According to the Hessian Prime Minister Boris Rhein (CDU), the murder of the Kassel District President Walter Lübcke could not be prevented.

He said that on Friday in the Hessian state parliament in Wiesbaden.

He was invited there by the investigative committee tasked with investigating the failures of the security authorities in the run-up to the murder.

Luke Fuhr

Editor in Politics.

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Rhein explained in detail how the Office for the Protection of the Constitution was set up during his time as Hessian Minister of the Interior from 2010 to early 2014.

"As Home Secretary, I have always taken all forms of extremism very seriously," he said.

The deputies asked the CDU politician about a note from a former president of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, which the committee of inquiry had brought to light.

It says that Ernst - who later killed Lübcke - was "extremely dangerous".

"I only know that from media reports," said Rhein.

By no means every assessment is presented to the Minister of the Interior.

He couldn't say why it wasn't shown to him.

"That's always decided by the person who makes the note."

More secret service personnel

Rhein also reported that the Hessian Office for the Protection of the Constitution had repeatedly asked him for more staff.

He complied, but without being able to grant all wishes.

After 1999, the CDU took over a secret service from Red-Green that “was on the ground”.

In principle, Rhein said during the survey, efforts are still being made to develop it into a capable service that recognizes extremists, prevents criminal offenses and, ideally, prevents radicalization right away.

The fact that the Hessian Office for the Protection of the Constitution is now coming close to this ideal is due to the course he set during his tenure as Minister of the Interior.

The MPs repeatedly asked Rhein about decisions for which his successor was responsible: the blocking of the files on Ernst, for example, after the Office for the Protection of the Constitution was unable to detect any extremist activity for several years.

On Friday, Rhein answered such questions cautiously and "only as a citizen who follows the reports".

He also only heard Ernst's name in media reports.

He was never mentioned in talks with the Office for the Protection of the Constitution in previous years.

At the time of the murder in 2019, Rhein had not been responsible for the secret service for five years.

The parliamentary group leader of the Hessian SPD, Günter Rudolph, accused Rhein of "a lot of self-praise" after the survey.

The question of political responsibility remains open.

On February 23, the committee therefore wants to question the current Hessian Interior Minister Peter Beuth and the former Interior Minister and Prime Minister Volker Bouffier (both CDU).