Wohlleben defense once more conducts Nazi propaganda in the NSU trial in Munich – racist motion by counsel Klemke concerning a „danger of the death of the Volk“

Olaf Klemke, defense counsel of accused Ralf Wohlleben in the NSU trial in Munich, today brought a motion which aims to “prove” the neo-Nazi claim of a danger of the “death of the Volk”. The motion, co-signed by co-counsel Nicole Schneiders and Wolfram Nahrath, claims that anybody could “speak of the ‘danger of the death of the Volk’” since inter alia the “mass immigration of non-Germans” leads to “the German Volk in its current identity becoming a minority vis-à-vis non-Germans” – the motion continues: “if these developments continue and are not stopped.”

The defense gilded these racist statements with pseudo-constitutional arguments very similar to those proposed by the Nazi party NPD – arguments which have been roundly refuted in the recent judgment of the Federal Constitutional Court on the NPD (see the judgment of 17 January 2017, para. 690 et seq. – note: an English language press release by the court is available here [link: http://www.bverfg.de/SharedDocs/Pressemitteilungen/EN/2017/bvg17-004.html]. As stated by the Constitutional Court, the logical conclusion of the NPD’s ideology – as presented here by its former functionary Wohlleben and his defense attorneys – is “the racist exclusion of all ethnically non-German persons” (para. 653).

Many victims’ counsel left the courtroom in protest against the racist statements by Klemke.

Counsel Dr. Mehmet Daimagüler immediately replied, stating that „if there were any remaining doubts concerning Wohlleben’s neo-fascist ideology, these doubts have now been removed.“

Counsel Seda Başay-Yildiz: „The logical conclusion of the view put forward in this motion is the forced expulsion of millions of persons – or their murder, as perpetrated by the NSU.”

Counsel Dr. Björn Elberling on Klemke‘s motion: “After his motions concerning Hitler’s deputy Rudolf Hess, Klemke once again conducts Nazi propaganda in the courtroom. Obviously, the defense has given up trying to defend Wohlleben against the judgement and is now instead concerned with his reputation in the Nazi scene.”

Victims‘ counsel

Serkan Alkan

Seda Başay-Yildiz

Antonia von der Behrens

Prof. Bernd Max Behnke

Thomas Bliwier

Önder Bogazkaya

Fenna Busmann

Christina Clemm

Dr. Mehmet Daimagüler

Doris Dierbach

Dr. Björn Elberling

Adnan Menderes Erdal

Berthold Fresenius

Alexander Hoffmann

Carsten Ilius

Ali Kara

Barbara Kaniuka

Alexander Kienzle

Detlef Kolloge

Stephan Kuhn

Dr. Anna Luczak

Edith Lunnebach

Yavuz Narin

Gül Pinar

Sebastian Scharmer

Kiriakos Sfatkidis

Isaak Sidiropoulos

Dr. Peer Stolle

Turan Ünlücay