NSU Committee of Inquiry in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Presents Final Report with Nearly Three Dozen Recommendations

Focus on NSU and Nordkreuz

The committee investigated the activities of the right-wing terrorist cell NSU and other right-wing extremist structures in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania for almost five years. Previously, a first committee had worked on the topic from 2018 to 2021. The focus was on reappraising the murder of Mehmet Turgut, who was murdered in 2004 at a snack bar in Rostock by the right-wing extremist terrorist network NSU, as well as possible support networks for the NSU and the so-called Nordkreuz complex, an alleged right-wing extremist network that was also active in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.

The NSU is held responsible for ten murders between 2000 and 2007, including that of Mehmet Turgut in Rostock. The victims were eight entrepreneurs of Turkish and one of Greek origin, as well as a police officer. The right-wing terrorist cell NSU consisted of Beate Zschäpe, Uwe Mundlos, and Uwe Böhnhardt. Beate Zschäpe was sentenced in 2018 as an accomplice to life imprisonment. Uwe Mundlos and Uwe Böhnhardt killed themselves in 2011 in Eisenach to avoid arrest; the NSU was only uncovered thereafter.

Criticism of Authorities and Demands

The majority on the committee sees clear failures on the part of the authorities in dealing with right-wing extremist violence. In the future, state agencies are to evaluate tips more effectively, exchange information more reliably, and above all better support those affected by right-wing violence. In addition, an expansion of police training with regard to recognizing right-wing violence and dealing with those affected is being demanded.

Michael Noetzel stated that in the past, victims of right-wing violence were sometimes not believed. Auch im Nordkreuz-Komplex begegnete uns wenig empathischer Umgang mit den Personen, die auf den Feindeslisten des Umsturz-Netzwerks vermerkt waren. Insbesondere das misstrauende und diffamierende Verhalten gegenüber den Angehörigen von Mehmet Turgut war weder menschlich angemessen noch fachlich vertretbar. He further said that there had also been a lack of empathy toward people on the network's enemy lists.

In a joint statement, the SPD, Greens, and Left Party proposed making some of the suggestions now put forward usable for other areas of extremism as well. SPD parliamentary counsel Martina Tegtmeier demands that the police should in future be obliged to inform those affected by right-wing violence about specialized counseling centers. Greens parliamentary counsel Constanze Oehlrich spoke out in favor of anchoring engagement with the NSU complex permanently in schools as well as in initial and further training and continuing education, and in public remembrance work.

Situation Report on Right-Wing Extremism in MV

Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania's Interior Minister Christian Pegel (SPD) stated that right-wing extremism is currently the greatest threat to democracy in the state. Dadurch stehen Lehrkräfte und Schulen vor immer größeren Herausforderungen, wenn es darum geht, extremistischen Tendenzen frühzeitig zu begegnen. Viele neue Mitglieder seien junge Menschen, die aus zuvor eher losen Umfeldern schrittweise in extremistische Strukturen hineinrutschten; er warnte vor zunehmender Online-Radikalisierung, die bis in die Schulen hineinreiche. According to the intelligence services, the number of right-wing extremists rose for the first time to more than 2,000 persons in the past year; the year before it was 1,950 and the year before that 1,855.

Criticism from AfD and CDU

Criticism of the committee's work came from the opposition. The AfD described the committee as a waste of taxpayers' money and criticized that it had produced no reliable results. The CDU filed a separate minority opinion and warned the coalition of SPD and Left Party against politically coloring the report. The CDU parliamentary group's spokesperson on internal affairs, Ann Christin von Allwörden, said at the same time that the work of the security authorities in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania had developed significantly in recent years, but that considerable personnel and structural deficits remained.

In the course of the investigations into the Nordkreuz complex, a network was uncovered in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in which right-wing extremist statements were exchanged and individual police officers were implicated. A former senior SEK officer received a suspended sentence after a search uncovered a submachine gun and illegal ammunition. The Federal Prosecutor General had discontinued investigations at the end of 2021 against two Nordkreuz members on suspicion of preparing a serious act of violence endangering the state for lack of sufficient suspicion.

This news was broadcast on 15.06.2026 on the Deutschlandfunk program. The final report will remain under embargo until it is handed over to the state parliament in July; parliamentary deliberation is not to be expected until after the summer break.

The committee's proposals range from organizational reforms in the handling of tips to a mandatory referral by police of those affected to counseling services. Whether and in what form the recommendations will be implemented is the subject of further deliberations in the state parliament. The majority factions announced that they wanted to deliberate on the proposals swiftly in the responsible specialist committees.