Lies and Trivialization, Part 5 – Juliane Walther

Today’s witness was Juliane Walther, Ralf Wohllebens’s girlfriend at the time when Böhnhardt, Mundlos and Zschäpe went underground. After the police had found their bomb workshop, Böhnhardt and another “comrade” came to Walther’s vocational school, drove with her to Erfurt to warn Wohlleben, then back to Jena where she went into Zschäpe’s apartment to fetch some clothes for Zschäpe. She also tried to fetch clothes for Mundlos from his parents’ apartment, but she was met there by the police, who were just beginning to search the apartment and who used her as a witness to that search.

Her questioning was even more tedious than that of most witnesses from the right-wing scene. The witness claimed not to remember much at all. Presiding judge Götzl made more than clear to her that he did not buy her explanations – all the more because Walther had made a quite extensive statement to the police in 2011. The Zschäpe and Wohlleben defences tried several times to interrupt the questioning with senseless objections when the witness was under pressure by questions from court and victims’ counsel.

Walther remained steadfast in her claims to remember anything and tried to position herself as victim of those questioning her, who she claimed tried to confuse her, and of the press. Especially with regard to questions by victims’ counsel, she apparently felt that it was her position to decide whether questions had to be answered or not, which led to her being admonished by the presiding judge.

Asked about the ideological background of “the Three”, Wohlleben and Kapke, she also answered evasively, stating that they had been “a touch right wing”. She claims not to have seen anything remarkable in Zschäpe’s apartment, which according to her had been “totally normal” – it is known from other witness statements that there had been a Swastika flag on the living room wall.

The witness did relate that she had played the “Pogromly”- Spiel with Böhnhardt, Mundlos, Zschäpe, Holger Gerlach and Wohlleben. As in the rest of her statement, the witness did not distance herself from the disgusting anti-Semitic contents of that game. It seems that she is not currently engaged in active Nazi politics, and she describes herself as a “follower” – but she is also not willing to accept any responsibility on her part or that of her former friends for the NSU murders.

From the point of view of victims’ counsel, it is to be welcomed that the court has stopped accepting the “memory gaps” claimed by witnesses from the right wing scene.

Walther’s testimony will be concluded tomorrow morning.