National Socialist Underground

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ABSTRACT

In recent times, terrorism has rocked so many countries of the world through several terrorist groups such as the Al-Qaeda group, the Boko Haram group, and the National Socialist Underground terrorist group. In Germany, the National Socialist Underground has been operating underground for thirteen years without knowledge of their existence. However, in November 2011, they were exposed after a bank robbery, and two of their main members killed near their parked camper. The third key member offered herself to the police after burning down the houses of the already killed members. The National Socialist Underground terrorist group operates in daylight, killing immigrants either in their workplace or in their place of business. The major aim of the National Socialist Underground terrorist group is to eliminate all immigrants in Germany with the claims that they are a threat to the society. Their main murder tactics is killing their victims point blank with a pistol. This study examines the operations of the National Socialist Underground and how their existence came to be known after 13 years of underground operations.

National Socialist Underground

Introduction

In recent times, the prevalence of terrorism continues to be leading problem that affects the world. This is because terrorism greatly affected the performance an economy and social cohesion as well. Examples of terrorist groups that have rocked different parts of the world with terror are the Al-Qaeda group, the Boko Haram group, and the National Socialist Underground terrorist group. Over the years, the world has witnessed the emergent of several radical, fundamentalist Islamic groups that undertake acts of aggression against innocent citizens. For this study, we will greatly concentrate on the National Socialist Underground terrorist group recently uncovered in Germany.

Historical Background of National Socialist Underground

The National Socialist Underground group abbreviated as NSU is considered to be a far-right terror group in Germany, which was on November 2011, uncovered in Germany. This terrorist group has been involved in several murder and terror cases in Germany. Between September 9th, 2000 and April 6th, 2006, the National Socialist Underground terror group was involved in the serial murder of nine immigrants from Greece and Turkey (The Bosphorus serial murders). Other murders attributed to this group include the killing of police woman, and the bombing in Cologne in 2004. According to the Germany’s Attorney General, the National Socialist Underground group is a “right-wing extremist group” with their main purpose being to kill every foreign citizen in the country out of anti-state sentiments and sentiment resulting from abnormal fear or hatred of the strange or foreign citizens (Range, 2011).

The National Socialist Underground terror group can be traced to as far back as the time of Hitler National Socialism philosophy. This political philosophy was created by Adolph Hitler and was applied first in Germany. Since, the death of Hitler, the National Socialist Underground was believed to be on the low, operating underground in Germany (Benasuly et al., 2011). This terrorist group believes that the murders caused by the group are best for the people of Germany. This group does not believe that there is equality among different people and races.

The National Socialist Underground terrorist group also referred to as a modern-Nazi terror group has been held responsible for about 14 robberies in the bank and the killing of a police woman, plus the death of other 9 murders done serially. One of the techniques or ideology used by this terror group in their attack is anti-Semitism. The terrorist group demonstrations always encompassed gas works and representation and portrayal of Hitler and other Jews known for their evil nature (Benasuly et al., 2011). It has been greatly suspected that Abraham Grünbaum, a rabbi in Israel that was murdered in Zurich in June 2001, was a work of the members of the National Socialist Underground terrorist group. The rabbi was said to be going towards the synagogue, when an unknown culprit shot him from a very close range. It was recorded that Abraham Grünbaum, who was 70 years at that time, died on the spot.

The Goals and Objectives of the National Socialist Underground Terrorist Group

The main goal of the National Socialist Underground terrorist group is to wipe out all foreign citizens from Germany. According to Range (2011), the National Socialist Underground aims at murdering all foreign citizens in Germany out of out of anti-state sentiments and xenophobic sentiments. This fear of other foreign citizens was derived from the Nazi movement developed by Adolph Hitler. Examples of this can be depicted in the murder of 9 immigrants serially. The group sees other foreign citizens as Jews, and according to the Nazi movement, Jews are not worthy to be mingled with, instead they are to be put to death.

The main objective of the National Socialist Underground is to wipe out all immigrants from Germany. This was illustrated in the murders that occurred in cities like Dortmund, Munich, Nuremberg, and Hamburg, was carried out by the National Socialist Underground and targeted mostly men and women from immigrant background, including owners of shops and kebab-stand. This crimes performed by the terrorist group have remained unresolved, including the brutal shooting of a policewoman only twenty two years of age.

The federal government of Germany has accepted to take over all investigations after discovering that all the murders were connected to the three-person cell terrorist group known as the National Socialist Underground group. The main aim of these investigators is to look for any wider link or connections existing between the National Socialist Underground terrorist group and the Neo-Nazi gang found in Germany. Investigations will also go as far as finding any connection between this terrorist group and the National Democratic Party, which is widely known as an anti-immigrant party.

