On June 2, 2019, 65-year-old Walter Lübke was shot in the head at close range by a right-wing extremist while he was enjoying a quiet evening sitting in his garden. The assassination sent shock waves through the country.
The attacker, Stephan E*, later said his motive was to punish politicians from the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) for their refugee-friendly stance.
When hundreds of thousands of refugees, mainly from Syria and Afghanistan, entered Germany in 2015, Lübke supported the policies of then-Chancellor Angela Merkel, urging Germany to show empathy for its fellow countrymen and to welcome them.
On October 14, 2015, Lübke, governor of the city of Kassel in central Hesse, attended a meeting at the city hall of the small town of Lohfelden to explain to local residents why accommodation was being set up in their community for new arrivals.
Several far-right supporters in the crowd began yelling abuse at Mr. Lübke, including one man named Stephan E. Stephan.
Amid a flurry of jeers from the crowd of several hundred, Lübke felt he had to speak out in defense of Germany’s democratic values. “It’s worth living in this country,” he said. “You have to defend your values. And those who can’t defend those values can leave the country if they’re not happy with it. That’s the freedom that every German has.”
A video of the speech was posted on social media and quickly went viral among Germany’s far-right, making Lübke the target of their outrage and leading to his murder four years later.
The growing threat from the far-right
Lübke’s murder is the first assassination of an elected politician in Germany since the far-left Red Army Faction (RAF) era of the 1970s and 1980s, and the first by far-right extremists since the Nazis took over Germany – and that was before the far-right murders by the NSU terror cell came to light.
Political scientist Florian Hartlib, author of the 2018 book on far-right terrorism “Lone Wolves,” said Lübke’s killing showed that the neo-Nazi threat “has long been underestimated” by many politicians and security forces. Lorenz Blumenthaler, a campaigner against right-wing extremism, racism and anti-Semitism at the Amadeu Antonio Foundation, agreed with that assessment.
“Basically, Germany hadn’t seen anything like this since the end of the war,” Blumenthaler told DW about the murder of Walter Lübke, “but the reaction was surprisingly muted, especially within his own party. We mustn’t forget that a conservative politician was murdered by a right-wing extremist with a gun, and in total cold blood.”
Blumenthaler recalls noticing a discrepancy between the reaction to Lübke’s murder in Germany and abroad: “There was much more international media attention. In Germany, many people seemed to dismiss this as the act of right-wing extremism, whereas the international reaction saw it as right-wing terrorism against the state.”
But the series of far-right attacks has prompted German security forces to act. “In response, security forces, including the country’s intelligence services, have shifted their focus from a strong focus on Islamic extremism,” Blumenthaler told DW.
Lübcke’s family appeals to politicians
Five years after Lübke’s murder, his family – his wife and two adult sons – have issued a message to politicians urging them not to be intimidated by the recent increase in attacks on politicians. “Stay steadfast in your beliefs and stand. You are not alone,” their appeal, published by the dpa news agency, read. The family also called for increased protection for politicians.
Konstantin von Notz, a lawyer and Green Party lawmaker, said the family’s message was a wake-up call. “People who work full-time as volunteers for our democracy and the public good need more support,” he told DW. He called for counselling, increased police presence and a review of existing legal restrictions to prevent politicians’ private addresses from being published online.
Leon Blumenthaler of the Amadeu Antonio Foundation believes that the threshold for inhibitions has shifted, and that anyone who stands for democratic values can become a victim of violence. “Anyone who stands for fundamental democratic values can essentially become a walking target,” he said.
In Germany, the number of attacks, especially against local politicians, has risen dramatically over the past five years, with the Federal Criminal Police saying the number of crimes against civil servants and elected representatives has tripled to 5,400.
Holger Münch, head of the firm, said: Taz Fortunately, only a small proportion of these are violent crimes, the daily reported, but he added: “Such violence can escalate into attempted murder or even murder, as we saw in the case of Walter Lübcke.”
* DW is not publishing the perpetrator’s full name to avoid raising public profile and increasing the likelihood of copycat crimes.
This article was originally written in German.
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