Jena (dpa/th) - The victims of the neo-Nazi terrorist cell NSU were commemorated on Sunday in Jena with a wreath-laying ceremony and a minute's silence. Mayor Thomas Nitzsche (FDP) warned that the murders and the victims should not be pushed into the background in view of the current major challenges. The processing is important in order to keep a clear view of the current developments and circumstances even in these difficult times. In view of the pressure on society, it is all the more important that the democratic constitution of the country as well as human and civil rights are preserved.
"Honest substantive discussion is a way that hopefully will heal open wounds from the past and that will raise awareness for a high level of vigilance in the present," said Nitzsche at Enver-Şimşek-Platz in memory. Two years ago, the square in Jena-Winzerla was named after the Turkish-born florist Enver Şimşek from Hesse.
Şimşek was shot dead in Nuremberg 22 years ago and was the first of ten known murder victims by the right-wing extremist terrorist cell. The NSU trio of Beate Zschäpe, Uwe Mundlos and Uwe Böhnhardt had been murdering through Germany for years. They had become radicalized in Jena in the 1990s and then went into hiding in Saxony.
Mundlos and Böhnhardt killed each other in 2011 to avoid being arrested. It was only then that the "National Socialist Underground" was exposed. After a mammoth trial in July 2018, Zschäpe was sentenced to life imprisonment as an accomplice.
