The convicted NSU supporter André E. testified before the investigation committee of the Bavarian state parliament. He says he only spoke to the NSU terrorists about everyday things, and he left the scene.
E. appeared in front of the Bavarian MPs in a green and yellow checked shirt, wide jeans and short hair. His tattoos, visible on his hands and neck, catch the eye. In the next five hours he answers questions about his exit from the scene and his relationship with the NSU terrorists Uwe Böhnhardt, Uwe Mundlos and Beate Zschäpe.
In 2018, E. was sentenced to two years and six months in prison by the Munich Higher Regional Court in the NSU trial for supporting a terrorist organization. The main defendant, Beate Zschäpe, was sentenced to life imprisonment.
A reformed Nazi?
In 2019, E. began, according to his own statements, to have his criminally relevant Nazi tattoos removed, including a tattoo on his stomach: “Die, jew, die” (“Stirb, Jew, die”). The distance should also be a sign of his exit from the right-wing extremist scene. E. says about himself that he is now apolitical. What counts for him now is the character of people, “regardless of which country they come from”.
The Bavarian MPs invited him to the now 15th German NSU investigative committee for questioning. They wanted to learn more from him about his connections to Bavaria and specifically to Nuremberg. The NSU murdered three people there alone. It is believed that the terrorist group had supporters on site who were spying on possible victims.
How credible are the statements?
The members of the state parliament also hoped for information about Es’ relationship with Böhnhardt, Mundlos and Zschäpe. The three terrorists, with support from Es, lived underground for twelve years. They carried out bomb attacks and robberies and murdered a total of ten people, nine of them with a Turkish or Greek migration background.
E. explained during the interrogation that he had no close contact with the NSU trio. At the occasional meetings, they only talked about everyday things. Racist murderers who only talk about non-political things with the ardent National Socialist André E. are unbelievable, according to the chairman of the Munich NSU investigative committee, Toni Schuberl of the Green Party.
“E. could have prevented an NSU murder”
When asked why E. allegedly never wanted to know the reasons why Böhnhardt and Mundlos had robbed banks, E. answered the deputies as follows: He was young and overwhelmed, he couldn’t remember, he didn’t want anything to do with it.
Green politician Schuberl misses E.’s concern with the consequences of his own actions. In 2007, E. found out about the bank robberies from Beate Zschäpe. If he had gone to the police with this knowledge, the NSU murder of police officer Michèle Kiesewetter in Heilbronn that same year could have been prevented, Schuberl told the witness. E. only replies that he was “not aware of the time”.
memory gaps because of a brain hemorrhage
E. often says during the interrogation that he cannot remember any details. Among other things, this is due to a brain hemorrhage that he got in 2000 after a fight.
The committee chairman Schuberl is nevertheless – at least partially – satisfied: He is glad that the committee E. got to talk for the first time.
By the way, E. wants to have the “Die, Jew, die” tattoo when he was 16 years old. It’s a line from a song by an English skinhead band. He didn’t speak English that well and didn’t think about it, E. tells the deputies. And, as a sign of his willingness to leave: “That’s inhuman. At that time I still had a political attitude.”