Anonymous hate mail rattles mosque congregations
A sense of insecurity pervades Germany's Muslim community – a mixture of apprehension, worry and even outrage is spreading. Muslim congregations in the country have been on the receiving end of threatening letters for years, while some have also been addressed to Christian congregations as well. Most recently, at the beginning of August, an anonymous letter was sent to a mosque congregation in the district of Osnabruck.
According to police spokesperson Matthias Bekermann, the Osnabruck force suspects that the perpetrator in their locality is primarily interested in "defaming private individuals from the Osnabruck area". The assumption is that the selection of the addressees has "little to do with religious affiliation", Bekermann explained when asked to comment. This may be true for a number of cases in Osnabrück. But Muslim congregations in other parts of Lower Saxony, in Hesse, Bavaria and Berlin have also received hate mail in recent years.
Number of anonymous letters potentially higher
The total number of anonymous letters is likely higher than that recorded. According to information obtained by Deutsche Welle, congregations do inform the police, but sometimes prefer to forego the media attention. Moreover, individual representatives of Muslim associations have also got threatening letters, some of which have mentioned family members, including underage children..
"Threats to Muslim communities are nothing new," says Burhan Kesici, chairman of the Islamic Council for the Federal Republic of Germany, in interview. Threatening letters have also occasionally cropped up in the past. Back then, however, they were recognisable letters from individuals, some of them handwritten. Now, communities are getting hate mail much more often. Often, they include references to the extremist right-wing terrorist group National Socialist Underground or NSU. "It's unsettling," says Kesici. "And also demotivating. Because there's nothing you can do about it."
According to the police, 18 of the letters received since 2018 have featured content relating to the NSU. Between 2000 and 2007, its members murdered nine entrepreneurs of ethnic origin and a female police officer. For years, the series of murders remained unsolved, with the perpetrators only coming to light in 2011. To this day speculation remains about the network surrounding the group's core members.
It is precisely these references to the NSU that are unsettling many Muslims in Germany, says the secretary-general of the Central Council of Muslims, Abdassamad El Yazidi, to Deutsche Welle. "The fact these letters refer to the NSU shows that the perpetrators regard these like-minded ideologues as role models; that they want to revive the inhuman terrorist acts of the NSU and that they glorify them." German society needs to pull together to counter this.
Insecurity and disappointment
This insecurity sits within a larger context. The Islam Conference, launched at the end of 2006 and now in its fifth iteration, doesn't generally attract much attention. Then, at the end of June 2023, after about three years of research, an independent group of experts presented a comprehensive report on Islamophobia in Germany, pointing to a widespread phenomenon.
The experts issued around 20 pieces of advice to the federal government, which included creating a permanent council of experts and appointing a federal commissioner to counter Islamophobia. So far, however, nothing has happened.
"So far, not one single recommendation of the 20 issued by the expert panel has been actioned," complains Yazidi. "We Muslims face constant discrimination and attacks from within German society, yet there is still no federal Muslim representative, as has rightly been the standard for other religious communities for years. Such a representative, who can get to the crux of the matter, is sorely needed."
So should police officers be stationed outside mosques every Friday? Police spokesperson Bekermann in Osnabruck refused to go into specifics. Any measures would be continuously adapted to the current situation. At present, however, there are no findings that go beyond the level of abstract threat. Opinions differ among community leaders. Several of those from Lower Saxony are pushing for immediate and visible police protection: "If not now, then when?"
Mosques forced to protect themselves
Kesici, chairman of the Islamic Council, is "ambivalent" when it comes to specific measures aimed at protecting mosques. Those who are only able to reach their place of worship by passing police officers may also be deterred altogether.
Central Council Secretary General Yazidi called for more solidarity from German society as a whole. "Of course we expect the security authorities to provide on-site protection in the event of a specific threat situation," he says. "But what we'd really like to see, given the rise in anti-Muslim racism, is more solidarity, more empathy, more commitment to normalising Muslim life in Germany and to the inclusion of Muslims, their communities and their social activities, from our German citizenry."
He expressed the fervent hope that more politicians would begin visiting mosque congregations, thus demonstrating that Germany's Muslims are integral to the fabric of its society.
For some time now, Muslim communities have been taking their own security measures: some mosques have appointed security officers. The Central Council is appealing to its congregations to participate in the Europe-wide SOAR programme, which is funded by the European Commission.
SOAR stands for "Strengthening the Security and Resilience of At-Risk Religious Sites and Communities". Behind it are experts who help religious minorities worldwide to protect their institutions. They began approaching communities in France and Germany, among other countries, in 2021. This year, the focus is specifically on empowering women. The next course is scheduled for September.
© Deutsche Welle/Qantara.de 2023