As the deadliest racist attack subsequent to the German unification in , this crime has been commemorated during its 25 th anniversary last week. This is also observable in the rise of racist and anti-democratic voices among several circles. Furthermore, the rise of far-right and populist parties in Germany symbolizes the institutionalization of far-right biases and political mobilization among citizens. During last week, many German media outlets and politicians commented on the Solingen attack by emphasizing the fact that today Turks belong to this country or pointing out similar statements.
While underpinning the need for fighting racism, many members of the federal government showed their solidarity with the Turkish community in Germany. However, the question arises as to whether there is any actual change in the general societal mood with respect to Turks or even Muslims in Germany. Of course, in contrast to the societal and political mood, which has been affected and even shaped by Neo-Nazi propaganda and racist attacks during the early s, the voice of many people without racist sentiments has rose since then, too.
Today it became quite obvious that politicians remember these kinds of days and show their compassion. In , mainstream politicians like the former Christian Democrat Chancellor Kohl or other politicians from his party even ignored to take part at the funeral ceremony most likely in order not to scare the own nationalist and even, unfortunately, racist base. Nevertheless, a well-known deficit occurred while institutional racism increased as well. Racists and extreme right voters started to prefer an actual racist party, the Alternative for Germany AfD , which, according to recent polls , receives 15 percent of the votes.
As one guesses, during the last week the entire country remembered this terrorist attack, while on the other hand members and sympathizers of the right-wing AfD party tried to relativize the Solingen attack by focusing on the speech of year-old Mevlude Genc, who lost her two daughters, two granddaughters and a niece in the blaze. One of these AfD politicians attacked Mrs.
Genc on social media by criticizing her due to the lack of her German language skills and her headscarf. Just imagine. An AfD politician is able to verbally attack a woman who lost her two daughters and two granddaughters and niece. I was condemned to live a life in darkness after the killings β¦ I am praying that nobody else will have to suffer this pain. Merkel recently did. By discrediting her, the AfD politician also criticized the minister-president of North Rhine-Westphalia who had declared Mrs.