Two suspected members namely of the National Socialist Underground terrorist group; Uwe Böhnhardt and Uwe Mundlos, were found dead by police located close to Eisenach city on the 4th of November 2011. These dead members of the National Socialist Underground group were found with firearms registered to two Heilbronn police officers. It was also discovered that the houses of the dead men located in Zwickau were exploded on that same day by unknown people. On this site, the pistol used to murder the nine Turkish and Greek immigrants was found and identified, as well as several proofs that the murders were performed by a “right-wing motive” (Donahue, 2011).

There have been several murders of similar pattern showing that the main aim of the National Socialist Underground terrorist group is just to eliminate all foreigners, especially Jews. This is strongly connected to National Socialism, a political ideology formed by Adolph Hitler. In confirmation to the fact that the actual goal of the National Socialist Underground terrorist group is to eliminate foreign citizens, an eye witness of 10 assassinations done by the terrorist group, who was an agent who works with “Germany's answer to MI5” stated that the authorities of Germany were fully aware of the existence of the National Socialist Underground group in the course of their 13 years of hiding (Pidd, 2011a). Furthermore, the agent also witnessed the murder of a Turkish immigrant, who was shot at close range on April 6th, 2006.

Angela Merkel, the chancellor stated that the rise of the National Socialist Underground terrorist group is very embarrassing to Germany. The German government has sworn to properly investigate on the activities of the National Socialist Underground due to concerns about being helped by a network of supporters in their attacks. Some of these attacks include the attacks that took place in Düsseldorf and Cologne between the year 2000 and the year 2004, which ensured that above 30 people, which included most foreigners were seriously injured, and the 2008 attempted assassination of a police chief, an inhabitant of Bavaria. In this attempted murder, the assassin or member of the terror group shouted out “Greetings from the National Resistance” (Pidd, 2011b), before seriously stabbing the police chief.

So many critics have blamed the German government for the increased terrorist attack by the National Socialist Underground, stating that the authorities have claimed that the rightwing extremist group does not exist, and hence focused on possible threats from Islamic fundamentalist and leftwing terrorists. More investigation have been proposed to be carried out on this issue to discover if the German government was aware of the existence of this group and refused to acknowledge, deliberately or not, the existence of the neo-Nazi terrorist group hence, did not do anything to handle the violence and threats posed by this group.

The three major persons that head the National Socialist Underground terrorist group was said to be from the state of Thuringia. However, the state has proposed that up to 24 ring-binders with great intelligence are in the search for the trio. According to a sentence by one of the active members of the parliamentary committee, Hans-Christian Ströbele, whose responsibility is to monitor secret service agencies in Germany, stated that Germany’s secret service is a complete failure. The reason for his speech was based on the fact that the emergence of the National Socialist Underground is likely the biggest mess-up from the secret service since Germany reunified.

Germany has been gripped with fear and wonder, following the emergence of the National Socialist Underground, as they cannot seem to comprehend with how the terrorist group has managed to escape being captured for a very long time irrespective of the fact that they have been responsible for about 10 murders, robberies of 14 banks, two brutal attack using nail bombs between the period of 2000 and 2007. Due to the fact that the National Socialist Underground has been greatly connected to the Nazi movement, which has brown color, the Nationalist Socialist Underground terrorist group has been nicknamed the “Brown Army Faction”. This name was given to the group, referencing the Red Army Faction, a leftwing group that stormed Germany with series of assassinations and murders during the 70s ad 1980s.

The case of the National Socialist Underground came into limelight after the murder and house explosion of two neo-Nazis. Upon searching the remains of the house and van of the murdered neo-Nazis, so many evidence that showed that this group was responsible for past murders including the police officer that was killed in Heilbronn, Baden-Württemberg in the year 2007. Upon thorough search, they also found a strange DVD made at home, and inspired by the Pink Panther, thereby clearly showing that the series of murders in Germany that had been left unsolved was the work of the National Socialist Underground. One of the unsolved murder cases is the Döner Murders that mostly aimed at Turkish immigrant dwelling in Germany, and have worked for fast food stalls between the year 2000 and 2006.

