25 years after the first NSU murder, the daughter of victim Enver Şimşek is calling for convicted right-wing terrorist Beate Zschäpe to be removed from a neo-Nazi drop-out program. "She has had enough time to come clean, to speak," Semiya Şimşek told the German Press Agency in Nuremberg. "She still has contact with right-wingers. Nobody can tell me that she wants to quit."
Şimşek, together with the daughters of two other NSU victims, has launched a petition against Zschäpe's inclusion in the drop-out program. This was yet another slap in the face for the victims' families, said Şimşek. They had had to wait a long time for the crimes to be investigated and in some cases were targeted by the investigators themselves. The NSU complex has still not been fully clarified, Şimşek said.
Murder series remained undiscovered for years
Her father was the first murder victim of the right-wing extremist "National Socialist Underground" (NSU), which murdered ten people undetected for years - including nine tradespeople of Turkish and Greek origin and a German policewoman. The NSU is also held responsible for several bomb attacks.
The terror cell consisted of the three main members Uwe Mundlos, Uwe Böhnhardt and Beate Zschäpe, who came from Thuringia and lived underground in Saxony for years. Mundlos and Böhnhardt killed themselves in 2011 to avoid arrest. In 2018, Zschäpe was sentenced to life imprisonment for especially serious crimes as an accomplice.
Memorial on the 25th anniversary
On September 9, Semiya and her brother Abdulkerim Şimşek will remember their father at the crime scene in Nuremberg. On that day 25 years ago, Mundlos and Böhnhardt fired eight shots at the Turkish florist. The 38-year-old died two days later in hospital.
"The names of the victims and the deeds must not be forgotten," said Semiya Şimşek. The shift to the right in Germany worries her. She does not believe a similar series of murders can be ruled out in the future. "Because of the continuity of right-wing violence after the NSU murders - Hanau, Halle, Walter Lübcke - I can imagine that it could happen again."
Book aims to inform and sensitize young people
Together with Gamze Kubaşık, daughter of NSU victim Mehmet Kubaşık, she has written a book about her story that is aimed at young people. "Many are not familiar with the NSU complex," said Şimşek. "We wanted to create a basis for schools, for young people, so that they can deal with the history and the difficult topic of racism."
On Monday, the two women will come to Nuremberg for a reading from their book "Our pain is our strength".
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