Coalitions

Abstract

This chapter describes and analyzes intersectional coalition work on memory activists in the case of the NSU Tribunal Alliance. In 2011, the German public learned that the terror group National Socialist Underground (NSU) had been active as a killer commando in Germany since 1998. They killed people in Rostock, Munich, Nuremberg, Hamburg, Dortmund, Kassel, Heilbronn, and Cologne. The victims were immigrants or their children. With one exception, of a German policewoman in 2007. The German Bundestag and individual federal states set up an inquiry commission. These commissions were, however, resisted by the investigative authorities and secret services. With "NSU Tribunal" and "NSU Watch," a counter-public and an independent instrument of civil society actors were created with the aim of forcing the federal government to keep its promise of an unreserved investigation and to address structural racism. In their own ranks, the color line, religious, political, and affiliation-related differences had to be overcome. Antiracist alliances arose in numerous parts of the country. In 2018, a five-year trial against the alleged perpetrators came to an end. Its goals of comprehensive clarification were not achieved. However, an antiracist network, the NSU Tribunal, was established that continues its work for the interests of civil society.