Hannover police discriminates against Russian German (i.e. Russians of German ethnic origin) minority – Jewish immigrants also under surveillance

A detailed investigation concerning ethnic and religious discrimination and the handling of problematical statistical data by the police in Hannover was called for by the General Secretary of the Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV), Tilman Zülch, on Thursday from the parties represented on the City Council of Hannover. The reason for his letter are statements made by the police chief of the capital city of Lower Saxony, Hans-Dieter Klosa, according to whom the number of "Russian Germans” among suspects has risen to 5.5 percent. The human rights worker has also discovered from reliable sources that Jewish immigrants have also been placed under surveillance. Since the beginning of this year the police notes down the nationality and place of birth of suspects.

"If the police authorities only use the place of birth they cover all former or present citizens of the former USSR. Particularly disturbing is the fact that Klosa in a meeting with Christoph Bergner, the State Secretary at the Ministry of the Interior and Officer for Resettlers presented four supposedly very serious cases of criminality of resettlers concerning Jewish resettlers”, wrote Zülch. "We put the question to the Hannover City Council why it is that Jewish resettlers are now being covered by statistics. We are aware of Klosa’s plans to engage perhaps Russian "beating policemen” against Russian Germans in Hannover and press reports state that the political parties, with the exception of the "Linken” ("the Left”), have no objections here and indeed welcome this measure. For this reason the question must be put to the chief of police: Are you now planning to employ policemen from Russia with its authoritarian rule also against Jewish resettlers, who like many other young Russian Germans either speak German badly or not at all?”

It is also strange that Klosa’s figures for the total number of German resettlers from the Russian Federation are considerably lower than the number in fact in the Hannover area. For the Russian Germans born in Germany in the past 20 years have not been covered. The lower figure is evidently being presented to prove an above average high criminality, criticised Zülch. The Hannover police chief has also disregarded the demographic facts: the number of children and young people is particularly high in the Russian German minority and young people are more likely to commit crime than older people. "For this reason the figures with a Russian German share in the population of 3.74 percent, then making up some 6.5 percent of criminal suspects are really far-fetched. According to information provided from Hannover the police react much more sharply in cases involving young people speaking Russian than in those where the suspected criminals speak German. The statistics have then been twisted.

The GfbV warns against the publication of criminal statistics on individual ethnic, religious or social communities and using them collectively against their members.

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Enclosure: Text of the letter of the GfbV to the Public Prosecutor in Celle

Generalstaatsanwaltschaft Celle

Frau Oberstaatsanwältin Dr. König

Schlossplatz 2

29221 Celle

Göttingen, 03.08.2007

Geschäftsnummer 2 Zs 1377/07

Dear Director of Public Prosecutions Dr König,

On behalf of the Society for Threatened Peoples, an international human rights organisation, I am now writing for the third time to ask you to instigate investigative proceedings against the chief of police of Hannover, Hans-Dietrich Klosa.

We were interested to see that the Public Prosecutor and the police in Hannover after investigations lasting six weeks opened a 26-page file for the presumed embezzlement of 0.25 Euros against a businessman (the Hannover newspaper HAZ of 24.07.2007 provides comprehensive information on this case, on which the senior public prosecutor Thomas Klinge can do the same).

With the new decision rejecting the complaint you – like the prosecutor Frau Gresel beforehand - have appealed to "common sense” and emphasised the explanation of Frau Gresel, if the majority of the people does not see the defamation of a group, then there is none for her. In the light of German and European history this is a scurrilous and macabre decision.

Perhaps it will be a concern of yours, in a country where ethnic and religious minorities, handicapped and homosexuals are collectively persecuted and have been largely exterminated and have as displaced persons and refugees lost their native lands, to take energetic measures against the collective contempt, slander and threats against the Russian German ethnic group.

As a reminder: Herr Klosa announced that the "Russian returned settlers were a group which attracted attention on account of their violent tendencies”.

He goes on to say that it is a question of an energetic and determined approach "because friendliness with the returned settlers often does not produce any results”.

There is a dispute as to whether policemen from Ivanovo are allowed to carry batons or revolvers. It would be very interesting to hear from you whether policemen coming from countries where torture and beating in police stations are the order of the day should be employed against German citizens just because they come from countries of the Russian Federation. Does that mean that in future Germans of Turkish extraction should be "looked after” by Turkish policemen and refugees from Darfur and other parts of Sudan by Sudanese policemen? Is it clear to you that Russian Germans in Russia, like in other states of the former Soviet Union, thanks to the Soviet regime suffered the loss of 500,000 dead by shooting, forced labour, deportation and starvation in concentration camps? Are you aware that these people until the early sixties were also under especial control of the police? Do you also consider that these people should now be punished by policemen coming from a country which is turning more and more to the authoritarian conditions of the past? Do you not also consider that it would be more sensible instead of only six of 1500 to employ more policemen and possibly psychological youth-workers from the Russian German ethnic group in Hannover?

Quite apart from this we welcome the fact that Herr Klosa has at least modified his first statement so that he now says that the vast majority of the Russian Germans are law-abiding citizens. Nevertheless the withdrawal of a defamation does not render this invalid. In any case the vilification of an ethnic group through the media has without doubt reached the ears of most Hannoverians.

We should like to point out in conclusion that Herr Klosa in his meeting with Stse Christoph Berger of the Ministry of the Interior presented four particularly serious cases of crimes concerning three Jewish resettlers from the Russian Federation. This means that Herr Klosa produces his statistical information by assembling data resting solely on the place of birth. Thus all suspected or alleged criminals are collected according to the Russian Federation principle and not according to the Russian German origin. To present such information or to publish it is a further act of collective racism. Perhaps Klosa will surprise us further with collective accusations against Jewish resettlers if he continues to assemble data according to alleged ethnic criteria.

For this reason we call on you once more to instigate proceedings for possible criminal action, particularly for incitement of the people, public disturbance and defamation.

Yours Truly,

Tilman Zülch

PS We reserve the right to publish the content of this letter.