Munich Massacre: 10 Years On

 

“Now, whoever it may be, I will destroy every German Turk I encounter.“

The fascist terrorist who carried out one of post-war Germany's bloodiest massacres in Munich 10 years ago had ended his farewell letter with these words.

Ten years have passed since the massacre in which Iranian-German terrorist David Sonboly murdered nine people, all of immigrant background, eight of them young and one adult, and severely wounded five young people in the heart of Munich.

figure class="wp-block-image" data-align="center" style="text-align: center;"><

In the massacre that took place on July 22, 2016, at the Olympia Shopping Center (OEZ) in Munich, Armela Segashi (14), Can Leyla (14), Dijamant Zabërgja (20), Guiliano Kollmann (19), Hüseyin Dayıcık (17), Roberto Rafael (15), Sabina S. (14), Selçuk Kılıç (15), and Sevda Dağ (45) lost their lives. Three of the deceased (S. Kılıç, C. Leyla, and S. Dağ) were Turkish citizens, and one (H. Dayıcık) was a Greek citizen from the Western Thracian Turks.

It was clear from the outset that this massacre in Munich, which occurred on the exact fifth anniversary of the act (2011) by the fascist terrorist Breivik, who murdered 77 people, mostly young, in Norway, was a fascist attack, similar to those in Halle (2019) and Hanau (2020) in Germany, where 55 people were massacred in New Zealand (2019), or the “Oktoberfest Massacre“ in Munich where 13 people died and over 200 were injured. However, for a long time, the police and other authorities ignored the clues clearly indicating this, and moreover, the reports of three independent experts, insisting on evaluating the incident as an act of “individual amok“ by a young person who was bullied at school and had psychological problems, seeking revenge.

However, 3.5 years after the incident, it was ignored that the fascist killer who murdered nine people, some of whom were born in Munich, was racist, fascist, xenophobic, and particularly anti-Turkish, that the massacre was a typical representative of the “lone wolf terrorism“ outlined by fascists remaining from Hitler for future generations, and that the person from whom he purchased the weapon used in the incident was also a Hitler admirer and a known racist.

Just as in the murders committed by the fascist terrorist organization NSU (National Socialist Underground), which traveled Germany for years, cornering and shooting mostly Turkish-origin shopkeepers and a police officer across the country, the proof that authorities, who accepted long after the incident that these acts stemmed from racist, xenophobic, neo-Nazi, right-wing ideologies, did so reluctantly, is that no apology has been offered to the families of those who lost their lives in the massacre to date…

figure class="wp-block-image" data-align="center" style="text-align: center;"><

The center-right government in the state of Bavaria, where the incident occurred, refrains from apologizing for the errors in the investigation of the incident. However, it must also be noted: The relatives of the young people aged 14-20 and the 45-year-old mother (who had lived in Germany for 35 years) who lost their lives in the massacre, together with anti-fascists in Munich, established the “Munich Remembers“ initiative, and their persistent struggle and criticisms are met with respect and maturity.

Indeed, high-level representatives of the center-right CSU party (Christian Social Union), which holds the majority in the state government here, including the State Premier, the President of the State Parliament, and the State Minister of Interior, attended the commemoration ceremony held on the 10th anniversary of the incident and silently listened to the criticisms and grievances directed at them from the podium by representatives of the families whose children were killed.

At the commemoration ceremony in Munich, the state was represented by Germany's Social Democratic-rooted President Steinmeier and Munich's Green Party Mayor Dominik Krause, even before the politicians from the state government.

The speeches by Steinmeier, whose term ends in March next year and who will not run for re-election due to the two-term limit, and Krause at the commemoration ceremony showed that Germany's democratic tradition has largely learned from the country's fascist past and the scandals following right-wing terrorist acts in recent years.

Mayor Krause spearheaded Munich's commemoration of the massacre by ensuring a minute of silence across the city at 17:51, when the attack began 10 years ago, and that metro, tram, and bus services also paused for one minute during this time.

Steinmeier, who met with the families of those who died in the massacre before and after the ceremony and offered them his sincere condolences and support, also said in his speech: "We need to understand this. It is not just individuals who have a migration history. Our entire country has a migration history. Germany is a country of immigrant origin. This is what makes us who we are. This racist attack does not only concern the victims and their relatives and friends, nor only the city of Munich or solely the state of Bavaria. This incident concerns our entire country and deeply concerns all of us living in this country. We know this ideology. In history, Germans killed millions of people with this ideology. We can never allow such thinking to gain ground again in our country. Antisemitism and racism have no place in our society. And ensuring this is our fundamental duty."

In the 2020 Hanau massacre, Steinmeier also immediately went to the scene and declared it a right-wing terrorist act, effectively silencing local authorities who were mumbling that it was the work of a psychologically troubled maniac.

The commemoration ceremony in Munich went down in history as an act of resistance by Germany's democratic forces against the far-right, which has garnered the support of one-third of society. (From BirGün)

GÜRSEL KÖKSAL