In Germany’s North Rhine-Westphalia, the New Year’s Eve ended with violence. Andreas N., a 50-year-old German, attacked Afghan and Syrian refugees with his car in the towns of Essen and Bottrop. Eight people — a Syrian family, an Afghan mother and her four-year-old son, another 10-year-old girl from Syria and a German man with Turkish roots — were hurt seriously. Shortly after his arrest, Andreas told police that he deliberately targeted foreigners.

According to different reports, Andreas has been unemployed for a long time and is mentally ill. Following the attack, a debate emerged in Germany questioning the terms that are being used for the crime. Some people believe that since the suspect is a White German male, many media outlets, politicians and authorities prefer to downplay it.

“By the way, if someone tries to kill a person because he is having black hair or brown skin, it’s not ‘hostility towards foreigners’ (a non-foreign person can have black hair or brown skin too) but racism,” said Hasnain Kazim, a journalist with German news magazine Der Spiegel, on his Facebook page. Mr. Kazim has Indian-Pakistani roots and regularly speaks up against racism and xenophobia.

Anti-racist activists

Two days after the attack, more than 100 people demonstrated in Essen against right-wing violence. In recent years, Germany has seen a spike in attacks on refugees. In early 2016, a mob attacked Pakistanis in Cologne and Bautzen. In February 2018, a 70-year-old German, who wanted to send a signal “about the current refugee policy” of the government, knifed three migrants. Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has welcomed more than one million refugees in recent years, called these attacks “hate in the streets”.

In recent years, Germany has seen a spike in attacks on refugees. Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has welcomed more than one million refugees, called these attacks “hate in the streets”

According to Gabriele Giesecke, a local politician with the left-wing party Die Linke, this year’s attack had a political background. Reportedly, Andreas described his victims as “non-humans” and kanaken, a derogatory term for Turks and Arabs. He is also a believer in the far-right, racist narratives that “foreigners get everything without working for it”.

In an interview with German TV channel WDR, one of the victims — an Afghan woman — described what she witnessed during the attack. “I saw how the car drove in our direction, and then it hit my son. I didn’t know what happened thereafter. I just started crying,” she said.

“In one moment, I saw how my son was pushed away in the air. It was terrible,” said the woman, who did not want to be named. “This man had a clear intention to kill foreigners,” said Herbert Reul, the regional Interior Minister for North Rhine-Westphalia.

North Rhine-Westphalia has been a hotspot for migrants for decades. “I am living here with my family for years. But I cannot remember such a brutal attack. It is a shock. I grew up in this area and I also know that society in this part of Germany is less racist than in other regions,” said Saber Amiri, 26, an Afghan student from the city of Bonn.

Many other people share this opinion. But they also believe that the German society has a problem with racism and how to describe hate crimes and right-wing violence. “Honestly, I am not surprised that nobody is calling the culprit a terrorist,” said Demir Ulusoy, 36, a merchant with Turkish roots. “Explicit right-wing terrorism conducted by an extremist group such as the National Socialist Underground has not really been accounted for until today. Far-right elements are part of the German Army, as it has been revealed recently, but many media outlets didn’t care. This is a huge problem,” he added.

Emran Feroz is a freelance journalist based in Stuttgart, Germany