Germany's Leader Apologizes for Police Handling of Neo-Nazi Killings
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BERLIN -- Chancellor Angela Merkel apologized Thursday to the families of 10 people, mostly Turks, slain by a neo-Nazi terrorist cell in a hate-driven killing spree that for years went unsolved by Germany's usually efficient police force. She called the killings "an attack on our country."
The so-called döner murders, named after the kebab sandwich associated with Turkish immigrants, and the authorities' acknowledgment that the investigation was mishandled, have sown fears of a strengthening far-right ideology in Germany. And the bungling has created a bitter mistrust of the German government among the country's estimated 15 million immigrants and their descendants at a time when Germany is seeking to attract skilled foreign workers to fill thousands of jobs in leading industries.
"Most of you were abandoned in your time of need," Mrs. Merkel told the victims' relatives, several of whom were at a memorial in the Konzerthaus concert hall. Eleven tall white candles burned on the stage, one for each victim and another representing hope. "Some relatives were themselves for years suspected of wrongdoing," she said. "That is particularly oppressive. For this, I ask for your forgiveness."
The murders, committed from 2000 to 2007, were of eight Turkish men, one Greek and one German policewoman. The suspects evaded capture as teams of police officers across the nation pursued suspicions of foreign crime circles or family disputes, often suspecting the victims' families of complicity.
A link to two suspects, Uwe Mundlos and Uwe Böhnhardt, emerged by chance in November when the pair killed themselves after the police closed in on them after a bank robbery. Their partner, Beate Zschäpe, set fire to their apartment and turned herself in.
In the charred remains of the home, the police found the weapon -- a Ceska 83 pistol -- that had been used in each of the killings.
Ms. Zschäpe remains in detention. The federal prosecutor, Harald Range, is seeking to bring her to court this fall on charges of founding a neo-Nazi terrorist cell with Mr. Mundlos and Mr. Böhnhardt. Hundreds of investigators have been sifting through an estimated 5,000 pieces of evidence, some linking the three to two nail bombings in Cologne and a series of bank robberies.
First Published February 24, 2012 12:01 am
