NSU German History X ("Mitten in Deutschland") Now Streaming on Netflix

Forget "House of Cards" the best show now available on Netflix is the three-part series NSU German History X, the German network ARD production Mitten in Deutschland. Most Americans have likely never heard about the the NSU - National Socialist Underground - a terror group that went on a ten year rampage killing Turkish and Greek immigrants, as well as a police woman and carrying out bombings.  The series is comprised of three feature-length episodes. The first deals with the formation of the terror cell; the second with the aftermath of the first murder for the victim's family, and the third with the botched investigation. 

The screenwriters were smart in just focusing on one murder - the first murder of the ethnic Turk and florist Enver Simsek in 2000 - which serves to represent the rest.  The murder frames the first episode, but what comes between is fascinating and frightening.  The central figure is Beate Zschäpe - we follow her development from typical confused teenage girl to a full-fledged Nazi-Braut who encourages the boys to commit ever more gruesome acts of violence.  I think Americans will be shocked to see scenes of young people giving the Nazi salute to images of Adolf Hitler and singing about gassing Jews - this is a reality in certain parts of Germany.  The adults in the first episode - which takes place in the eastern state of Saxony - are powerless to influence - much less control - their children.  Their sons and daughters see their elders as losers - or worse, former Stasi informants.  Unfortunately they find meaning and direction in a retrograde Nazi ideology, the cornerstone of which is hatred of foreigners.  The charismatic ring-leader Uwe Mundlos talks incessantly about Der Tag X - the day when all foreigners are expelled (or killed) and the German Volk will have its Fatherland restored.  Interestingly, his inspiration is not Mein Kampf, but rather the right-wing American manifesto The Turner Diaries - which also inspired Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber.

The second episode  - which follows Enver Şimşek's family after his murder - is just heartbreaking.  The family dynamics are the polar opposite from what we experience in Saxony.  Here the family is close-knit, and every family member is focused on playing their part and working towards a common goal.  Enver was an entrepreneur who was building a brighter future for his children.  His daughter Semiya was even attending a boarding school and planning on a university study.  Enver's murder throws everything into turmoil, and the law enforcement officials make everything worse.  Rather than searching for Enver's murderer, they accuse the family of dealing drugs, or assume that the murder was the result of some clan-related revenge.  The racism of the police is palpable.  Semiya keeps the family together- we follow her from a 14-year-old teenager at the time of her father's murder to a confident young woman who never gives up finding the real murderers.  The two female leads in "NSU Germany History X" - Almila Bagriacik who plays Semiya and Anna Maria Mühe who plays Beate Zschäpe - deliver outstanding performances. 

The third episode, which follows the 10-year botched investigation, may be too much "inside baseball" for Americans.  A couple of detectives began to connect the seemingly random murders of ethnic Turks (and one Greek) but are stymied at every juncture by the Verfassungsschutz  (domestic intelligence - equivalent of our FBI). 

What is frightening is that NSU German History X is not just history; it has relevance for current events in Germany.  We now see the leader of Germany's third most powerful party - AfD - Alternative for Germany - seeking to rehabilitate the Nazi concept of "völkisch" - meaning ethnically pure.  Are we getting closer to Uwe Mundlos' "Der Tag X"? 

Comments

[koogleschreiber]

Their proposal to call themselves "Waffen-VS" had been rejected.

[Zyme]

Relax David, the discussion about voeklkisch solely indicates that the thick carpet of taboos pulled over everything ahead of 1945 first by the likes of CDU/CSU and later on with an additional layer of leftist "never-again" cultists has simply been moved out of place by the river of time.

[David]

@Zyme, thanks to the AfD in Berlin I now know all about the German Defence League - something like a modern-day SA.

[KR]

@Zyme:
You "couldn't think of even one ... German leader who has actively sabotaged the economic and social future of his/her country in similar fashion" (like Merkel).
You want to crush the taboos about "everything ahead of 1945" - which means: about The Third Reich.
And you reject the idea of "never-again".
Do you want to tell us that you are a Nazi?

[Hattie]

On my queue. Sounds fascinating.

[Zyme]

KR:

I would certainly always support every political move which strengthens the position of my country.

If employing a terminology made up by former wartime opponents is the way you react to that, feel free. Why would I feel embarrassed by that?

It is not wartime opponents' terminology I am concerned with. It is political leaders neglecting national interests. If only the latter changes, I can very well live with you going on crying.