Before the unveiling of the true cause of the serial murders, German detectives have attributed the killings to gangs from foreign countries, likely from Turkey, leading to the codenaming of the investigation as Operation Bosphorus. The murder victims’ relatives reputed that the investigators besmirched the dead men. Furthermore, the father of Kerim Simsek, Enver, who was shot on September 9th, 2000, clearly proclaimed that the police wrongly identified his father as a member of the mafia and was involved in drug smuggling, at the time of his death. The boy stated that nobody even stated that the killings were done by a rightwing extremist terrorist group.

It has been stated that elites in Germany completely underrated the threat posed by the rightwing terrorist group. Few weeks ago, the interior minister, Hans-Peter Friedrich, has publicly declared that rightwing terrorism does not exist in Germany. The interior minister stated that people are always quick to conclusion that the crimes were committed by neo-Nazis, when it is actually done by Islamist or leftwing terrorists commit a crime. It is believed that the German government had a hand in harboring the National Socialist Underground terrorist group. This speculation was brought about following 160 officers who were in the Operation Bosphorus to investigate 11,000 people, and yet made no connection of the terrorist attacks to rightwing terrorism. This therefore called attention on how National Socialist Underground managed to escape capture all this while. Investigations have been triggered to understand why and how one agent of the German secret service was in the café when the National Socialist Underground came and carried out operation and fire shots in 2006. According to the agent of the German secret service, his presence at the crime scene, either during the assassination or immediately after its occurrence, can be regarded as an unhappy happenstance (Pidd, 2011b).

An arrest of the agent was necessitated as it was noticed by other eye witness in the café that only the agent did not make an attempt to call the police. Upon arrest, the agent was questions, and he revealed his identity. No charges were placed on him afterward, although he was then moved to a department that is less sensitive in the Hessen's Regional Council. Any contact with the trio of the National Socialist Underground or any knowledge of their existence since their presence was first felt in 1998 has been denied by the national BfV, upon issuance of a warrant to arrest the national BfV subsequent to the detection of factory specialized in making bombs in rented garage by Zschäpe. It was finally concluded that the agent of the Hessen branch had no contact with Zschäpe and Mundlos, Böhnhardt.

Mode of Operation of the National Socialist Underground

From proper examination of the operations of the National Socialist Underground terrorist group, it can be seen that if any member of the group is caught, the group ensures that all possession or anything that can implicate the group is destroyed. This can be seen in the house explosion of two suspected members of the terrorist group who were shot at close range and their house exploded moments later. In the apartment of one of the suspected members, four DVDs were discovered that displayed member of the National Socialist Underground proclaiming further attacks on immigrants in the country. Two members of the National Socialist Underground were arrested. The two people thought to be a co-founder and a supporter of the group and two other members committed suicide, but it has been proposed by the government that the group has a large network of people, helping them in accomplishing their attacks.

In a statement by Thomas Oppermann, head of the Parliament’s Intelligence Committee of Germany, everybody who have helped the National Socialist Underground must be caught and punished with intensity. According to Thomas Oppermann, many more leads to other supporters have been discovered (Eddy, 2012). The emergence of the National Socialist Underground has sparked dismay and anger in the whole of Germany, and it has also raised questions and suspicion on German authorities on the possibilities of how the right extremist group who were in power at one time in Germany were able to go underground and commit several xenophobic attacks (Eddy, 2012).

Tactics of the National Socialist Underground

Although the National Socialist Underground terrorist group were only recently uncovered in November 2011, their tactics of operations have been demonstrated by their unveiled attacks. One of the tactics used by the National Socialist Underground terrorist group is to shoot its victims at point blank. Also, it was discovered that the guns or weapons used by the terrorist group belongs to police officers, but were stolen from them in attacks. The National Socialist Underground terrorist group was also characterized by occasional bombing in Germany (Mendoza, 2011). An example of the bombing carried out by the National Socialist Underground terrorist group is the Cologne bombing.

The National Socialist Underground, which has been nicknamed “Brown Army Faction”, is known to consist of three key members namely: Uwe Boenhardt, Uwe Mundlos, and Beate Zschäpe, who is the only female. It is believed that the supporters of the terrorist group are even more than 20. Presently however, there have been four arrests made in Germany. These arrested people have been identified to be in support of the National Socialist Underground terrorist group, but there have been rumors that the police and intelligence agency members were fully aware of the three key members of the National Socialist Underground and did nothing to stop them.

Between the periods of year 2000 and 2007, nine shopkeepers were murdered by the National Socialist Underground terrorist group, which consisted of one Greek immigrant and eight Turkish Immigrants. The National Socialist Underground terrorist group attacks both in broad daylight in the places of the victims business or place of work. An example of this is the 9 murders. The National Socialist Underground terrorist group attacked the victims during the daytime in their place of work and business. According to Spiegel Online (2011), the victims of the attacked were killed with a model 83 Ceska and “7.65 caliber Browning pistols”.

