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National Socialist Underground (NSU)

The "National Socialist Underground" (NSU) was neo-Nazi terrorist group that exposed itself through the suicide of members Uwe Böhnhardt and Uwe Mundlos in 2011. The terrorist group was active for more than 13 years, in which they committed a series of racist murders, bomb attacks and bank robberies. The group around Uwe Böhnhardt, Uwe Mundlos and Beate Zschäpe killed at least ten people. The murders and bomb attacks were known to the police, however, they did not connect them with the terrorist or each other, even though the victims’ families repeatedly suggested a connection. Until the group’s discovering in 2011, the police did not assume racists motives for the murders and attacks but rather associated the victims with criminal milieus. The terrorist group was active since the 1990s and went underground after a police raid in 1998. They made a living by robbing banks. On 6 May 2013, a trial against Beate Zschäpe and other supporters of the NSU started in Munich. How many people were involved in the group’s activities is still unclear. In addition to the criminal trial, there are several inquiry committees to investigate the failure of the authorities in this case.