Extremism researcher: “Germany has learned a lot from dealing with Hanau”

So far, it has been primarily the relatives of the Hanau victims who have campaigned for education and remembrance work. With the new democracy movement they are now getting reinforcements, says extremism researcher Quent in an interview.

tagesschau.de: Civil society has been taking to the streets for weeks to demonstrate against right-wing extremist incitement and for an open society. Is there a bridge between the confrontation with the attack in Hanau and this new democratic movement? 

Matthias Quent: Yes, there are. On the one hand, in terms of content: it is ultimately about racism, particularly radicalized racism in the case of the Hanau attack. It was carried out by a perpetrator acting alone.

The demonstrations that have taken place in recent weeks were ultimately triggered by the debate about Correctiv’s revelations on the subject of “remigration” and the meeting in Potsdam. That means they are anti-racist protests.

At the same time, it must be said that the protests in Hanau and everything that we have experienced in the way of processing this attack in recent years has come very much from the relatives of those affected.

The affected communities received support, but a lot was built here themselves. The protests of the last few weeks have a much broader base, i.e. a more diverse social or political field that is taking to the streets here.

“This is particularly about the murdered people”

tagesschau.de: Do quiet days of remembrance like today in Hanau, but also loud demonstrations like this weekend, help to carry on this general wave of protest and keep it alive?

Quent: On the one hand you have to look at the similarities, but on the other hand I wouldn’t equate them. The protests in Hanau from the community in particular have also occurred in different sizes in previous years.

Of course, this is particularly about the murdered people and also about what Hanau stands for: that is, for deeper-seated racism, for problems that existed in the authorities. For problems that exist in society that these actions create in the first place.

The new democracy movement, which is very much directed against the AfD and right-wing extremism in the AfD, plays on a different level and therefore has a different social background.

“One society as a whole Task”

tagesschau.de: Can the protests, especially the memory of the murders in Hanau, help some AfD voters change their minds?

Quent: I don’t think we should overload the protests with this expectation. I can very well imagine that people are irritated by the fate of the murdered, stumble, reflect and question themselves. I think this is happening on a massive scale.

But that is not the central task of these protests or of those who are promoting the protests in memory of Hanau. It is a task for society as a whole to find a way to deal with the AfD. That is not the job of those affected by racism.

“An AfD involvement would not be credible”

tagesschau.de: The AfD is conspicuously reserved when commemorating in Hanau. Is it because the party knows it can’t win anything here?

Quent: Well, the AfD is in a difficult role. On the one hand, there are indeed connections to the AfD. The perpetrator had watched YouTube videos in Hanau on the eve of his murders, including speeches by Björn Höcke.

That means: A majority, 60 percent of the population, gives the AfD some responsibility for these acts. And in fact, it is also responsible for a climate in which racism is growing and in which acts of violence continue to occur. Even if they aren’t murders.

As a rule, the relatives do not want the AfD to take part in the commemoration at all. The support community doesn’t want that either. They don’t want this terrible act, these terrible murders, to be exploited politically.

Especially not from the AfD to clean its own slate and distance itself from it. In my opinion, participation would not be credible, at least at the political level.

“Type of perpetrator who has become politically radicalized”

tagesschau.de: The perpetrator in Hanau was racist, loner and mentally ill. If we look at today’s right-wing radical scene in its entirety: Is there anything that this act and the perpetrator teach us?

Quent: Yes, it teaches us a lot. For example, the change in the right-wing terrorist environment. This is not the only act in recent years where an assassin who did not belong to a right-wing extremist group acted alone. The security authorities are always looking: Are there memberships?

In other attacks, for example in Munich, in Halle or in an international context, a type of perpetrator who has become politically radicalized has also been seen more frequently in recent years. He perceives his ideological references primarily through social media or from his private environment – the Hanau attacker, for example, through the upbringing of his racist father.

The right-wing extremist scene has become more differentiated. There is the new right, there are these assassins acting alone. But there are also the old neo-Nazis. The spectrum has therefore become more diverse and complex. Reich citizens and so on are also included.

tagesschau.de: Many survivors of the Hanau victims have accused the police and politicians of being rather insensitive and indifferent in their follow-up. Has Germany learned anything since then?

Quent: I think that Germany has learned a lot in dealing with Hanau. The former Federal Interior Minister Seehofer spoke very quickly about racism. Chancellor Merkel and the Federal President traveled to Hanau.

These are things that were not taken for granted before, even though there have been over 200 right-wing extremist deaths in Germany since reunification. So an offensive approach and with it a change in the culture of remembrance.

In the report of the investigative committee in the Hessian state parliament there was also the insight: Yes, we need a culture of error in the police in order to improve in such situations and also in questions of intercultural competence.

Unfortunately, this is not a given. That means something is slowly happening. And it turns out that institutions are also capable of learning.

The interview was conducted by Katrin Schmick, HR.