Bundestag inquiry committee on the National Socialist Underground (2. Untersuchungsausschuss, 17th term): findings and what happened next
Failures by police and intelligence services in investigating the National Socialist Underground, which killed ten people between 2000 and 2007.
- Country
- Germany
- Type
- parliamentary inquiry
- Chaired by
- Sebastian Edathy
- Report published
- 22 August 2013
- Recommendations
- 47
Implementation, as of 28 February 2014In February 2014 the federal government reported several measures in place and several legislative changes still in preparation. Later implementation reviews were not sourced.
What the inquiry found
- The committee found no single central failure but many individual mistakes which, had they been avoided, would have significantly raised the chance of catching the perpetrators.1
- The chair called it "multiples, systemisches Versagen" (multiple, systemic failure) by police and intelligence services.1
- According to committee member Clemens Binninger, investigators quickly focused on organised crime and only occasionally considered a right wing terrorist background.1
- The chair and his deputy said the committee found no evidence of collusion between the authorities and the group, and no deliberate looking away.1
- The victims were nine small business owners of Turkish or Greek origin and one police officer. The report runs to almost 1,400 pages and was adopted unanimously.1
Key recommendations
- The committee made 47 recommendations covering police, justice, the domestic intelligence services and the use of informants, plus further recommendations on support for civil society against right wing extremism.3
What happened next
- The committee held its first working session, with eleven members, and adopted 38 evidence motions.2
- The committee presented its final report to Bundestag President Norbert Lammert.1
- The federal government reported on implementation, citing a joint centre against right wing extremism, a right wing extremism database launched in September 2012, BKA review of unsolved cases and reforms at the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution. Several legislative changes were still pending.3
Sources
- Deutscher Bundestag, NSU-Ausschuss übergibt seinen Abschlussbericht (22 August 2013)
- Deutscher Bundestag, Wir müssen alle an einem Strang ziehen (9 February 2012)
- Deutscher Bundestag, Unterrichtung durch die Bundesregierung, Drucksache 18/710, Umsetzung der Empfehlungen des 2. Untersuchungsausschusses (28 February 2014)