[Zyme]

David, a similar point applies to what you mentioned.

If we look at

a) a politician winning a Berlin constituency and being discovered having participated in a fascist movement in the past and
b) a national government selling out the country's future by readily handing national wealth over to any venturers, who have a mind to cross our borders,

I have absolutely no trouble in identifying the one of the two who really bothers me.
Anyone focusing on a) should forfeit citizenship, as he or she fails to grasp the concept of a nation.

[David]

"a national government selling out the country's future by readily handing national wealth over to any venturers, who have a mind to cross our borders,"

All I can say is that the US became the wealthiest country on the planet thanks to taking in immigrants fleeing poverty, oppression and war. Steve Jobs' father was a Syrian refugee. You are missing out on enormous human potential because of your racist views.

[Zyme]

David you can't be serious in this comparison. It is heartbreaking.

The US was vast end even emptier than today. What better move than to fill it up with people educated in Europe, who were going to sustain themselves in the new world?

Germany in contrast is already quite packed. The least we require is millions more coming with no education to speak of, comprising another burden on our already doomed social welfare budgets and providing an extra challenge for our security architecture as an added bonus.

All our society requires is more of the highly trained experts we already have trouble identifying in our own First World populace. The ones coming wouldn't have a chance even without robotization gradually taking away the jobs they may otherwise have been aspired to fill.

And I do realize there are exceptions to this rule among people in the Third World...
We don't need to demolish our borders for them experts however. You do know they can just fly over by picking up a Blue Card?

Does that make it clear why missing out on more of Merkel's venturers is quite a favorable option?

[KR]

@Zyme: Let's check whether I got it.

You wrote: "I would certainly always support every political move which strengthens the position of my country."
"E v e r y political move" means: You would support Nazis.

"If employing a terminology made up by former wartime opponents ..." means: On the whole there's nothing wrong with Nazis. They just tried to strengthen the position of our country and lost the war. Now it's time to overcome the propaganda of our enemies.

And with "Why would I feel embarrassed by that?" you let us know that you feel flattered and cajoled.

[David]

"Germany in contrast is already quite packed." As far as I can tell, vast swaths of eastern Germany have emptied out. Plenty of "Lebensraum" for the refugees.

Those who are fleeing the war in Syria are the risk-takers - precisely what is needed in Germany. If given the chance, they will start their own businesses and inject some vitality into the country - much needed when I watch videos of crowds of "educated" Germans in places like Bautzen.

When I lived in NY City in the 1980s we had an influx of "uneducated" Koreans who couldn't speak a word of English. They bought newspaper stands and dry-cleaning stores and worked incredibly hard. Today their sons and daughters are attending MIT and Harvard

[Zyme]

With all the "risk takers" on board (probably more "Syrians" than are on refuge in total), we could resolve this in a 18th cenrury fashion:

collect them all and have them trained in basic warfare, so that they can land in Syria 4 months later and end the conflict within 2-3 months. Problem solved.
Then all Syrians and would-be Syrians can go home at the same time, while Germany continues to invite all those from less booming European countries, who actually have the knowledge we require. Everyone will be happy (apart from the venturers of course).

As an alternative, the Australian model seems noteworthy as well. Once outsourced to offshore camps, many "refugees" realized all of a sudden that it wasn't so terrible back home and left.
Viktor Orban has already picked up on this one. So let's see which model prevails in Europe.

[koogleschreiber]

Mit manchen Leuten kann man über alles reden, aber nicht über fünf Minuten.

[sol1]

Speaking of Orbán:

"Ungarn, das Land das sich einen Namen für seine kategorische Ablehnung von Migranten und Flüchtlingen jeglicher Art gemacht hat, sucht händeringend nach Gastarbeitern. Wirtschaftsminister Mihály Varga erklärte, er unterstütze Forderungen des ungarischen Arbeitgeberverbandes, mehrere Hunderttausend Migranten aus Drittländern außerhalb der EU ins Land zu holen. Die Regierung sei sogar bereit, Arbeitgeber dabei finanziell zu unterstützen, wenn sie Wohnraum für diese Arbeitskräfte schaffen. Besondere Ironie: Der Arbeitskräftemangel ist besonders in solchen Bereichen ausgeprägt, in denen Migranten gut einsetzbar wären, etwa in der Gastronomie."

http://diepresse.com/home/politik/aussenpolitik/5046558/Orban-will-plotzlich-ganz-viele-Migranten