For responsible government politicians appearances after terrorist attacks are usually a thankless task: they must recognize the seriousness of the situation and possibly admit mistakes. At the same time they must try to catch the criticism of their own authorities, because this can fall back on them.
After the right-wing extremist motivated attack in Halle with two dead, three politicians in particular had to face this thankless task: Saxony-Anhalt's Prime Minister Reiner Haseloff, his Interior Minister Holger Stahlknecht and Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer.
Together with the Chairman of the Central Council of Jews, Josef Schuster and Max Privorozki, the chairman of the Jewish community in Halle and representatives of the local police gave the three Union politicians on Thursday afternoon, a press conference. They did not have much to gain from this: after the charges of the head of the Central Committee, Schuster, who had called the lack of police protection at the synagogue in Halle "scandalous", it was all about mitigation.
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Immediate action for Jewish institutions
Minister President Haseloff made a visible effort to recognize the need for action and to emphasize his concern. The Jewish communities in Saxony-Anhalt would have to feel so secure that the events of Wednesday "will not keep them from their services," said Haseloff and announced a discussion with the other states on uniform standards.
As a concrete immediate measure police protection for Jewish institutions in Halle, Dessau and Magdeburg should be increased. Haseloff and Stahlknecht had promised him during the joint visit to the synagogue in Paulusviertel that they are long-term measures - "not only on the weekend and the Feast of Tabernacles in the coming week," said Central Committee President Schuster.
In addition, he called for tougher penalties for anti-Semitic crime and other protective measures for Bavarian-style synagogues, such as structural art. Schuster belongs to the Jewish community in Würzburg. The Chairman of the Central Council emphasized that it was necessary to speak of luck that the perpetrator of Halle had failed to overcome the secure door of the synagogue, "because that would have meant a massacre of indescribable proportions".
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"A shame for the country"
Federal Interior Minister Seehofer called the terrorist attack of the day before "a shame for the whole country" and acted altogether in clear words. After the Holocaust, the Federal Republic has made the oath "Never again" to the whole world - and "in such hours we feel deeply indebted to this oath".
Thus Seehofer oriented himself to Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who said at noon in front of the synagogue in Halle: "History admonishes us, the present challenges us." Who now shows a spark of understanding for right-wing extremism and racial hatred and politically motivated violence against dissenters and those of other faiths, justify, "he is complicit".
Seehofer, however, also remarkably often said that he had already pointed out the need for action in relation to legal terrorism on several occasions and "in Berlin" so nobody wants to hear from his ideas about the prosecution of crimes on the Internet. He is concerned only with the fight against crime by adapting the legal framework. "Nobody will stop us on this path," promised Seehofer.
Clear criticism of the AfD also from Seehofer and Stahlknecht
Both he and Holger Stahlknecht finally confirmed the testimony of Bavaria's Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann that some representatives of the AfD "intellectual arsonists" and have promoted the increase of the right-wing terrorist threat.
These arsonists should "find no further breeding ground in Germany," Stahlknecht said. Details remained guilty of the three government politicians on Thursday - at the meeting of the Conference of Interior Ministers in the coming week will be discussed on further consequences of the attack.