Three years since Hanau: how inclusive is Germany’s contemporary remembrance culture?

Abstract

The murder of nine people with migrant biographies1 in an attack in Hanau on 19 February 2020 was yet another act of racist violence perpetrated by right-wing extremists in Germany. What role does contemporary racist violence play in the collective memory? Debates on making Germany’s remembrance culture more inclusive have so far mostly focused on the way it confronts the country’s Nazi past and historical responsibility in today’s postmigrant society. As we remember the victims of the Hanau attack, it becomes all the more evident that an inclusive remembrance culture is needed to address the continuities of far-right violence.