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Violence Against Immigrants in Germany
By Sahar Kassaimah
28/08/2001
As the world's conscience has awakened from its long nap and started prosecuting the war criminals who have committed savage and cruel crimes against Muslims in Bosnia, it seems that the inhuman wave of ethnic cleansing started in the former Yugoslavia has became so contagious throughout Europe that it has become difficult and unsafe for immigrants and refugees to live in peace and security.
Violence and hate crimes have flared lately in many European countries, from Bosnia and Chechnya to Albania and Macedonia; countries in which people have suffered, and continue to do so, from ethnic wars directed against them for no other reason than being different in either ethnicity or religion, or both.
In Great Britain, Asian people suffer race harassment from extremists who do not accept foreigners in their country. In Germany, immigrants and refugees are being subjected to brutality at the hands of right-wing extremists who instigate hate crimes and assaults; such attacks have increased against in recent months, leading people to accuse and criticize the inability of the German government to stop the violence and protect foreigners.
Nevertheless, the purpose behind violence is the same in all these European countries, but they take on different shapes and aspects, be they in motive or objective. While some are suffering because they are Muslim, others suffer because they are simply foreigners or because they have a different skin color.
Neo-Nazi violence against immigrants and refugees is not something new in Germany. But what is new is the gall of neo-Nazi members in committing their savage and cruel crimes against the helpless foreigners, as well as the silence and passivity of state authorities towards these barefaced crimes.
Hate crimes have become an almost a daily episode of immigrant life in Germany, especially in the last decade. Case in point: there is the story of Joseph Abdulla, which gives us clear signs about the situation in the country.
On June 13, 1997, six-year-old Joseph Abdulla, the son of an Iraqi immigrant, died in a swimming pool in a small town in Germany. His parents collected signed testimonies from almost twenty witnesses, including youths and adults, who confirm that several young people forcibly pulled the little boy, from where he was lying, by his hands into the pool. Joseph tried to escape, but the group of youths - who were shouting, "You foreign pig!" - held him tight. One of them opened his mouth and another girl poured water into it. The young boy tried to tear himself away. He held on desperately, but the group went descended on him and pulled his fingers from the pipe he was holding on to. Then, they carried him in a towel to the deep part of the pool while a young woman was shouting, "Do it. Chuck him in. Sh*t [sic] foreigner."
Two of them jumped on his back for almost ten minutes as. One of the witnesses reported that Joseph was also abused with an electric-shock device. None of the witnesses spoke with the police and many told the boy's family that they were afraid not just of the right-wing extremists, but that they just do not trust anyone.
On July 24, 2000, after analyzing 17 witness' statements and the results of the Giessen University Institute study, "the Criminological Research Institute concluded that, 'the statement of the boy… appears altogether convincing. The descriptions in both statements are rich in detail, and also bear other indications of their reliability.'… 'The 'electric shock abuse' may be treated as 'indisputable,' since an adult mentioned it straight away."*
Nevertheless, although clear evidence confirmed that Joseph's death was not an accident, but a murder, the case was closed and the three suspects, against whom there was strong evidence, were set free.
Joseph's death proves not just how far right-wing extremists dominate German culture, but also the German government's seeming unwillingness to protect immigrants and its indirect support of the extremists by not vigorously prosecuting those accused.
And Joseph's case is not the only one. Neo-Nazis have committed numerous other inhuman crimes against immigrants.
In a recent press interview, Federal Interior Minister Otto Schily (Social Democratic Party - SPD) declared that right-wing violence against foreigners in Germany has increased dramatically over the last year.
"Schily announced in the Hamburg magazine Die Woche that xenophobic acts of violence have increased by 40% in the last 12 months. In total, 13,753 criminal offences committed by right-wing extremists were registered in the period from January to November 2000."*
There is no doubt that government reaction towards neo-Nazi violence is questioned and criticized. But, what are they doing other than condemning the violence?
Moreover, it seems that neo-Nazis have interpreted the silence and lack of government protection for immigrants as an indirect green light that allows them to commit further savage street crimes. Since politicians and media ignore violence and hate crimes against refugees and immigrants, why then should neo-Nazis stop chasing and attacking them?
Furthermore, analysts and human right organizations criticized Schily's declarations concerning new immigrants when he said that they are not welcome any longer because "maximum capacity has been reached." They called on German politicians to be generous with those who are in need. Schily's declaration was described as a clear message that refugees, who fled their countries escaping violence and mistreatment in the hopes of peaceful and secure lives, are not welcome in Germany.
Moreover, according to official government figures, border patrol dogs injured 43 people, between 1997 and 1999; this is in addition to the humiliating treatment immigrants experienced at the hands of the Federal Border Force (Bundesgrenzschutz - BGS). In addition, another document presented by the Anti-Racist Initiative of Berlin (ARI) declared that the death toll of refugees who have lost their lives as a result of state actions is higher than those killed by racist attacks over the same period, confirming that over the past seven years, 239 refugees have lost their lives as a result of state actions.
Another document published by ARI, based on statements made by the BGS to the press, shows that 119 people died in the period between 1993-2000. All were attempting to reach Germany, 89 of whom died on the eastern border. Most of them drowned, while others died from heart attacks or traffic accidents, and still others while trying to escape from police.
Moreover, over the period from 1993 to 1999, five refugees died while being deported, and at least 159 people were injured as a result of maltreatment and compulsory measures.
If this is the way that the government is treating "unwanted" immigrants and refugees in Germany, what should we expect from right-wing extremists?
Sources and references:
*World Socialist Web Site, Published by the International Committee of the fourth International (ICFI).
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