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