The NSU-Watchblog is published and maintained under the direction of the registered association apabiz. The aim of the blog is the independent investigation into the terrorist cell of the National Socialist Underground (NSU) and their promotion of racist murders.
We consider the complex role of intelligence agencies and other state authorities in this matter extremely critical. The now appointed investigation committees at the state and federal level are intended to reveal the “failures” of the authorities, however they have for decades systematically ignored right-wing terrorism in the former West Germany, also they could not stop the Zwickau Terror Cell, despite substantial and extensive observation and the use of undercover agents in the early years. At the same time, the media coverage currently relies, in a large part, on specific information submitted from circles targeted by investigative authorities and independent research takes place too little. Nevertheless, we can and want, the sovereignty of interpretation on the NSU not to be left to the authorities and the aim here is to try and bolster extra-parliamentary analysis. In addition, the experiences and points of view of the people affected by racism must also be given more space in the NSU discussion, after all it was, and it is, societal racism that influenced the perpetrators and the work of the authorities. The apabiz is part of a nationwide and international network of anti-fascist research and publication projects. Published on the NSU-Watch blog, in addition to critical press reviews on the themes of the trial results, there will be analysis from our friends and us. We would like to thank all the dedicated groups, anti-racist projects, and journalists whose efforts are based on their decades of mostly voluntary work that at times arose out of dangerous or risky circumstances.
The Independent Monitoring Agency NSU-Watch: Educate and Intervene.
The racist series of murders of the National Socialist Underground (NSU) marked a break in the Federal Republic of Germany’s History. The independent monitoring agency NSU-watch: Educate and Intervene researches the background and documents the actual development of the NSU. The website https://www.nsu-watch.info is a site that is at the disposal of the public. This independent monitoring agency was founded from anti-fascist projects from all over Germany, which for more than two decades have observed the extreme right. Since the NSU was exposed in November 2011 we have pooled our research and over the years brought together our knowledge. The first trial against Beate Zschäpe and the four other alleged NSU-members respectively, begins on May 6, 2013 before the High Regional Court in Munich. It is already clear that this trial will be a mammoth case, with three trial days every week and more than a hundred witnesses. We want to continue the work of observation and to continuously accompany the NSU-trail because we believe that the process of comprehensive and continuous monitoring is essential. That’s why NSU-Watch intends to provide documentation and transcripts of the court proceedings on each day of the trial and to prepare assessments of the experts, as well as making the results of the accompanying investigation available for all interested in the proceedings, namely, the independent public, joint plaintiffs and their representatives, the media, anti-fascists, immigrant and civil society initiatives, members of parliament, etc. The aim is also to provide the protocols and important articles in Turkish and English translation.
It has long been public knowledge that the authorities of all the involved federal states and of the federal government have kept information in their possession hidden as long as possible, if they did not destroy it. That is why the work of the NSU-Watch is so important. Because an informed and enlightened public can—parallel to the parliamentary investigation committee and the research of journalists–generate pressure for effective intervention.
A network of civil society initiatives, consulting initiatives, consulting projects against racism and right-wing extremism, immigrant self-organizations, civil rights organizations, academics and other parties already support NSU-Watch. They also consider an independent, non-governmental trial observation crucial and necessary both for society and for the further educational work. Our independent monitoring agency NSU-Watch: Educate and Intervene belongs to the Antifascist Press Archive and Educational Center in Berlin (apabiz) and the Anti-Fascist Information, Documentation, and Archive in Munich (a.i.d.a). Members of the NSU-Watch are accredited to be on site for the trial from the start of the proceedings on May 6, 2013.
NSU-Watch has the following objectives:
- Continuous recording and independent observation of the criminal proceedings against the NSU-Members and their network.
- Preparation of research as well as transcripts and reports from the trial for all interested in an independent, separate appraisal of the proceedings.
- Translation of the transcripts and reports in Turkish and English.
- Independent and supporting research regarding the different complexities of the NSU-murders for the lawyers of the ancillary suit and journalists.
- Public, easily accessible documentation for academic research.
- Networking of the involved initiative.
- Contacts for all of the NSU-discussion’s working initiatives and the plaintiffs.
- Public relations during the criminal proceedings.
