The public prosecutor’s stance in this case makes a mockery <strong>of</strong> the government’s call to the public to take a stand againstracism. Why should it, if representatives <strong>of</strong> the state do not? And if these kind <strong>of</strong> decisions are being made in a case whichhas aroused international interest, just what is happening in German courts on a day-to-day level? It is, we believe, the duty<strong>of</strong> the German government to find out.Asylum seekers – the state must take a standNothing in the government’s proposals indicates how it intends to provide support and redress for the victims <strong>of</strong> neo-Naziviolence or incorporate victims’ perspectives into the criminal justice system. As an urgent priority, the government must askwhether aspects <strong>of</strong> state policy towards asylum seekers, particularly the programme <strong>of</strong> compulsory dispersal to unsafe Länderin the east, leave asylum seekers and refugees vulnerable to extreme-Right and racist attack. Since the IRR European <strong>Race</strong>Audit was established ten years ago, we have documented the disturbing phenomenon <strong>of</strong> arson attacks against refugee andasylum hostels in Germany, at a level which is the highest in all the European countries we monitor. Criticism <strong>of</strong> the police’sresponse to anti-foreigner arson attacks began at Rostock when the police failed to intervene as a mob, cheered on by locals,set fire to a hostel. In some subsequent arson attacks, asylum seekers have perished and many international organisations,including the <strong>Institute</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Race</strong> <strong>Relations</strong>, have supported the call <strong>of</strong> the International Independent Commission to reopen theinvestigation into the 1996 Lübeck arson attack (in which ten refugees died) and establish just who perpetrated that heinouscrime and why an innocent asylum seeker was wrongly prosecuted twice.Yet, even today, nothing is being done to address the plight <strong>of</strong> asylum seekers who are living in abject fear in many regions<strong>of</strong> eastern Germany. Asylum seekers in Dessau, where Alberto Adriano was murdered, and in Rathenow, Brandenburg, havepleaded with the government to transfer them out <strong>of</strong> the East. But no one in authority seems to be listening. A mobile migrationadvice service in Brandenburg has warned that the tendency to accommodate asylum seekers in extremely unfavourableand isolated areas is growing. When the authorities in Rathenow announced a foolhardy plan to accommodate 150 asylumseekers in a remote location in a woodland hamlet, one <strong>of</strong> the 15 inhabitants <strong>of</strong> the Alt Brieselang community raised somepoints that should have been obvious to anyone with common sense. Apart from the fact that Alt Brieselang does not havea proper sewage system, the hamlet is near to a motor way exit which would make it possible for right-wingers to attack thehostel and make a quick getaway. On the other hand, for the police and fire brigade to get to the hostel from the nearestinhabited area, they have to pass a level crossing barrier which can be closed for up to 20 minutes.A government strategy against extreme-Right violence that does not start from the perspectives <strong>of</strong> the victims is fundamentallyflawed. Immediate measures must be taken to protect those who are being targeted by the extreme-Right – and themost targeted <strong>of</strong> groups in Germany today are asylum seekers, refugees and newly-arrived immigrants such as those easternEuropean Jews who had hoped to build a better life in Düsseldorf. It is not unfair to ask, has nothing been learnt from theDüsseldorf bombing and the murder <strong>of</strong> Alberto Adriano?Footnotes1An English-language bulletin providing up-to-date information on the situation in Germany.2The government has to apply to the Federal Constitutional Court if it wishes to ban a political party, and this process can take years. The lasttime a party was banned – the German Communist Party – was in 1956.3Even Udo Voight, the leader <strong>of</strong> the NPD, is relaxed about such a ban, pointing out that the party will simply regroup under a different name.4IRR <strong>EUROPEAN</strong> <strong>RACE</strong> <strong>BULLETIN</strong> • NO 35 • DECEMBER 2000/ JANUARY 2001