How the NSU spied out potential targets for murderous attacks.

Today two police detectives testified. The first of them had evaluated a piece of evidence found in the ruins of the NSU’s Frühlingsstraße apartment, a CD containing a number of pictures. These showed a man (very likely Uwe Böhnhardt) with a bike in front of two potential targets for attacks in Stuttgart, a Turkish barbecue restaurant and a greengrocer’s. To a casual observer, it must have seemed as if these were tourist photos, but in reality it became apparent that this was an attempt to document these objects, including routes towards them and flight routes. Both objects fit the picture of previous NSU attacks – small business with Turkish-origin proprietors close to railway stations and/or large through-streets.

The next two photos show the door panel of an office of the Socialdemocratic party in Hof/Bavaria, followed by a photo taken roughly two hours later and showing Böhnhardt and Zschäpe in an apartment. As rightly noted by a victim’s counsel, this is another piece of evidence for Zschäpe’s involvement in the preparation of attacks.

The case file also shows the further investigation by the federal criminal police, starting with an inquiry to colleagues whether there were had been any police investigations against the proprietors – and this after the uncovering of the NSU in the fall of 2011! However, today’s witness was not involved in these investigations and thus could not relate any details.
At the end of the trial day, the court continued the questioning of a police detective from Thuringia who had started to testify on 27 November 2014. He had questioned Beate Zschäpe and Ralf Wohlleben as accused in a 1996 investigation, but did not have any memories of having done so.