Losing a loved one is a difficult experience even in the best of circumstances. Losing a loved one in a terrorist attack comes with a range of additional challenges. As my ERC-funded research has shown, this applies in particular to cases of far-right violence and terrorism in Germany.
On 19 February 2020, Çetin Gültekin lost his brother Gökhan suddenly and unexpectedly in a terrorist attack in Hanau, Germany. While millions of other people were celebrating carnival, Çetin had to organise his brother’s funeral, support his parents, and navigate his own grief. The man who shot Gökhan Gültekin and nine other people took his own life before he could face trial.
The fear of further violence, however, remained. In the years after the attack, the perpetrator’s father threatened and terrorised victims and their families – despite multiple court orders. And he is far from the only person in Germany who shares his son’s racist beliefs. Recent studies suggest that racist attitudes and racial discrimination remain common in Germany, and the far-right party ‘Alternative for Germany’ is more popular than ever.
The families and friends of the victims of the Hanau shootings had to fight for virtual and physical spaces of memory. Sadly, they have made the painful experience that grassroots memorials in public spaces, such as the 27-metre-long mural at the Frankfurt Peace Bridge, can themselves become the target of racist attacks.
The way people mourn loved ones killed in terrorist attacks should be their own choice. If they want privacy, it is vital that we respect this wish. However, this should not stop us from honouring the memory of those whose lives were brutally taken by right-wing terrorists. It should not stop us either from taking a firm stance against political extremism and violence.
The Walter Lübcke case
People who knew Walter Lübcke have described the Conservative politician as a warm and kind man, driven by a commitment to democracy and humanity. After standing up for refugees at a political event in 2015, he became the target of a hate campaign by far-right activists. On 2 June 2019, Lübcke was ambushed and fatally shot in the garden of his family home in Kassel. His murderer was a neo-Nazi with a long history of violent and criminal behaviour.
In February 2025, Walter Lübcke’s widow made a rare public statement criticising a statement by current Chancellor Friedrich Merz. At a Christian Democratic Union (CDU) Party event in Munich, Merz had wrongly claimed that there had been a lack of public support for the family in the aftermath of the terror attack. Irmgard Braun-Lübcke disagreed. She highlighted that in the weeks after her husband’s violent death thousands of people across the political spectrum had taken to the streets in Kassel and many other German cities. By showing solidarity and by standing up for democracy and tolerance, these people gave Walter Lübcke’s family strength and made them feel less isolated.
The Walter Lübcke memorial
On 2 December 2025, the German art collective Center for Political Beauty inaugurated a ‘Walter Lübcke memorial park’ near the CDU headquarters in central Berlin. In addition to a bronze statue of the late politician, the memory park features a memorial bench, and an information board (see images). The project was approved by local authorities for one year with the potential for an extension. It was financed through a crowdfunding campaign and dedicated funds in the UrbTerr budget. We have been working on this collaboration for more than five years. In line with UrbTerr’s aims, the collaboration shows that art can be a powerful tool to develop new forms of memory and alternative visions of the future.
The response from the CDU leadership was quick and angry. Merz called the art intervention ‘sickening’. Other CDU politicians described it as an ‘offensive’ and ‘undignified’ attempt to ‘instrumentalise’ the memory of Walter Lübcke. There can be no doubt that the CDU leadership sees the ‘Walter Lübcke memorial park’ as an attack on their party. However, this is a crude and simplistic reading of the memorial that ignores the important questions that the art project raises: how can we honour the memory of Walter Lübcke, Gökhan Gültekin, and other victims of far-right violence and terrorism in Germany? How can we protect democratic values and principles in times of multiple crises?