Another day, another lying Nazi witness – this one so brazen that even the federal prosecution threatens consequences.

First witness today was a police officer who had done research concerning a passport which Holger Gerlach had applied for in 2011 in order to give it to Uwe Böhnhardt. His research revealed that Gerlach had picked up the passport in person on 16 June 2011. Next week, another officer will report on investigations on what happened next, namely Zschäpe traveling to Hannover herself to pick it up – another clear piece of evidence that she was a full member of the NSU on one level with Böhnhardt and Mundlos.

Up next was an office worker from the service where the trio had rented a caravan for the bank robbery in Eisenach on 4 November 2011. The car had been picked up by Böhnhardt and a woman. The latter was accompanied by a girl who called her “mom” and drove away in a car afterwards – clear signs that this was not Beate Zschäpe. The criminal police showed her several pictures of girls, inter alia the daughters of Ralf Wohlleben, Maik Eminger and Mandy Struck, but the witness claimed not to be able to identify any of them. In any event, her testimony once again disproves the thesis that the NSU was a small, isolated cell – as shown by the fact that another “comrade” not only took part in picking up the rented car for one of the group’s crimes, but also thought nothing of taking her daughter with her.

The one and only question asked by Zschäpe’s new defense counsel Grasel was who had paid the rent for the car – the witness reported that this had been the man. The defense tried to insinuate that, contrary to the witnesses so far, Zschäpe had not manage the trio’s money – which of course does not hold water if she was simply not present when the money was paid.
The entire afternoon was devoted to another lying Nazi witness. Marcel Schenke is a former member of the “White Brotherhood in the Iron Mountains” (WBE) led by accused Eminger and his brother. He was and still is friends with Matthias Dienelt who had rented apartments for the NSU over a period of seven years in Zwickau (see the report of 9 July 2014), likely brokered by André Eminger. He was also well acquainted with Mandy Struck, who according to the evidence had provided support with apartments and personal papers. He had allowed Eminger to use his address to receive letters concerning an apartment Eminger had rented for Böhnhardt, Mundlos and Zschäpe.

He confirmed that he had talked to Dienelt on the phone, claiming that he had simply heard on the news that a house in Zwickau had burned and that a certain “Matthias D.” had rented a house there. However, it is far from certain whether the news had already named a “Matthias D.” at that point in time. Schenke disavowed any knowledge concerning Zschäpe, Mundlos, Böhnhardt and the NSU – but was unable to report why he had thought of Dienelt in response to the news reports, given that Dienelt had, according to him, not had any connections to Zwickau. He clang to his ludicrous story even after he had presented with the statement of several former “WBE” members that Dienelt had talked about visited a “shared flat” in Zwickau – another piece of evidence, by the way, for the breadth of the network of NSU supporters.
The witness was so brazen in presenting feigned memory gaps that finally – a first in this trial – federal prosecutor Weingarten threatened him with a perjury investigation. It became clear once more that those surrounding the NSU are sticking together until this day and are still trying to keep any facts from being cleared up. It was thus no big surprise when the witness related when he had last seen accused Eminger in 2014: at a racist demonstration against housing for refugees in Schneeberg.