Far-right and racist crimes in Germany show a 59 percent increase in 2000
Hate crimes in Germany at new high
By GEIR MOULSON
Web-posted: 6:38 a.m. Mar. 3, 2001
BERLIN -- Far-right
crime in Germany last year reached the highest level since World War
II, with offenses surging almost 60 percent, government statistics
showed Friday, adding urgency to Germany's struggle against
neo-Nazis.
After a year in which brutal
far-right attacks grabbed attention worldwide, the German government
is pursuing plans to outlaw a far-right political party and even
considering a ban on jackboots and other typical neo-Nazi
attire.
The leader of Germany's Jewish
community said the figures should bring an end to any talk that the
far-right threat has been exaggerated. He was backed by the head of
the domestic intelligence agency, Heinz Fromm, who said the figures
are convincing evidence that right-wing violence is on the
rise.
"I hope now for a first effective step in
fighting right-wing extremism," said Paul Spiegel, the leader of
Council of German Jews.
Interior Minister Otto
Schily said Germany was determined to stamp out the far right,
promising to use "the required toughness and
resoluteness."
Violent crimes with a
far-right, anti-Semitic or anti-foreigner motivation -- ranging from
robbery to murder -- jumped by 34 percent from 1999, the Interior
Ministry said, reaching the highest level since a wave of hate
crimes in 1992 and 1993 following German
reunification.
A total of 998 such offenses --
including three murders -- were committed.
Anti-Semitic crimes surged by 69 percent to 1,378, while crimes
against foreigners rose 57 percent to 3,594, the ministry
said.
Total right-wing crimes -- including the
illegal display of neo-Nazi symbols and distributing banned
propaganda -- was at the highest level since Germany began compiling
figures after World War II: 15,951 offenses, an increase of 59
percent over 1999, the ministry said. The previous record was 11,700
registered in 1997.
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