"We will not let them scare us!" That was the message of German President Steinmeier last night (February 20.2) in Hanau at the site of a racist attack in which 11 people lost their lives. Among them is one BiH citizen.
“Yes, I knew Hamza. Here in Hanau, we all know each other. It's a big shock when it happens to someone you know personally," a 22-year-old man tells us. He does not want his name to appear in the media.
Hamza Kurtović, a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina, is one of the victims of a racially motivated attack that took place in a town near Frankfurt.
"You are not alone!"
The streets of Hanau were quiet last night. Candles flickered on Marktplac, where several thousand people had gathered last night. Only occasional shouts of "Nazis out!" or "International solidarity!" could be heard among the crowd.
The President of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, also addressed the crowd: "You are not alone! I am convinced that the vast majority of people in Germany condemn this act and every form of racism, hatred and violence".
Steinmeier visited Hanau together with the Prime Minister of Hessen, Volker Buffier. They honored the victims with a minute of silence and appealed for unity and solidarity in society.
"We are all in this together. It is the strongest tool against hatred. We will not let them scare us," Steinmeier said at the Marktplac.
The bloodshed in Hanu was previously strongly condemned by German Chancellor Angela Merkel: "Racism is poison." Hate is poison. And that poison is present in our society and is already guilty of too many crimes."
"I feel unsafe"
"I didn't know anyone who was killed, but all of us from Hanau are affected by this crime against humanity," a Hanau resident of Turkish origin tells us. He does not want to reveal his name. "This attack was directed against the Turks, but we are not afraid, because xenophobia has never been a problem in Hanau. And I don't think it will ever be a problem in the future either," the man tells us.
Among those gathered there were also people from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Among them is Zoran Vučkovac, originally from Prijedor. He has lived in Germany for two and a half years. He came to the meeting with his wife Danijela and her father. "I feel insecure," he says. "The election in Thuringia, the AfD in power, then the recent arrest of 12 extreme right-wingers... When all of this is arranged, one feels insecure."
According to Vuškovac, he did not know the victim of the attack from BiH. He came to the peaceful gathering to express solidarity and support for all the friends and family members of those killed. "I have never been the target of racist or other attacks, but it is still not easy for me to be here, a foreigner from Bosnia, who looks a lot like people from the Middle East," says Zoran.
"Institutions still do their job"
Consul General of Bosnia and Herzegovina Luciano Kaluža, in a conversation with DW, told BiH citizens living in Germany that they have no reason to worry: "I think that fear and insecurity is now an immediate shock for all people who want to live a normal life. Our BiH community is integrated here, hardworking and lives in its own peaceful communities. And I believe that it will remain so".
Almir Hasanović, consul from Frankfurt, on behalf of the General Consulate of BiH in Germany, visited the house of the victim Hamza Kurtović last night and expressed his condolences.
"This is a terrible tragedy. We will also attend the burial, which will take place in the next few days," says Kaluža.
He adds that the event in Hanau is a message for the German authorities that they need to be more active and up-to-date. "On the other hand, Germany is a large country with a large population, and many similar attacks have been prevented. We have to admit that the institutions are still doing their job here," explains the Consul General of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
An emergency meeting of German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer and his colleagues from the federal states was held on Thursday evening, where possible measures to combat extremism were discussed.
The terrorist act in Hanau, as President Steinmeier characterized it, is already the third extreme right-wing assassination in Germany in less than a year. In the summer of 2019, a neo-Nazi is suspected of murdering CDU politician Walter Liebke. Last fall, a right-wing extremist tried to commit bloodshed at a synagogue in Halle in eastern Germany.
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