The testimony of Max-Florian B. incriminates Zschäpe and Eminger

Today’s trial day was entirely devoted to introducing the testimony of NSU supporter Max-Florian B. via the police officers who had questioned him – B himself refused to testify in court.

Max-Florian B. is an important witness for the prosecution because he was involved in an important part of the NSU’s development after Zschäpe, Böhnhardt and Mundlos had gone underground. The importance to the court can be measured by the fact that presiding judge Götzl not only had both officers testify at length on their own, but also read out practically the entire minutes of his earlier questionings and had them confirm their content.

In the beginning, „the Three“ lived in B.‘s apartment and he lived with his girlfriend Mandy Struck, after the end of his relationship to Struck, all four lived in his apartment. But even after they had moved out, and even until 2009/2010, long after B. had apparently left the Nazi scene, B continued to occasionally meet with them or talk on the phone. In these calls and meetings, “the Three” casually asked about developments in his life, likely in order to be able to continue his identity – Mundlos had used a passport in B.’s name. B. also provided them with documents, such as letters from a bank where Mundlos had opened an account using the passport in B.’s name.

In several meetings with the police, B. has shown quite vividly that Beate Zschäpe was a member of the group on an equal footing with the two men, as can be seen with regard to her statements concerning a propaganda crime in 1996 consisting of the hanging of a puppet with the word “Jew” on its chest from a highway bridge and the dropping of a mock bomb: Zschäpe had stated that she had not been involved in the actual [Durchführung] as she lacked the necessary strength, but that she had been fully involved in the planning of this and other actions. After B.’s statement, it can be seen as established that Zschäpe was a full-fledged member of the group – not least because the first band robbery took place while the Three were still living in Chemnitz, showing that the group took the step towards armed actions in the situation described by B.

B. had also stated to the police that Thomas Starke, the Fiedler brothers and the group around them had been some of the main supporters in that phase. Starke had already provided the Three with explosives earlier, using his “Blood and Honour” contacts. Interestingly, Starke was an informer of the Berlin criminal police from 2000 to 2005. He will testify next week.

However, B.‘s testimony incriminates not only Zschäpe, but also his co-accused André Eminger. B. had stated that Eminger had visitied „The Three“ at least three times in his apartment. They had discussed the possibility of his providing an identity document, but had decided against doing so for reasons B. could not relate. Eminger had been a topic of conversation whenever B. had spoken with Böhnhardt and Mundlos, they had given him information regarding André Eminger, his kids, his job and his Tattoo of the words “Die Jew Die”. B had had assumed that Eminger had lived close to the “Three” as he had often visited them. In 2011, Eminger had called B. and had known information regarding B. which he could only have gotten from “the Three”.

All in all, Max-Florian B.‘s statements leave the obvious impression that Eminger had been closely connected to “the Three” after they had gone underground and had supported them early on.

Another important aspect of B’s testimony concerned the end of the stay of Böhnhardt, Mundlos and Zschäpe in Chemnitz. Apparently there had been a number of discussions concerning the fact that their presence in Chemnitz was well-known in the “scene” and they thus had to move. Given the number of informers in the scene at that time, this cannot have escaped the notice of the domestic secret service.