Joint statement by the cities of Chemnitz and Zwickau on the feasibility study for the NSU Documentation Centre

On the occasion of today's presentation of the concept and feasibility study for the NSU Documentation Centre, the Lord Mayor of Chemnitz, Sven Schulze, and the Lord Mayor of Zwickau, Constance Arndt, declared:

"We would particularly like to thank Minister of State Katja Meier for informing us in advance about the key contents of the study and discussing them with us. We welcome the fact that great importance continues to be attached to coming to terms with the NSU complex and commemorating the victims. We also support their view that a discussion process on the further organisation of commemoration and reappraisal should now follow once the study is available.

The cities of Chemnitz and Zwickau have already faced up to the fact that the NSU terrorists lived here and that they had supporters in the cities, the region and beyond. In Zwickau, for example, a memorial site was created where ten trees commemorate the NSU murder victims. In addition, the November Days were established early on and, most recently, four dialogue evenings were held to discuss how to come to terms with the events and commemorate them. Since 2008, Chemnitz has used municipal budget funds to support initiatives that deal with inhuman ideologies and anti-democratic movements. Chemnitz has been actively analysing and reflecting on the NSU since 2011. Since then, eleven initiatives have been financially supported in this area.

The present study forms an important basis for the further development of commemoration and democracy work. From the perspective of the two cities, the following aspects in particular should be noted:

1. in evaluating the study and in further work, further civil society actors and in particular the urban societies must be involved. Existing knowledge and experience as well as existing projects and event formats should be utilised more than in the previous work. This will ensure that any centre does not emerge detached from the democratic basis and those involved on the ground.

2. the extent of investment in buildings and staff should be examined. Particularly in view of the budget situation in the Free State of Saxony and in the municipalities, the main focus should be on political and democratic education. This should be offered across the board for people of all ages and should be established both permanently and increasingly. This intensified educational work makes an important contribution to countering political extremism and preventing offences such as those committed by the NSU. State-funded school and street social work also deserves greater attention.

3. the topic of the NSU should be incorporated into school curricula to a greater extent - in an appropriately prepared manner. This will ensure that all young people are informed about the horrific acts of the NSU and the network behind them and are able to come to terms with them. The extent to which this information is provided by teachers or by centralised experts should be examined.

4. greater efforts are needed by the state and federal authorities to shed light on what happened. The study rightly draws attention to the possible implications. It is questionable whether this task can be performed by an institution supported by a foundation.

5 The extent to which the proposed structure, which is based on a foundation, is actually suitable and, in particular, feasible, must be analysed in more detail and clarified between the proposed key players in the short term in order to rule out any wrong decisions. Above all - irrespective of the organisational form - there needs to be a lasting commitment from the Free State and the Federal Government to engage in reappraisal and the culture of remembrance.

As Lord Mayors, we and our city councils are gladly and wholeheartedly available for the discussion process that is about to begin!

However, we expect a truly open, transparent and targeted dialogue based on mutual respect. Dealing with the crimes of the NSU should not be focussed exclusively on Chemnitz and Zwickau, but must also take into account other districts and regions as well as authorities and institutions. The starting point is the dignified remembrance of all victims of the terrorists, in particular
Enver Şimşek, Abdurrahim Özüdoğru, Süleyman Taşköprü, Habil KılıçMehmet Turgut, İsmail Yaşar, Theodoros Boulgarides, Mehmet Kubaşık, Halit Yozgat and Michèle Kiesewetter."