MUNICH: Defendant at neo-Nazi murder trial describes subculture of hate

A key witness at Germany's neo-Nazi murder trial in Munich has described a subculture of hate behind fatal attacks on mainly Turkish shop proprietors during his teenage years some 15 years ago.

Carsten S, whose name was withheld under German privacy guidelines, was questioned in court on Wednesday about his experiences in the far-right scene in eastern Germany before he disavowed neo-Nazi views.

His face hidden by a jacket hood, the first witness at the Munich trial recounted attitudes that prevailed when he and his accomplices smashed the windows of two stalls selling doner kebabs and overturned a third in eastern Germany in the 1990s.

"All I can remember is that one of us had the idea and everyone joined in," Carsten S said, when asked how the group justified the vandalism. "I think these stalls were 'the enemy,'" he said, adding that he was against a multicultural society and finance capitalism.

"We turned it into fun, and taught them a lesson at the same time," the 33-year-old told the Munich court.

Germany's far-right scene

Carsten S, 33, was part of a network of hundreds of rightwing extremists. Three of those people, Uwe Böhnhardt, Uwe Mundlos and Beate Zschäpe, allegedly went on to form a neo-Nazi group which called itself the National Socialist Underground (NSU).

Prosecutors say the group was behind a series of murders between 2000 and 2007 that killed eight residents of Turkish origin, a resident of Greek origin and a German policewoman. Böhnhardt and Mundlos died in an apparent suicide pact in 2011.

Zschäpe, the NSU's sole-surviving member, faces charges of complicity in the 10 murders as well as two bombings.

Source: http://www.dw.de/defendant-at-neo-nazi-murder-trial-describes-subculture-of-hate/a-16861075