Christmas is a season for forgiveness. But is saying sorry' enough? | Fatma Aydemir

"It's a strange season to talk about forgiveness. While streets glow with fairy lights and shop windows promise that compassion is only a gift-box away, Germany is once again confronted with the unresolved wounds of its recent past. The trap of the season is this: believing that every gesture of regret must be met with mercy. As if forgiveness was a resource available to anyone who is reasonable enough to move on, no matter how atrociously they have been treated."

"During the 2000s, the neo-Nazi terror organisation killed 10 people, nine of them immigrants, mostly small business owners, and one policewoman. Because investigators focused on probing the victims' families and communities rather than on Nazis, the NSU was able to continue murdering without interference. German media reported on the atrocities as die Donermorde the kebab murders, as if it was some exotic true-crime phenomenon."

"In 2011, when the NSU outed itself in a video in which it claimed responsibility for the murders and several nailbomb attacks, it also exposed profound structural failures in the German state's approach to rightwing terrorism. Subsequent inquiries revealed that security agencies had informants in close proximity to the perpetrators, overlooked relevant intelligence, and in some cases destroyed files after the group was uncovered."

Seasonal calls for compassion collide with Germany's unresolved wounds from the NSU killings. The neo-Nazi NSU murdered ten people in the 2000s, nine immigrants and one policewoman, while investigators targeted victims' families and communities rather than right-wing perpetrators. Media framed the crimes as 'die Donermorde' (the kebab murders). The NSU's 2011 claim of responsibility revealed deep structural failures: informants near perpetrators, overlooked intelligence, and destroyed files. The case became an indictment of the state's inability or unwillingness to confront far-right violence. Beate Zschape, previously sentenced to life, recently appeared in a related trial as a witness and adopted a tone of remorse.

Read at www.theguardian.com