German President Calls for Action in Remembrance of Keupstraßen Attack
German President Steinmeier addressed the crowd at the cultural and encounter festival „Birlikte – Zusammenstehen“ in the Cologne district of Mülheim. The appearance of the German head of state was delayed as a bomb-sniffing dog alerted to a fire hydrant during a security check, according to a police spokesperson. The area was then cordoned off, but a subsequent inspection yielded negative results, allowing the event to proceed in the early afternoon.
Steinmeier recalled the suffering of the victims of the terrorist attack and the misguided investigations that followed. „We are all here together because it is important and urgent that we see, hear, and acknowledge the stories and pain of those who were severely injured physically and mentally 20 years ago and were also wrongly suspected.“ He emphasized the need to renew trust in the rule of law where it has been compromised.
The President lamented that the necessity to listen to the stories of the victims and their families, to acknowledge their memories, often faded into the background later on. „This remains a shame for our country.“
„We counter all attempts to divide our society and spread fear and terror with the image of this day on Keupstraße: We are more. And we are here.“
With the knowledge we have today, it is clear that in the 1990s, the state should have been more systematic in observing and combating right-wing extremism, Steinmeier addressed the victims of the attack directly. This realization weighs heavily. „We are all here also because we want to set a sign for today in the face of this memory,“ explained the German President.
The Birlikte memorial festival aimed to commemorate the victims of the NSU bombing attack 20 years ago on June 9, 2004, in Keupstraße. Police investigations targeted the Turkish community for years before it was revealed that the perpetrators were right-wing extremists from the NSU terror cell.
NRW Minister President Wüst also participated in the memorial event on Sunday. The CDU politician, in a guest article for the „Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger“ and the Turkish newspaper „Hürriyet,“ acknowledged serious errors by state authorities. „The state, whose primary task is to protect the people, must admit that it failed in this regard in Keupstraße.“ Many citizens endured physical and mental harm and were then confronted with false suspicions. „As Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia, I therefore apologize to all those who were not believed for so long and who were mistakenly targeted in the investigations, even though they were victims.“
On June 9, 2004, a nail bomb explosion in the migrant-populated Keupstraße in the Mülheim district injured 22 people, some of them critically.