The National Socialist Underground terrorists were also characterized by taking photos of their victims at the scenes of the murder for propaganda purposes. They used the photos of the dead victims to form videos that was found by the police after the terrorists’ house were bombed. One of such videos was nicknamed “the German tour”. According to Pidd and Harding (2011), the terrorists of the National Socialist Underground referred themselves as “a national network of comrades whose principle is to value action above words. As long as fundamental changes do not occur in politics, press and in freedom of opinion, the activities will continue.” In the video found by the police, pictures of the victims they murdered were displayed, and the ghastly Pink Panther music of the “Doner Killings”. The video also showed the devices and instruments that facilitated the 2004 Cologne nail bombings that occurred in a Turkish neighborhood, including the supposed nail bomb used, bicycle, and gas cylinder.

The discovered video ended with the scene of murder of the Heilbronn police woman and the weapon that was also found by the police. Other videos that were discovered at the wrecked house included some that were arranged and addressed to Islamic media outlets and community centers. It was discovered that the National Socialist Underground did not only perpetrate the murders of the Turkish immigrants that were shopkeepers, but also planned other attacks. From the wrecked house, the police discovered the names of eighty eight well known people, which included two Bundestag members from Munich and Muslim community leaders (Spiegel Online, 2011, Pidd & Harding, 2011).

It was also discovered that the operations of the National Socialist Underground ended because they terrorists themselves made mistakes in their operation. After so many years of underground operation without being found, the National Socialist Underground terrorist group was discovered after an attempted bank robbery on the 4th of November, 2011 was made a mess due to incompetence and clumsiness of the terrorists. The police hurriedly came to the site of the crime and was closing in on the two robbers/terrorists, identified to be Uwe Boenhardt and Uwe Mundlos, who were killed by the police or committed suicide where they parked their camper in Eisenach. Three hours later, Beate Zschape, the third accomplices of the National Socialist Underground set the house of the two killed member on fire, and allowed herself to be arrested by the police (Spiegel Online, 2011).

The Real National Shame

It has been speculated that the survival of the National Socialist Underground terrorist group for the long period of time can be attributed to acceptance of the goals of the terrorists by police and intelligence agencies and even the general public. Otherwise stated, the political and social conditions have been speculated to really help the terrorist escape capture. One thing that was said to have helped in hiding the National Socialist Underground terrorist group was the belief that terrorists are Muslims, and that Islam is equivalent to terrorism. Thus, the members of the National Socialist Underground terrorist group were not terrorists since they were not Muslims. Although the complete story of the German National Socialist Underground, the lack of concern by the public and implicit public support for ideas that linked Muslims to terrorism fostered the continuity of terrorism of the National Socialist Underground terrorist group for the long number of years they operated.

After it was discovered that the National Socialist Underground terrorist group had existed for thirteen years, accusations came from several people that public institutions did not want to follow up on the terrorist group all the while. According to German parliamentarians, the German government consistently ignores violence committed by “right wing organizations”. The terror from the National Socialist Underground terrorist group included the killing of nine Turkish immigrants, one Greek immigrant, and one policewoman. The nail bombing that occurred in Cologne was also believed to have been a work of the National Socialist Underground terrorist group. Reports were amidst suspicion that the officer who witnessed the murder of a café owner in April 2006 had something to do with the killing. In this light, the officer, who was termed “little Adolph” was stripped of his position, and placed in a less sensitive position. Ignorance of all rightwing operations was the main allegation against the police agencies and intelligence services of Germany (Chelsom-Pill & Benzow, 2011; Pidd, 2011b).

After the September 11, 2001 attack on the United States, almost everybody have that view that terrorism is related to Islamic. Whether the police agencies and intelligence services of Germany had sympathies on the activities carried out by the National Socialist Underground terrorist group. One pressing problem in Germany and other societies of Europe, including police agencies and intelligence services, is that people of Islamic beliefs are not to be protected. Due to the attack on the United States, most counter-terrorism agencies view Muslim immigrants and other immigrants as threats to their society. As a result of this discrimination that existed among national security institutions in Germany, the National Socialist Underground was able to perpetuate their aim of terroristic murders, robbery of bank, and bombings for the sole reason that they are not Muslim immigrants, but instead look German (The Local, 2011).

