An Anti-Semitic Double Murder / Ein antisemitischer Doppelmord
The Forgotten History of Right-Wing Terrorism in Germany
Aggressively forgotten: Right-wing Terrorism in Germany
Brilliantly written and meticulously researched by one of Germany’s leading researchers on anti-Semitism: Significant contemporary history and a highly topical book on the debate at the same time
»Ultimately, the NSU murder series 20 years later was also only possible because people had already refused to draw conclusions from right-wing terrorism in 1980.«
On December 19, 1980, Shlomo Lewin, the former chairman of the Jewish community in Nuremberg, and his partner Frida Poeschke were shot dead in their house in Erlangen. Instead of pursuing the leads that led to the right-wing extremist group »Wehrsportgruppe Hoffmann«, investigators concentrated on Lewin’s social environment for a long time. The exact circumstances of the crime remained unexplained. Hardly any event of contemporary historical significance has been so...
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On December 19, 1980, Shlomo Lewin, the former chairman of the Jewish community in Nuremberg, and his partner Frida Poeschke were shot dead in their house in Erlangen. Instead of pursuing the leads that led to the right-wing extremist group »Wehrsportgruppe Hoffmann«, investigators concentrated on Lewin’s social environment for a long time. The exact circumstances of the crime remained unexplained. Hardly any event of contemporary historical significance has been so aggressively forgotten as this anti-Semitic double murder.
Uffa Jensen reconstructs the crime and its motivations. He follows the connections to the PLO, in whose camp the »Wehrsportgruppe« was trained, sheds light on the role of its founder, Karl-Heinz Hoffmann, and relates the assassination to the other attacks of 1980 in which more people in Germany were killed by (right-wing) terrorism than in any other year. In doing so, Jensen reveals the patterns in dealing with right-wing terrorism that would be repeated several more times in the future – a history of violence, trivialisation and repression that continues to this day.
Uffa Jensen reconstructs the crime and its motivations. He follows the connections to the PLO, in whose camp the »Wehrsportgruppe« was trained, sheds light on the role of its founder, Karl-Heinz Hoffmann, and relates the assassination to the other attacks of 1980 in which more people in Germany were killed by (right-wing) terrorism than in any other year. In doing so, Jensen reveals the patterns in dealing with right-wing terrorism that would be repeated several more times in the future – a history of violence, trivialisation and repression that continues to this day.
»Jensen does not simply reconstruct the night of the murder, the investigation, which dragged on endlessly and was full of slip-ups, and the trial. He goes to great lengths to explain why violent right-wing extremism in the Federal Republic has always been suppressed and not adequately combated.« Tobias Rapp, Der Spiegel
»Historian Uffa Jensen ... explores the crime itself and its structurally delayed investigation. Anyone who opens this book will see sad continuities and learn, also with a view to today’s ›Reichsbürger‹ scene: the path from crude conspiracy theories to taking action is not far.« Welt am Sonntag
»an important study« Till Schmidt, taz am wochenende
»Historian Uffa Jensen ... explores the crime itself and its structurally delayed investigation. Anyone who opens this book will see sad continuities and learn, also with a view to today’s ›Reichsbürger‹ scene: the path from crude conspiracy theories to taking action is not far.« Welt am Sonntag
»an important study« Till Schmidt, taz am wochenende
»Jensen does not simply reconstruct the night of the murder, the investigation, which dragged on endlessly and was full of slip-ups, and the trial. He goes to great lengths to explain why violent right-wing extremism in the Federal Republic has always been suppressed and not adequately combated.« Tobias Rapp, Der Spiegel
»Historian Uffa Jensen ... explores the crime itself and its structurally delayed investigation. Anyone who opens this book will see sad...
»Historian Uffa Jensen ... explores the crime itself and its structurally delayed investigation. Anyone who opens this book will see sad...
Read more
2022, 317 pages
Persons
Uffa Jensen
Author
Uffa Jensen, born in 1969, teaches History at the Technical University of Berlin and is a researcher at their Center for Research on Antisemitism.
Uffa Jensen
Author
Uffa Jensen, born in 1969, teaches History at the Technical University of Berlin and is a researcher at their Center for Research on...
© Jürgen Bauer
OTHER PUBLICATIONS
Latest first
Year of Publication: 2019
Uffa JensenYear of Publication: 2019
How the Couch Came to Calcutta
At the end of the 19th century in Vienna, Sigmund Freud founded psychoanalysis. It developed into a global phenomenon in just a few decades. Concepts like »super-ego«, »narcissism« or »the Oedipus complex« have long been a part of our everyday speech. In order to understand this dynamic development, Uffa Jensen considers three cities which, in addition to Vienna, were of great importance for...
Year of Publication: 2017
Uffa JensenYear of Publication: 2017
The Politics of Rage
If we had a device for measuring the intensity of collective feelings, at the moment it would be in the red: in most of our political debates rational arguments and mutual respect have given way to fury, hate, and anxiety.
Uffa Jensen traces the origins of the politics of rage back into the 19th century and explains how these feelings of rejection function. In so...