Commemoration of NSU victims - Özoğuz: important day for relatives

13 years after the right-wing extremist terror cell NSU exposed itself, its victims will be commemorated this Monday. At the memorial site in Zwickau, where a tree grows for each of the ten murder victims, the names of those killed will be read out and candles placed at 5.00 pm. The day is of great importance for the victims and their families, emphasized Bundestag Vice President Aydan Özoğuz, who is coming to Zwickau for the memorial service. After all, the years of false suspicions against them had come to an end.

Visit to the documentation center in Chemnitz

Beforehand, Özoğuz wants to find out about the progress of the pilot documentation center on the NSU complex in Chemnitz. "The increasingly polarized mood in our society shows how important it is to come to terms with the murders, but also to look to the future," explained the Social Democrat. "To do this, we need more spaces for open, democratic debate, such as those created here in Chemnitz." The pilot project is intended to provide impetus for the central documentation center in Germany.

Chemnitz and Zwickau were once retreats of the so-called National Socialist Underground (NSU). The core trio, who originally came from Jena, lived here undisturbed for years, had numerous supporters and organized their series of murders of at least ten people. The victims were eight small business owners of Turkish origin, one of Greek origin and a policewoman: Enver Şimşek, Abdurrahim Özüdoğru, Süleyman Taşköprü, Habil Kılıç, Mehmet Turgut, İsmail Yaşar, Theodoros Boulgarides, Mehmet Kubaşık, Halit Yozgat and Michèle Kiesewetter. The right-wing terrorists are also responsible for a number of robberies and several bomb attacks.

An appeal against right-wing extremist terror

"We must never again allow a murderous group like the NSU to come together and kill people for racist motives," stated Justice Minister Katja Meier (Alliance 90/Greens). "But not only that. Above all, we as politicians and society are obliged to look and understand how it was possible for the perpetrators to live among us here in Saxony and find support." It is important to learn from these mistakes. The pilot project in Chemnitz and numerous other projects to come to terms with the past are the right starting points for this.