The Washington Post - 17.02.2020

friday, february 21 , 2020. the washington post eZ re A

inspiration from last year’s

mosque attacks in Christchurch,

New Zealand, that killed more

than 50 people.

But German security officials

say lone-wolf attackers are partic-

ularly challenging to track and

are often unknown to authorities

until it is too late.

The suspect in Wednesday’s

shooting was identified as To bias

Rathjen, 43, who authorities said

was a licensed gun-holder.

Not long after the twin attacks,

authorities said the suspect had

been found dead in his home

alongside his 72-year-old mother.

His father was outside and un-

harmed, prosecutors said.

Authorities said they were in-

vestigating whether Rathjen had

ties to any organized groups, but

police said they were not search-

ing for further suspects.

In a grimly familiar pattern,

Rathjen appears to have posted

videos and documents espousing

his views, thick with conspiracy

theories and rants against immi-

grants. “Not everyone who has a

BY LOVEDAY MORRIS,

RICK NOACK

AND LUISA BECK

BERLIN — German Chancellor
Angela Merkel on Thursday con-
demned the “poison” of racism in
the country after a gunman, ap-
parently fueled by extremist
right-wing views and conspiracy
theories, killed nine people in two
h ookah bars.
The Wednesday night attack in
the town of Hanau, about 15 miles
east of Frankfurt, left Germany
reeling as it grapples with a far-
right resurgence. It marked the
deadliest mass shooting in the
country since a gunman killed
nine people in Munich in 2016.
In a televised speech, Merkel
said that while it was too early for
a final assessment of the shoot-
ing, there were many indications
that the gunman a cted with ex-
tremist right-wing, racist mo-
tives.
“Racism is a poison; hate is a
poison,” Merkel said. “This poison
exists in our society, and it’s to
blame for too many tragic events.”
The shooting sites appeared to
have been targeted because of
their clientele. The two establish-
ments, where people gather to
smoke water pipes known as
h ookahs, are popular with pa-
trons of Middle Eastern origin.
Of the people killed, five held
Turkish citizenship, Turkey’s
state news agency Anadolu re-
ported, citing Ankara’s ambassa-
dor to Berlin. Prosecutors said the
victims included German and for-
eign nationals between the ages
of 21 and 44.
The Hanau attack followed sev-
eral violent incidents with links to
the far right over the past year. In
June, a politician known as a
vocal supporter of asylum seekers
was shot dead. In October, a
shooter tried to attack a syna-
gogue in the eastern city of Halle
on Yom Kippur, turning his home-
made weapon on passersby and a
nearby kebab shop after he failed
to gain entry. He killed two peo-
ple.
German authorities said they
have stepped up their monitoring
of far-right groups. Last week,
police raids resulted in the arrest
of 12 members of such a group
suspected of planning attacks on
mosques and targets associated
with refugees and asylum seekers.
The alleged plots seemed to draw

German passport is purebred and

valuable,” reads one document

posted on a website under

Rathjen’s name. “I can imagine

cutting the population in half.”

The International Center for

the Study of Radicalization

(ICSR) at King’s College London

said it has confirmed the authen-

ticity of the document and others

on the site, which included ram-

bling missives about “strategies”

for combat operations in Iraq and

Afghanistan, and about the Ger-

man soccer association.

A senior German security offi-

cial said a video posted online last

week is being investigated, as it is

thought to show the suspect. In i t,

a man addresses the camera in

what he says is a “message” to

Americans. “Your country is un-

der control of invisible secret so-

cieties,” he says, warning about

“mind control” and the “main-

stream media.” He calls on U.S.

citizens to “fight now.”

A second video, shared by the

ICSR, shows a man speaking to

the camera in the same bedroom.

He mixes far-right conspiracy

theories on the white race being

“replaced” with other conten-

tions.

“One part of the video contains

some traditional far-right narra-

tives around race and immigra-

tion, but in the other half the

attacker goes into much more

s urreal and less tangible conspir-

acy theories,” the ICSR said.

“Overall, he is very paranoid and

delusional.”

He ends with “Wahrheit macht

frei,” meaning “The truth sets you

free” but also an allusion to the

Nazi slogan on the gates of the

Auschwitz death camp, “A rbeit

macht frei,” or “Work sets you

free.”

It was about 10 p.m. that a

gunman opened fire on patrons at

Midnight, a hookah bar in central

Hanau. Police said the shooter

sped off in a dark vehicle before

targeting a second venue, Arena

Bar and Cafe.

A man identified as Iskander M

by the Turkish television channel

that interviewed him said he

heard shots outside before an at-

tacker entered the cafe and start-

ed shooting everyone in sight.

The man said that he was shot

in the shoulder and that custom-

ers piled on the floor in a panic.

“The boy underneath me had a

bullet hole in his neck,” he said.

“He told me, ‘I can’t b reathe, and I

can’t f eel my t ongue.’ I told him he

should say a prayer, which is what

he did.”

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

souad mekhennet in Washington

contributed to this report.

After Germany attack is linked to far right, Merkel decries ‘poison’ of racism

Kai Pfaffenbach/reuters

ABOVE: A bullet lies on the ground after the shooting attack in Hanau that killed nine people at two hookah bars. BELOW LEFT: Police

and other personnel investigate. BELOW RIGHT: Hesse state Interior Minister Peter Beuth, center, arrives at one of the shooting sites.

thomas Lohnes/agence france-Presse/getty images thomas Lohnes/agence france-Presse/getty images

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