Four years ago, ten people were murdered in Hanau. At today’s commemoration of the victims, Interior Minister Faeser called for the fight against right-wing extremism. Chancellor Scholz and Justice Minister Buschmann also made similar statements.
On the fourth anniversary of the racist attack in Hanau, Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser called for a determined fight against right-wing extremism. Since right-wing extremists are again fantasizing about wanting to take people away from Germany simply because of their origin, it is all the more important to oppose this, said Faeser. Instead, you have to stand in front of the victims’ relatives and tell them: “We are on your side.”
Silent remembrance in the cemetery
Nobody in Germany should have to feel like this “that they think about leaving this country,” she said after the end of the official memorial event for the victims of the attack. “We as a state are the guarantee that all people are protected, no matter where they come from.”
Faeser, together with representatives of the Hessian state government and the city of Hanau, had previously honored the victims with wreaths at a silent memorial in the main cemetery. According to the city, political speeches were refrained from “at the express request of the victims’ relatives.”
Before the official event began, an imam prayed for the dead at the graves. Relatives and friends of the victims also gathered there. In the evening, vigils are planned at the two crime scenes, which are in the city center and in the Kesselstadt district.
Scholz and Buschmann warn against racism
Chancellor Scholz also remembered the victims in a message on the short message service X. At the same time, he warned of increasing extremism: “Right-wing extremists are attacking our democracy. They want to exclude citizens, even drive them out. We will never allow that!” Scholz continued.
Justice Minister Marco Buschmann also wrote on Hesse’s Prime Minister Boris Rhein called the attack a “cruel event” that would “never be forgotten” – “neither for the relatives nor for us as a society.”
Big event on Saturday
Thousands of people in Hanau had already remembered the victims on Saturday. According to the police, around 5,000 demonstrators took to the streets. Many participants had signs with the photos and names of those killed. After a protest march through Hanau, a rally took place on the market square in the afternoon.
In Hanau on February 19, 2020, a 43-year-old shot nine people for racist motives. He then killed his mother and himself.