Many mosques in Germany have received anonymous threatening messages, amid a growing sense of fear and insecurity among growing segments of Muslims, while the security authorities are trying to trace the sources of the threats.
In recent years in the states of Osnabrück, Hesse, Bavaria, and Berlin, Muslim communities have received many threatening messages in an increasing and noticeable manner.
According to “Deutsche Welle” information, mosque administrations inform the police, but sometimes they prefer not to reach the media. In addition, some representatives of Islamic associations also receive threatening letters, in which reference is made to their family members, including minor children.
Burhan Kesici, General Secretary of the Islamic Council for the Federal Republic of Germany, says that in the past, threatening messages would arrive from time to time, and at that time it was clear that they were predominantly from individuals, some of which were handwritten. Now the messages sent to associations have increased, and sometimes there are indicators to their affiliation with terrorism or the right-wing cell “NSU”, (which is considered a neo-Nazi group).
“It’s worrying, and also frustrating. Because there’s nothing you can do about it.” Kesici describes.
According to the police, 18 of the messages received since 2018 are linked to the far-right terrorist group “NSU”, a group whose members, between 2000 and 2007, killed nine immigrant owners of small shops, in addition to one policewoman.
At the end of June 2023, and after about three years of work, an independent group of experts submitted a comprehensive report on anti-Muslim hatred in Germany. The report included twenty recommendations made by the experts to the federal government, the most prominent of which is appointing a permanent council of experts, and the appointment of a federal commissioner to combat hostility to Muslims. But nothing has been implemented yet.
