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.
