February 19, 2020. Hanau, Germany. Nine people murdered at two shisha bars by a white supremacist terrorist. Six years later, on January 10, 2026—just five weeks ago—İbrahim Akkuş became the tenth victim, dying at age 70 from injuries sustained that night.

This chapter examines Hanau as part of a pattern: the National Socialist Underground—NSU murders (10 killed, 2000-2007), Halle (2019), Walter Lübcke (2019), and ongoing racist violence. We look at how warnings were ignored, how the emergency exit was locked (Forensic Architecture investigation showed five people could have survived), how emergency calls went unanswered, and how police initially detained Turkish, Kurdish, and Arab people—not looking for a white supremacist. In 2021, it emerged that 20 elite police officers suspended for being right-wing extremists were the ones who responded in Hanau.

When white Germans kill, they're called "mentally ill" or "lone actors." Tabloids like BILD speculated about "gang wars" and "Muslim milieus." White German society responds to being called racist with more outrage than to the racism itself.

The families formed Initiative 19. Februar Hanau. They demand four things: Remembrance, Justice, Clarification, Consequences. Six years later, Germany gave them monuments and nothing else.

This isn't new. The logic that decides who belongs and who is expendable has roots in Germany's genocidal colonialism in Namibia (1904-1908). Until that's confronted—not just commemorated—the pattern continues.

İbrahim Akkuş's death barely made news. Germany has moved on. The conditions that enabled Hanau remain.

unneutral — from unrest radio

research & commentary: saad shahriar