A spate of brutal attacks on politicians in Germany, including the brutal attack on a member of the European Parliament (EP) in Dresden, has shocked many and fueled a national debate over the country’s increasingly tense political climate. Some people have even compared the situation to the political violence that accompanied the rise of the Nazis, writes Politico.
On Wednesday, police said the attacker hit the former mayor of Berlin in the head with a bag. A suspect approached Franziska Giffey from behind at the library Tuesday afternoon and struck her in the head and neck before fleeing, police said in a statement.
Ms Giffey, now Berlin’s Land Economy Minister and a member of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democratic Party (SPD), was treated in hospital for minor injuries. Berlin’s current mayor, Kai Wegner, condemned the attack and said anyone who attacks politicians is “attacking our democracy”. “We will not tolerate this,” he said, vowing to consider “tougher penalties for attacks on politicians.”
The European Parliament lawmaker, also a member of the SPD, was seriously injured by four attackers last week while hanging European Parliament election posters in the eastern city of Dresden. Matthias Ecke, 41, required surgery for serious injuries sustained in the attack, which Scholz condemned as a threat to democracy.
On Tuesday, a new case of assault was again reported in Dresden. The politician, identified by police only as a 47-year-old member of the Green Party, was threatened and spat on. The politician was putting up campaign posters for the European Parliament elections when a man approached, pushed her aside and tore off two posters. The police reported that the man insulted and threatened the politician, and the woman who helped him spat on the victim. Both suspects – a 34-year-old German man and a 24-year-old woman – were detained, police said. They were both among a group of people who had gathered there and started to demonstrate the banned Hitler salute when the politician started hanging the posters.
The latest attacks on politicians “recall the darkest period in Germany’s history,” Hendrik Wust, the conservative premier of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, said in an interview with Germany’s public broadcaster.
Additional attacks this week have further alarmed the country. “We are seeing an escalation of anti-democratic violence,” said German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, also of the Social Democratic Party.
Following the recent attacks, politicians are promising to take action to curb violence against political party members. Some even saw parallels with the more widespread and brutal political violence that was not lacking in Germany as the Nazis rose to power.
Mr Faeser met with German state ministers on Tuesday night to discuss measures to curb the violence, including tougher penalties for attacking politicians. The latest attacks “show that brutality is increasing in society,” the ministers said in their resolution.
Politically motivated crimes, including violent ones, have increased in Germany in recent years. In 2022, 58,916 politically motivated crimes were recorded in the country, which is the highest number since 2001, when such statistics began to be kept. Of these, 4,043 were violent.
For many Germans, 2019 the murder (by a neo-Nazi) of Walter Lubckes, a Christian Democratic Union representative who supported Angela Merkel’s refugee policy, marked a grim turning point in the country’s post-war history – the first time a far-right extremist had killed a politician since World War II.
in 2023 German politicians and political party representatives were physically attacked 234 times, a significant increase from 2022, according to preliminary statistics. Many politicians blame the far-right Alternative for Germany party and the emboldened radical right for distorting German political discourse with increasingly inflammatory rhetoric. “Words become actions,” said Katarina Barley, a member of the Social Democratic Party.
At least one person who attacked EU lawmaker Matthias Ecke in Dresden appears to have been influenced by right-wing extremist ideology, according to German police. An investigation by the German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung and public broadcasters found that members of the group had ties to a right-wing extremist organization.
In the Yvonne Mosler attack, both attackers were part of a group of people, at least one of whom shouted “Heil Hitler”.
It is true that members of “Alternative to Germany” also become victims of political violence. in 2023 there were as many as 86 attacks against representatives of this party – more than against any other party. Attacks on far-right party politicians are usually carried out by left-wing ideologues. In second place in terms of the number of attacks is the Green Party, whose representatives were attacked 62 times.
Taking into account all criminal acts, including threats and defamation, the Green Party suffers the most: 2023 its members suffered 1,219 attacks, compared to 478 attacks against the Alternative for Germany.
Alternative for Germany politicians have tried to shift the blame for the rise in political violence to their political opponents, sometimes even when the attacks were carried out by supporters of the radical right, such as Ms Ecke’s case. This fact became evident when Jörg Urban, the chairman of Alternative for Germany in Saxony, condemned the attack on Mr. Ecke, but began to blame the Social Democratic Party. “Social democrats,” he wrote on the X social network, “must ask themselves the question: to what extent does the constant incitement against political dissidents contribute to such an escalation.”
Within a week, Ms. Ecke recovered from her injuries. “I was touched by your compassion and solidarity,” he wrote on the social network X while still in the hospital. – This is important not only for me, but also for all those who are passionately involved in politics. In a democratic country, no one should be afraid to express their opinion openly!”
