20 years ago, the right-wing terrorists of the NSU detonated a nail bomb in Cologne’s Keupstrasse. Now Federal President Steinmeier is visiting the Turkish-dominated street.
Exactly 20 years after an attack by the so-called “National Socialist Underground (NSU)”, Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier visited Keupstrasse in Cologne. The “Birlikte – Standing Together” memorial service is taking place there. Steinmeier spoke to the two hairdressers Hasan and Özcan Yildirim, in front of whose salon a bicycle with a nail bomb was left on June 9, 2004. The bomb injured 22 people, some of them seriously. The police then spent years investigating the Turkish community. It was only seven years after the attack that it became clear that the NSU right-wing terrorists Uwe Mundlos and Uwe Böhnhardt had carried out the attack.
Wüst apologizes
The Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, Hendrik Wüst (CDU), has apologized to the residents of Cologne’s Keupstrasse, who were initially suspected of being perpetrators of a right-wing extremist attack 20 years ago. At the commemoration ceremony for the 20th anniversary of the NSU attack, Wüst said he was ashamed of what had happened. “It is the most important task of a state to protect people. 20 years ago, our state failed twice.”
He did not prevent the attack, in which 22 people were injured, some seriously, and then suspected the victims as perpetrators. “As Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, I therefore address all those who were not believed for so long and who were targeted by investigators even though they were victims themselves. I apologize,” said Wüst.
Memorial ceremony delayed due to security check
The memorial service in Keupstrasse, which is lined with Turkish restaurants and shops, was delayed by more than an hour on Sunday due to a security check. A bomb-sniffing dog had barked at a fire hydrant, said a police spokesman. The area was then cordoned off. However, nothing was found during a search. The memorial service was also attended by North Rhine-Westphalia’s Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU), Cologne’s Mayor Henriette Reker (independent) and Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD), in whose constituency Keupstrasse is located.
From 2000 onwards, the NSU committed ten murders across Germany without being detected. The victims were nine business people of Turkish and Greek origin and a policewoman. In addition to Mundlos and Böhnhardt, the perpetrators also included Beate Zschäpe, who was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Munich Higher Regional Court in 2018.
Source: Stern
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