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Hatred of women unites many extremists, but the authorities often turn a blind eye

Three years after the racist attack in Hanau, its history is still being investigated.

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Hatred of women unites many extremists, but the authorities often turn a blind eye

Three years after the racist attack in Hanau, its history is still being investigated. The forensic psychiatrist Henning Saß, appointed by the federal prosecutor, made his analysis publicly available in April 2022.

In his conclusion, he describes the perpetrator as follows: "What is special about Tobias R.'s world of ideas is a peculiar amalgamation of, on the one hand, the pathological development of delusions in the context of the schizophrenic psychosis and, on the other hand, a right-wing radical, folkish, xenophobic ideology grafted onto it, to which finally Set pieces from conspiracy thinking typical of the time were added. In all of this, his executive abilities to plan, prepare, and execute the crimes were largely unimpaired.”

A loner who had already attracted attention with his condescending remarks about women and foreigners, and whose illness was accompanied by delusions of persecution, with which racist tendencies became ever stronger. Mental illnesses are not the cause of violence, but they prevent perpetrators from joining extremist groups. Conspicuous or uncontrollable behavior poses a risk for organized extremists.

Individual perpetrators, on the other hand, are far more difficult for security authorities to stop than groups. Nevertheless, there are indicators that could help to improve risk assessment. One of these characteristics is violence against women.

The author Joan Smith examined the history of assassins of various ideological tendencies and found a striking increase in attacks on women. Their findings were confirmed by a study by Counter Terrorism Policing, which found a significant link between domestic violence and radicalization in 2021.

In the case of Tobias R., this connection to violence against women was denied by analysts: there was no evidence for it. They didn't exist because the police didn't take such an incident seriously. It was only through the investigation in the Hessian state parliament that it became public that, contrary to reports to the contrary, R. had made threats against a woman. R. had ordered an escort to a holiday apartment in Bavaria in 2018, which, according to the expert Saß, he did more often.

During her stay, he said, he not only showed the woman utensils for sado-masochistic practices, but also a knife and a gun. He also presented her with a screenplay that ended with the death of a woman. The escort alerted a contact person, who in turn informed the police, who ensured that the prostitute was able to leave the apartment - and then investigated the woman. R. was only reported for violating the Narcotics Act because the officers discovered a joint.

However, the threats against the prostitute went unheeded. The statement of the woman was only taken up during the questioning after the assassination. She reported that the police had informed her that BDSM was not prohibited and that one could not search the entire house for weapons.

Tobias R.'s story has many parallels to the growing incel scene, men whose misogyny is a motive for radicalization. Unlike Islamists or right-wing extremists, the members of this scene do not have a cohesive worldview and usually act alone. In order to identify threats, it is therefore crucial to collect various risk factors.

However, if threats and violence against women continue to be viewed as secondary, not only is there no data exchange for an analysis, but the data are already missing. The data that could be used to prevent attacks.

"Kick-off Politics" is WELT's daily news podcast. The most important topic, analyzed by WELT editors, and the dates of the day. Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, among others, or directly via RSS feed.

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