Murder shocks German leaders into action

Bloomberg

It wasn’t your usual meeting of mayors in Germany’s presidential palace. One had been stabbed in the throat, another received death threats and most feared for their loved ones.
They’ve all become victims of a wave of political violence that culminated last month in what appears to be the first assassination of a politician by a right-wing extremist since the end of the Nazi-era.
Walter Luebcke, an immigrant-friendly member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Party, was shot in the head on his front porch. The detained suspect, a man with a neo-Nazi background, first confessed and, upon switching legal counsel, recanted.
In a country where ultra-nationalistic fringe movements have become more public and outspoken in recent years, the brutality of the murder was a wakeup call.
Democracy itself was under attack, top officials declared. Now, there are growing signs that Germany is reacting.
Secret services are stepping up intelligence work, some political parties are driving out radicals. Politicians like President Frank-Walter Steinmeier are driving a zero-tolerance campaign, while parliament held a special session to discuss right-wing violence before its summer recess.
The latest intelligence report, presented in June, identified 24,100 people as right-wing extremists, half of whom are willing to use force.
“All of us are getting emails, calls, and letters that make us ask—is this still the Federal Republic of Germany,” said Ralph Brinkhaus, the most senior legislator in parliament from Merkel’s ruling coalition. “Many colleagues, not only at a national and state but also at a local level, ask themselves ‘am I sufficiently protected. Can that happen to me?’”