BERLIN (CN) — When a local politician from Hesse, Germany, was shot to death in his own home in June 2019, the case was first deemed a mystery. But those keeping close tabs on Germany's far right immediately knew what was behind the murder.
"Government agencies, at least publicly, initially said the motivation behind the murder was unclear. But for us it was clear from the very beginning that it was a far-right attack," Kirsten Neumann from MBT Hessen, an organization providing counseling and support to those affected by right-wing violence in Hesse, told Courthouse News.
Neumann, who would later serve as an expert adviser during government inquiries into Walter Lübcke's assassination, said the Christian Democrat politician had long been a target for harassment and threats from the far right.
'A new form of escalation'
"The assassination of a serving politician is unprecedented, and there was certainly an outcry," Johannes Kiess, a political scientist at the University of Leipzig, told Courthouse News.
But in the years after Lübcke's death, "we had numerous right-wing terror attacks. The details often changed, but the overall picture didn't. And now, five years later, I'd say the political climate has actually worsened," he added.
Though the assassination was often discussed as a turning point by German media, Kiess argues that little changed in its aftermath. One exception: The Verfassungschutz, Germany's interior intelligence service, which Kiess said "has taken right-wing extremism more seriously."
Intelligence agency head Thomas Haldenwang called right-wing extremism the "greatest threat to security and democracy in Germany," and marked numerous right-wing organizations — including, somewhat controversially, the far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD — for surveillance.
2022 saw mass arrests of far-right activists plotting to overthrow Germany's government.
Politically motivated crime is on the rise, with Germany reporting that 2023 marked the highest levels since tracking began in 2001. Kiess described this uptick in violence as part of "another wave of right-wing terror attacks," including direct violence against politicians.
Social Democratic candidate for European Parliament Matthias Ecke was hospitalized in early May after being attacked while canvassing in the eastern city of Dresden. Fellow Social Democrat and former Berlin mayor Franziksa Giffey was also assaulted, while a Green Party politician was spat on while putting up posters.
Lorenz Blumenthaler is part of the Amadeu Antonio Foundation, a nationwide organization fighting racism, antisemitism and the far right. He said that while threatening conditions for democratic actors, especially in eastern Germany, are "nothing new," recent events are different.
"This shows a new form of escalation," he said. "There's a radicalization within the far right where they now feel so secure that they attack high-ranking politicians, instead of just threatening local administrations and small cultural initiatives."
'No. 1 target'
Lübcke rose to prominence in 2015 for his staunch support of the pro-refugee policies of then-Chancellor Angela Merkel, a fellow Christian Democrat, during that year's migrant crisis in Europe. His response to a heckler at a town hall meeting garnered national attention — and infuriated the far right.
Lübcke told the heckler: "It's worth it to live in this country. It means standing up for certain values. And anyone who doesn't stand by these values can leave this country at any time."
A recording of the exchange immediately went viral in right-wing networks, and it resurfaced again shortly before his death in 2019.
"We had followed him and attacks on him closely in the wake of his speech. At that point, the extreme right had made Lübcke their No. 1 target. His statement had really riled up the neo-Nazis," Neumann said.
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