Germany marks 30 years since Solingen far-right attack

Several top German politicians and crowds of mourners attended the commemoration to the victims of a 1993 arson attack in Solingen. The far-right hate crime claimed lives of two Turkish women and three girls.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Germany would not bow to threats xenophobic terror.

"Even 30 years after the cruel act of Solingen, we are still stunned, angry, sad. But: we are not intimidated, not helpless, not idle," Steinmeier said.

"Today we pause together and mourn Gursun Ince, Hatice Genc, Gulustan Ozturk, Hulya Genc, Saime Genc," Steinmeier said.

Surviving members of the Genc family, whose home was burnt down in the attack, also attended the Monday ceremony.

German president calls for vigilance against right-wing extremism

Steinmeier recalled the wave of fear that followed the attack, noting that Turkish-German people in Solingen removed their names from letterboxes and slept with buckets of water at night.

He called for German authorities to take a tougher stance against what he called "right-wing terror," and criticized cases where law enforcement officers had been found to use right-ring chatrooms and online forums

The president also remembered Mevlude Genc, who lost two daughters, two granddaughters and a niece in the tragedy.

After the deadly attack, Mevlude's work to foster understanding and reconciliation in the years after the attack made her a symbol for tolerance across Germany. She passed away last year but her husband, Durmus Genc, was at Monday's service.

Around 600 were invited to the "Solingen '93" commemoration at city's theater and concert hall. This also included Turkey's deputy foreign minister Yasin Ekrem, who thanked local authorities in Solingen for making the commemoration "the DNA of the city."

zc/dj (dpa, epd, KNA, AFP)