The victims and relatives of the knife attack in Würzburg, which left three dead and seven injured, must fear that they will not receive any compensation for hardship from the federal government. Such payments are only available to victims if investigating authorities establish beyond doubt a terrorist or extremist motive for the act.
This was confirmed by the Federal Government’s Victims’ Commissioner, Edgar Franke, to the newspaper WELT AM SONNTAG. Whether hardship benefits could be paid in this case, Franke said, “depends on the further investigations. It is still a matter of determining the background and motives of the crime in detail.” Since 2018, the federal government has been paying survivors of terrorist crimes and extremist attacks 30,000 euros for the loss of close relatives. In addition, people who have been injured by a terrorist offence committed in Germany can apply for such hardship benefits.
On Friday last week, a Somali man stabbed three women and injured others in a department store in the centre of Würzburg. Initially, the investigators had suspected an Islamist motive for the crime – among other things, because according to a witness, the accused had shouted “Allahu Akbar” (God is great) during the crime. However, the investigation has not yet substantiated the suspicion of an Islamist background; there are no indications that the Somali could have had connections to Islamist terrorist organisations. The current state of the investigation rather indicates that he is seriously mentally ill.
Time and again, victims of such attacks are faced with the problem that extremist motives are mixed with mental illness in the perpetrators – and they are not entitled to hardship benefits because the public prosecutors determine that mental illnesses of the perpetrators predominated as a trigger. Konstantin von Notz, deputy leader of the Green Party in the Bundestag, told WELT AM SONNTAG that state action too often lacks “orderly, dignified and empathetic treatment” of those who have suffered.
The victims’ ombudsman Franke defends the measures. He said that the state has a special responsibility for those affected by an attack that is certainly determined to be a terrorist attack: “The victims are being attacked on behalf of our society and our way of life. That is why it is particularly important that we stand by the victims and support them with all our strength.” Franke also emphasised that the victims in Würzburg were entitled to further compensation payments independent of the hardship benefits paid out by the federal government – regardless of the background of the crime.
(In the case of Muslim victims of alleged anti-Muslim violence, such checks are not carried out, As in the case of Hanau, Muslims are then paid millions in compensation as quickly as possible, although the perpetrator of Hanau was clearly mentally ill, editor’s note )