German authorities are growing concerned over the rising crimes by neo-Nazi groups, particularly following the discovery of a series of racist murders that have drawn worldwide attention, Deutsche Welle reported.

“There is a potential for violence among neo-Nazis that we must not underestimate,” German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich said in an interview with Tagesspiegel am Sonntag newspaper.

“What worries me is that the threshold of inhibitions about committing acts of violence has dropped dramatically.”
Estimates show that right-wing crimes had increased by 4 percent in 2012 compared to the previous year.

German authorities had also investigated 17,600 cases of extremist-related offenses in 2011.

Providing no precise figures for 2012, Friedrich said he was particularly concerned by a 2 percent rise in violent crime compared with 2011, when 828 cases were reported.

The foreign ministers of Germany’s 16 states will meet soon to discuss the rise in right-wing crimes.

The danger of right-wing violence has received heightened attention in Germany since November 2011 when two members of a National Socialist Underground (NSU) cell were found dead in an apparent murder-suicide in the eastern city of Zwickau.

The cell, which had been murdering immigrants for years, was discovered by chance on 2011 by German authorities.

Authorities found that at least nine immigrants, eight Turks and a Greek, and a policewoman were killed by the cell between 2000 and 2000.

Weapons involved in the murders were later found at a burned out house nearby in Zwickau that had been used both by them and by a woman called Beate Zschaepe, who has given herself up.

Germans, burdened by their Nazi past, were horrified by the revelations and Chancellor Angela Merkel had publicly apologized to the families of the murder victims.

Shocking Numbers

German authorities have found that the NSU terrorist cell may have had a far bigger network of supporters than initially thought.

“The new number is shockingly high,” Sebastian Edathy, chairman of a special parliamentary committee set up to probe the NSU, told the Bild newspaper.

“Now we have to clear up whether any of these people knew about the crimes or were informants.”

The news comes less than a month before Zschaepe, the 38-year-old accomplice, goes on trial in Munich charged with the murders.

Zschaepe is believed to be part of a core group that was actively supported by roughly a dozen others currently under investigation. In addition, many more are believed to have helped provide the cell with money, false papers and weapons, according to Bild.

The inquiry into the NSU has exposed botched investigations, a lack of communication between German intelligence services and a failure to properly monitor members of far-right groups.

A recent study in November showed that right-wing extremism is notably rising in Germany, particularly in the east of the European country.

The study, "The Changing Society: Right-wing Views in Germany 2012", found that the number of Germans identifying themselves has grown.

The report indicated that 9 percent of Germans have adopted extreme right-wing beliefs, up from 8.2 percent two years ago.
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