It is believed that the numbers of immigrants that have been murdered have been greatly underreported. Others believe that officials who are also right winged are covering up the terrorist group. In the article by Mendoza (2011), it was clearly stated that there have been so many unreported deaths caused by right wing terrorists. The estimations from two newspapers, Die Ziet and Der Tagesspiegel, showed that close to 150 murders in Germany have been perpetrated by right-wing extremists from the periods of 1990 to 2010. However, only 47 deaths were reported (Mendoza, 2011). According to Breitenbach (2011), the German parliament states:

“We are ashamed that state and federal security authorities neither solved nor prevented crimes that were being planned and carried out over a period of years. We recognize our responsibility. We must ensure that the basic rights guaranteed in the constitution apply to everyone living here, regardless of their origin, beliefs or orientation.”

Current Threat to the United States

Terrorism across the country continues to be a threat to the United States after the 9-11 attack by the Al Qaeda group on the United States. The U.S is increasingly encountering growing threats of terrorism within the confines of its own borders. Domestic and international terrorism has increasingly become a common threat to the country’s national security. Although there have been no trace of any attack on the United States by the National Socialist Underground, it is very likely that United States citizens leaving in Germany may be affected by this terrorist attacks.

Since, the killings were perpetrated out of xenophobic sentiments, Americans in Germany will be seen as threats to the country, and hence become victims of the National Socialist Underground terror attacks. Additionally, there is a misplaced perception that international terrorists tend to be more diabolical compared to the domestic terrorists. This idea is mainly driven by three major presumptions.

Conclusion

It is not known if the network of the National Socialist Underground has totally been brought down. However, sympathizers and supporters’ prospect should be taken seriously. The German government should still do all it can to protect immigrants who are in the country from further terrorist attacks. All measures must be taken to detect and eliminate right-wing terrorism from Germany, including the cleaning out of all xenophobic sentiments that exists among police agencies, government officials, and intelligence services. Also, the victims of the National Socialist Underground must be made to be seen as worthy human beings and not worthless Islamic terrorists. Although it is believed that government officials and other agencies knew of the terrorist group and did nothing to stop it, claiming that no right-wing extremist exist in Germany, this fact has not yet been ascertained. However, the three main members of the group have been caught: two dead and one in custody.

References

Benasuly, A., Bromberg, A., Friedmann, E., Kotek, J., Camus, J. et al. (2011). Antisemitism Worldwide 2011: General Analysis. Telaviv University.

Breitenbach, D. (2011). Parliament Expresses Shame over Far-right Murder Spree in Germany. Deutsche Welle. Retrieved from http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,15548362,00.html

Chelsom-Pill, C. & Benzow, G. (2011, Nov. 14). Germany faces difficult questions over neo-Nazi murders. Deutsche Welle. Retrieved from http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,15529994,00.html

Donahue, P. (2011, Nov. 14). Germany Widens Probe Into Neo-Nazi Cell Linked to ‘New Form’ of Terrorism. Bloomberg News. Retrieved from http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-13/germany-widens-probe-into-neo-nazi-cell-linked-to-new-form-of-terrorism-.html

Eddy, M. (2011, Nov. 15). National Socialist Underground: Neo-Nazi Group Helped By Network of Supporters. Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/15/national-socialist-underground-supporters_n_1095476.html

Mendoza, M. (2011). Neo-Nazi Killings, Apathy Shock German Minorities. Retrieved from http://www.thelocal.de/national/20111117-38933.html

Pidd, H. (2011, Nov. 15). Germany shocked by secret service link to rightwing terror cell. The Guardian. Retrieved http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov/15/germany-neo-nazi-terror-cell-doner-killings

Pidd, H. (2011). Neo-Nazi terror scandal grows in Germany. The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov/16/german-neo-nazi-security-service-scandal?intcmp=239

Pidd, H. & Harding, L. (2011). German neo-Nazi terrorists had ‘hitlist’ of 88 political targets. The Guardian. November 16. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov/16/german-neo-nazi-terror-hitlist?intcmp=239

Range, H. (2011). German Neo-Nazi Threat Discussed at Top-level Meeting. Retrieved from http://www.generalbundesanwalt.de/de/showpress.php?themenid=13&newsid=419

Spiegel Online (2011). Twist in Doner killings: Police Find Gun Used in Unsolved Murder Series. Retrieved from http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,797327,00.html

The Local (2011). Were Security Officials, Politicians and Society Blind in the Right Eye?’ Retrieved from http://www.thelocal.de/opinion/20111114-38855.html