Germany: record for far-right crimes in 2020

Germany recorded last year a record number of crimes attributable to the extreme right which remains "

", announced Tuesday (May 4th) the Minister of the Interior, Horst Seehofer.

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These various offenses range from assassinations, such as those of nine young people of foreign origin in Hanau (center) in February 2020, to incitement to racial hatred or Hitler salutes. They amounted to 23,604 last year, an increase of 5.7% over one year, according to the Conservative minister, and alone represent more than half of politically motivated offenses (44,692) perpetrated in Germany. This is the highest level ever since statistics were put in place in 2001.

"

" lamented Horst Seehofer, also denouncing an increase in crimes committed by the far left and by Islamists. "

" he said. "

" while the pandemic has, according to him, led to "

" of society.

The German authorities but also civil society organizations have continued to sound the alarm bells on the dangers presented by the resurgence of the far-right movement in a country haunted by its Nazi past. This threat has long been underestimated by the internal intelligence services which, for several years, have mainly focused on the fight against Islamism and the jihadist threat.

After the assassination in 2019 of a conservative official, a vigorous defender of Chancellor Angela Merkel's policy of welcoming migrants, Germany was shocked by a failed attack on a synagogue in Halle (east). The assailant, since convicted, was a far-right sympathizer who, frustrated at not being able to enter the synagogue, had killed two people at random. In February 2020, nine young people, all of foreign origin, were killed in Hanau, near Frankfurt, in a racist attack perpetrated by a man involved in the conspiracy movement. Twelve members of a neo-Nazi small group have also been on trial since mid-April in Stuttgart (southwest), accused of having planned attacks against mosques and political leaders.