We are erecting this memorial here, which consists of eleven newly planted trees. The number eleven is made up of ten trees for the ten victims of the NSU, the one tree is dedicated to all named and unnamed victims of racist violence. Between 2000 and 2007, nine people with a history of migration and one policewoman were murdered by the NSU.
The eleven trees planted visually illustrate the dimension of this crime. At the same time, the memorial site is intended to send a strong signal of resistance against right-wing extremist terror. The city of Erlangen is thus following the example of other cities in Germany that commemorate the victims with this initiative.
The names of the victims killed are:
Enver Şimşek
Abdurrahim Özüdoğru
Ismail Yaşar
Süleyman Taşköprü
Habil Kılıç
Mehmet Turgut
Theodoros Boulgarides
Mehmet Kubaşik
Halit Yozgat
Michèle Kiesewetter
The murders committed by the right-wing extremist terrorist cell NSU were not met with a complete investigation. Instead, the families of the victims were suspected. The police investigated the relatives of those murdered and the media mocked the victims by labeling the crimes as "kebab murders". The investigations into the NSU crimes also left many questions unanswered about the background and the role of the far-right networks and those behind them. In the summer of 2018, the verdict was finally announced in the NSU trial, which is not satisfactory for the victims and surviving dependents, nor for the democratically-minded population.
A look back at the social development of recent decades points to favorable circumstances for the spread of racism. This becomes particularly clear with regard to the issue of migration. The political discussion in the post-reunification period was dominated by an almost hysterical debate about refugees and immigration and was accompanied by a wave of racist violence in German cities such as Hoyerswerda, Rostock, Mölln and Solingen.
The danger of racist attitudes and right-wing extremist terror has become more and more apparent, and not just since the anti-Semitically motivated terrorist attack in Halle an der Saale, the murder of Kassel District President Lübcke and the right-wing extremist murder attack on nine migrants in Hanau. Inhumane hate speech is spreading via the internet, death threats are being made against activists, politicians and victims' lawyers. Evidence of right-wing extremist links in state institutions such as the police and the German Armed Forces is becoming known time and again.
The city of Erlangen is taking a clear stand against the danger of right-wing terror and is resolutely opposing this development.
Source: Press release of the NRW State Integration Council on the campaign 10+1
Trees for the victims of the NSU