The federal prosecutor’s office still sees no evidence that the “National Socialist Underground” (NSU) had any targeted help on the spot for its murders and attacks, for example from right-wing extremist scenes. Federal prosecutor Jochen Weingarten made that clear on Monday in the new NSU investigative committee of the Bavarian state parliament. Apart from speculation, there is no evidence that other people besides the NSU trio were involved in the selection of crime scenes and victims.
In particular, there is no tangible evidence that a local right-wing extremist scene “marked” a target on site. The investigators could also have meticulously created a “clear contact picture” of the NSU terrorists – that shows no corresponding contacts. “We have no evidence of communications in active right-wing extremist scenes that would be related to the crime scene,” emphasized Weingarten.
The neo-Nazi terror cell NSU – Beate Zschäpe, Uwe Mundlos and Uwe Böhnhardt – had been murdering through Germany for years. Their victims were nine traders of Turkish and Greek origin and a German policewoman. Mundlos and Böhnhardt also carried out two bomb attacks, injuring dozens. The two killed each other in 2011 to avoid being arrested. Only then was the “National Socialist Underground” exposed.
The series of murders and attacks was dealt with in court for more than five years before the Munich Higher Regional Court. Zschäpe, the only survivor of the trio, was sentenced to life imprisonment as an accomplice at the end of the mammoth trial in July 2018 – even if there is no evidence that she was at one of the crime scenes herself. The verdict, also against four co-defendants, is now final.
However, there are still many unanswered questions, especially with regard to possible further supporters of the NSU terrorists. One of the aims of the second Bavarian investigative committee is to investigate possible connections between the NSU and the Bavarian neo-Nazi scene.