Dresden court gives NSU supporter Susann E. a two-year suspended sentence for aiding neo-Nazi terror cell
A Dresden court gave a suspended two-year sentence to Susann E., a close friend of NSU terrorist Beate Zschäpe, for lending her identity and helping rent the motorhome used in the group's final robbery.
The verdict
The Dresden Higher Regional Court convicted 45-year-old Susann E. on Friday of supporting a terrorist organisation in three cases and aiding a serious armed extortion with weapons in one case. She received a two-year prison sentence, suspended for a three-year probation period. The only condition imposed is that she must inform the court of any change of residence during those three years.
The sentence fell well short of the four-year term sought by the Federal Prosecutor's Office. The defence had pleaded for a full acquittal, arguing there was no proof Susann E. knew about the NSU's murders. The verdict is not yet legally binding.
It is remarkable to give a child the first name Uwe during the ongoing trial in Munich.
Judge Herberger also noted a drawing of Uwe Böhnhardt and Uwe Mundlos, signed "Unvergessen" (unforgotten), that hung above the television next to photos of Susann E.'s own children when police searched her home.
The support she provided
Susann E. was the closest friend of Beate Zschäpe, the only surviving member of the National Socialist Underground (NSU) trio. While Zschäpe lived underground in Zwickau, Saxony, Susann E. repeatedly lent her identity. She gave Zschäpe her health insurance card, which Zschäpe used for dental visits in 2008 and 2009. She also provided her Bahncard, allowing Zschäpe to buy discounted train tickets and use it as a makeshift ID, and her personal identity card, which Zschäpe used to evade police questioning about a water leak at the trio's apartment building.
Crucially, Susann E. helped rent the motorhome that the NSU used during its last bank robbery in 2011. That same vehicle was found burned out on 4 November 2011 in Eisenach, with the bodies of Böhnhardt and Mundlos inside after they took their own lives to avoid arrest. The court found that the NSU continued to exist until 2011 and that Susann E. must have assumed the trio was committing terrorist crimes.
The NSU's decade of terror
The NSU, formed by Zschäpe, Uwe Böhnhardt, and Uwe Mundlos, carried out ten murders across Germany from 2000 onward. The victims were nine small-business owners of Turkish and Greek origin and a German policewoman, Michèle Kiesewetter. The group also detonated two bombs in Cologne, injuring dozens, and financed its underground life through 15 bank robberies.
A disgrace.
The scandal forced a deep reform of German intelligence services, the creation of a centralised registry for extremists, and compensation payments to victims' families. Böhnhardt and Mundlos died by suicide in November 2011. Zschäpe was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Munich Higher Regional Court in 2018 after a trial lasting more than five years.
- NSU trio commits 10 murders, two bomb attacks, and multiple bank robberies across Germany.
- Beate Zschäpe uses Susann E.'s health insurance card for dental treatment while living underground.
- Uwe Böhnhardt and Uwe Mundlos die by suicide in Eisenach; their burned-out motorhome is found.
- Federal prosecutor formally charges Beate Zschäpe, the sole surviving NSU member.
- Munich Higher Regional Court sentences Zschäpe to life imprisonment.
- Dresden Higher Regional Court convicts Susann E. of supporting the NSU and hands down a two-year suspended sentence.
Reactions and what comes next
About two dozen people demonstrated against right-wing violence and extremism outside the court building before the verdict was announced. Susann E. remained largely motionless as the sentence was read, nodding only when the probation conditions were explained. She had remained silent throughout the proceedings.
Susann E. is married to André E., who was sentenced to two and a half years in prison in 2018 for supporting the NSU. The Dresden court's decision can still be appealed, leaving a final legal conclusion open for now.
