The Hanau massacre and state (in)action: a dossier

Abstract

Based on official and unofficial reports into the 2020 massacre at Hanau of nine people in a racist attack by a rightwing German extremist, the article reveals how state agencies fail to acknowledge the danger of the extreme Right in Germany, and also manage to exonerate the police and other agencies over preventing attacks, investigating the circumstances fully and protecting victims – who can themselves be treated as part of the problem. The result is that survivors and families of the deceased still feel that they have been failed. This forensic dissection of the aftermath of the killings draws on evidence presented by NSU-Watch, Initiative 19 February, Forensic Architecture and the official investigation carried out by the Hessen regional parliament.