On the first day of the trial of the Halle assassin Stephan B., the Central Council of Jews in Germany has demanded that the background of the crime be »thoroughly and completely« investigated. Josef Schuster, President of Central Council, stated on Tuesday: »Likewise the question  needs to be examined whether the assassin had confederates and was a part of right-wing networks.«

Given the recent cases of right-wing extremism and threats by extreme rightists, closer scrutiny is a must, Schuster said. »An explicit verdict on Stephan B.’s acts will send a clear signal against violence and right-wing extremism in Germany. Society must oppose hatred and incitement from the right.«

TRAUMA The attack in Halle in October 2019, in which two people were killed, has »deeply shaken and traumatised the Jewish community«, the Central Council declared. »What the worshipers in the synagogue of Halle went through on Yom Kippur remains beyond all imagination. Their moments in fear of imminent death remain unforgotten. Miraculously the intended victims were able to escape the planned massacre,« the President of the Central Council emphasized.

And yet, Schuster continued, the assassin has »two human lives on his conscience – Jana L. and Kevin S. – whom he shot in cold blood on the street and in a kebab restaurant. We mourn for them. The assassin must be punished with the full force of the law.«

Stephan B.’s antisemitism was »unimaginably cruel«, Schuster stated. The Halle attack, he said, demonstrated clearly that the »permanent breaking of taboos in public statements reaching from right-wing populists to right-wing extremists has alarmingly lowered the inhibition threshold for violence«. ja