Members of the far-right terrorist group National Socialist Underground (NSU) murdered 10 people, carried out bombings and robbed banks in several German states between 2000 and 2007.
In 2018, the only surviving NSU member, Beate Zschappe, was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Higher Regional Court in Munich, in what the court determined was a particularly serious crime.
The trial was one of the largest in Germany’s post-war history. The four NSU supporters who were charged with Zschap received prison sentences ranging from two and a half to 10 years.
Seven years after the end of the first NSU trial, the case against another alleged NSU associate, Suzanne E., began on Thursday at the Higher Regional Court in Dresden (Saxony).
accomplice of a terrorist
The federal prosecutor’s office accused Suzanne E., wife of NSU supporter Andre E., convicted in 2018, of aiding Zschap by knowing about the murders and allowing her to use his identity documents on several occasions.
The defendant is accused of providing train tickets and his health insurance card to Zschape while he was hiding, so he could see a doctor. Susanne E. is also accused of helping to rent a motorhome which Zschapp’s associates, Uwe Bohnhardt and Uwe Mundlos, used to commit their last bank robbery in November 2011 in Eisenach, in the state of Thuringia, and in which two people were found dead shortly afterwards.
When Zschapp learned of this, he set fire to his apartment in Zwickau (Saxony), which he shared with his comrades, to destroy the evidence. During his trial, Zschap testified about meeting Suzanne E. after the fire, at which point E. reportedly brought him a fresh set of clothes “because my clothes smelled of gasoline.”
A few days later, Zschappe surrendered himself to the police.
Zschap’s testimony revealed a close relationship between the two women who had been meeting regularly since 2006. Sometimes Susan E. would bring her children, which Zschap said he enjoyed “because I didn’t have any of my own.”
Last NSU test?
The Dresden Higher Regional Court has scheduled 44 trial days until the end of June 2026 for the criminal proceedings against Suzanne E. If found guilty, the defendant could face several years in prison.
This case may also be the last in connection with the NSU terrorist group. Victims have expressed disappointment over the cases so far. He has accused the police and judiciary of not taking adequate steps to get to the bottom of the case.
Their suspicion rests primarily on German security officials. As details of the NSU’s crimes emerged, several intelligence failures came to light.
Although there were many indications that the NSU murders had a right-wing extremist background, the police did not seriously investigate these clues and instead focused the investigation on family members of the murder victims, who were suspected of having ties to the mafia or drug trafficking.
Mutilated documents destroy trust in officials
Parliamentary investigative committees concluded that the authorities had completely failed to deal with the series of murders. Among other issues, it emerged that employees of the Constitution Protection Office, Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, destroyed documents related to the NSU.
During the first NSU trial, victims’ relatives’ distrust of the authorities deepened because the intelligence agency’s files were not entered into public evidence on grounds of protecting informants.
If similar evidentiary motions are filed and accepted it is also likely to impact the criminal proceedings against Suzanne E.
*Editor’s note: DW follows the German press code, which emphasizes the importance of protecting the privacy of suspected perpetrators or victims and urges us to avoid disclosing full names in such cases.
This article was originally written in German.
While you’re here: Every Tuesday, DW editors provide insight into what’s happening in German politics and society. You can sign up for the weekly email newsletter, Berlin Briefing, here.