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A photo brings the five young men to the dock for explanation. It was a mixture of stupidity and “dark humor,” says one. Just a memory of a day together, says another. The photo shows the five with an imperial flag with an imperial eagle and an iron cross. Four of them show Hitler’s salute. A few days later, on May 24, 2019, around 11:15 p.m., the same young men threw a burning torch at the site of a Roma family’s caravan. The torch lands a few meters away next to a caravan in which a woman and her baby sleep.
Since Monday, defendants aged 17 to 19 have had to respond to the Ulm district court for attempted murder in two cases and attempted arson. The prosecutor said in the indictment that the defendant had at least accepted the death of people. The relationship with Corona is not negotiated in court, but in an event room in the so-called Kornhaus.
Various attacks against the Roma family
It was not the first time that the accused had attacked the Roma family. The family has been camping with 18 caravans in a meadow on the outskirts of Erbach in the Alb-Donau district since May 14, 2019. It is the home of the accused. Prosecutor Patrick Bader lists three other incidents.
Initially, three of the defendants placed a wooden sign next to the caravan with the words “Not welcome” and “155 is still German.” The 155 represents the Erbacher postal code 89155. A few days later they detonated a firecracker next to the camp. Another day, they put a dead swan next to the caravan. And finally they threw a burning torch. The defendants admit that they wanted to alienate the family. But they deny that they wanted to hit the caravan, set fire, or even hurt or even kill someone.
Leo B., 19, begins. It was he who threw the torch back then. Now he says in court that he and his friends went fishing that Saturday night and had a few beers. Finally, a man came up and offered them two torches in exchange for a fish. You would have agreed. At some point they left with a burning torch, without a target, without a plan. The co-defendant held the torch out the window in the back seat. Then they felt stupid driving through their town like that. Instead, they were driving down the dirt road that led to the Roma camp. There they would have wanted to “get rid” of the torch.
“The torch fell exactly where I wanted it”
Leo B .: “It was meant to be fun.” He sat in the passenger seat and took the torch from his friend. He says, “I specifically threw it to the left of the trailer. The torch fell exactly where I wanted it.” He had made sure it landed far enough from the trailer. Only later did they realize “what rubbish we did.” He says, “I am deeply ashamed of this action.” Leo B. does not allow questions from the court and the other parties to the lawsuit.
Another defendant, Robin D., 18, said that when the family arrived, they decided “we have to do something about it.” Describe the thing with the wooden sign and the thing with the dead swan. The youngest defendant had the idea to go to the Roma family with the torch at the fishing place. They wanted to “make a kind of statement.”
“What did he have against the family?” Asked the presiding judge. “I think he had a bit of a bias,” says Robin D. When he has to explain it, he pushes himself. The assistant judge asks him about his political position. “I would present myself as open to the right.” Before the crime, he was sympathetic to the AfD and “looked critically” at refugee policy. Detained, he lived in a cell with a Syrian refugee. Then he realized that his prejudices were wrong.
“I don’t know what we were thinking”
The assistant judge asks each defendant individually what they think about the Nazi era. Everyone said that this was a “terrible”, “despicable” time. The judge now asks Robin D how he explains the photo with Hitler’s greeting on his cell phone: “It was stupid,” says the defendant: “I don’t know what we were really thinking.”
If you search for photos on your cell phone, every second person in your town must have an ad, says the next defendant, Dominik O., 18. Many residents have been upset by the Roma family, “mainly older people.” As for his own attitude, he says: “You have to differentiate between the Nazis on the right and the whole blood. We are not all the last.”
“I’m not a Nazi now, I’m just proud to be German”
The next defendant, Maximilian P., 18, explains his political position: “Love of country: I am not a Nazi now, I am only proud to be a German.” He also says that he has now learned something new. “The prison opened my eyes.” He admits they made “a massive mistake” that night. “I know a couple of gypsies, I get along very well with them. I don’t know what my problem was at the time.”
At the end the youngest defendant speaks. The 17-year-old disagrees with his co-defendants that it was he who suggested that the torch be brought to the Roma family. “I didn’t have the idea, I never said that.”
He also speaks of “prejudice” against Sinti and Roma, which he had at the time of the crime. The judge asks where this attitude came from. “My town is quite right-wing,” he says. He has changed. Meanwhile, he had learned “that people should not be judged on their origin, religion or sexual orientation.” He says: “You see where everything is going, in all of Germany, in Halle, in Hanau. You see that it is the wrong way.”
