The court case on the NSU murder series will be concluded in 2017. Instead of taking seriously the urgent concerns of the relatives and the Nebenklage to come to terms with the political significance of the NSU for the entire German judiciary, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution and other investigative agencies, the trial only dealt with the involvement of a small neo-Nazi circle in the crime.

The view that the NSU was a small neo-Nazi terrorist group cannot capture the dimension and reach of a nationwide right-wing network that reaches into state institutions. Under these circumstances of litigation, enlightenment is hardly to be expected. Nevertheless, relatives of the victims, witnesses, joint plaintiffs and others have done their best to come to terms with the extent of this series of murders and to make the structural and institutional racism clear. Where the state apparatus has actively failed, people have come together to make a difference and fight against this injustice.

What happens after the NSU trial? Relatives and communities of victims of racist violence continue to be suspected and criminalized. What can we learn in the wake of the NSU scandal? The NSU has been revealed as a nationwide right-wing network that reaches into state institutions. All over Europe, far-right populists, Nazis and racists are gaining popularity in the media, among the population and in politics. How are we doing? What strategies do we have against the shift to the right and racism in Europe?

We from the Alliance Against Racism want to mark the fifth anniversary of the so-called self-disclosure of the NSU with a Action week between 29.10. and 06.11.2016 carry out in Berlin. During the action week, various actions, workshops, and interventions will take place in public spaces at different locations in Berlin, such as Spätis, cafés, and libraries, on streets and squares, and in other frequented places. We would like to conclude the action week with a full-day congress on 05.11.2016, which will include a series of panels, workshops and performances, and with a film evening on 06.11.2016. A commemorative demonstration is currently being planned by other groups with whom we are also networked.

The thematic focus of the action week is commemoration and resistance. Remembering and public mourning are important forms of political protest. Many initiatives were formed out of the need to not let victims of racist violence be forgotten and to remind that enlightenment and justice are still needed: How can we make commemoration politically effective? We commemorate the victims murdered by the NSU and other victims of racist violence as part of the week of action. We would like to address experiences with institutional, structural and everyday racism as well as the intertwining of different forms of discrimination, but also strategies of resistance. We never forget Mölln, Rostock-Lichtenhagen, Solingen and still burning refugee shelters in Germany and all over Europe. We see how the history of racist mobilization in the FRG keeps repeating itself. History repeats itself – but we continue to fight together to keep our history alive.