Hanau attack: "Racist speech has been released in Germany"

Researcher at the CNRS, attached to the University of Strasbourg and based in Berlin, Patrick Moreau, one of the best specialists of the German extreme right and the neo-Nazi movement, studies closely the xenophobic dynamics which torment Germany.

For this political scientist, the first elements suggest that the alleged author of the double racist shooting that took place on Wednesday February 19 in Hanau, is not a neo-Nazi, but rather a follower of the conspiracy theories of the American conspirators.

Who is Tobias Rathjen, the alleged perpetrator of the Hanau double shootout on Wednesday evening?

PATRICK MOREAU. The 24-page text he left behind gives a lot of information about his profile. According to the information available, he is not a neo-Nazi. Of course, he shares some points in common with the National Socialist ideology of the Nazis. Starting with the idea that the "German race" is the bearer of a higher civilization. But, on the other hand, it seems to feed much more on the American conspiracists and their conspiracy theses. Overall, his speech is quite delusional, paranoid, detached from reality. He presents the profile of a lone wolf who has radicalized in his corner. In short, a very difficult case to detect for the intelligence services.

The alleged killer also had the particularity of living in the immediate vicinity of a multicultural population ... and its victims.

Generally, the mixture of populations of different origins tends to reduce the level of racism. But hyper-radicalization phenomena are also observed more rarely. Perhaps that is what happened in his particular case.

Newsletter - The essentials of the news

I'm registering

Your email address is collected by Le Parisien to allow you to receive our news and commercial offers. Find out more

What does the neo-Nazi movement represent in Germany today?

Last year, the German authorities estimated the number of neo-Nazis at 12,000. It is not nothing ... They are people who are organized and able to mobilize in the form of demonstrations to defend their convictions. Among them, a few hundred are likely to carry terrorist projects. Their objective is to divide German society to cause the exclusion of populations of foreign origins. But they are very well infiltrated and therefore well monitored by the intelligence services.

How is the Afd, the far-right political party, positioned in relation to the neo-Nazis?

Afd takes great care not to display porosity with neo-Nazis. Otherwise, it would mean his death sentence. Overall, the Afd is very similar to the National Rally in France. Created in 2013, it displays electoral results in constant progression. The party reaches scores between 20% and 30% of the votes in the east of the country. Under his impetus, the racist word was released in Germany.