And while those two murders, linked by a single weapon in what had been the spiritual center of Nazi Germany, were horrific, what followed most deeply concerned human rights and anti-hate workers in Germany.
Court records note that soon after those first murders, an immigrant merchant in Hamburg was killed, then one in Munich, another in Rostock, and it continued until April 2007, when German policewoman Michele Kiesewetter was shot to death during her lunch break. In all, a total of 10 people, all except the officer with immigrant backgrounds, all hit by bullets from the same weapon, and yet police hadn't made any connection to the notion of a racism-based agenda behind the murders.
The murders were hardly alone. There are increasing concerns across Europe that what was once considered far-right and racist is moving toward mainstream political thought. Anti-immigration agendas have led to increased worry from immigrant communities across the European Union. In recent weeks, a new study has shown that at the same time, concerns among Jews of a resurgence of anti-Semitism are strong and growing.
There may be no better reason for such fears than the German crime spree. For years, despite public protests by immigrants and advocates calling for deeper investigations, the killings were officially dismissed as the sort of things immigrants do: They were drug deals gone bad, or honor killings or domestic disputes. Police now admit, however, that the incidents were part of a right-wing criminal organization, murdering to protest the presence of immigrants in Germany, and funding itself through a series of bank robberies.
But that realization didn't come until Nov. 4, 2011, when two members of the so-called Zwickau Cell of the National Socialist Underground attempted their 14th bank robbery. Court records show that they got away with 70,000 euro, but they were spotted in an RV by police in Eisenach, Germany. Uwe Mundlos, 38, and Uwe Boehnhardt, 34, who both had known neo-Nazi affiliations stretching back decades, killed themselves after a shootout with police.
The third member of that cell, Beate Zschaepe, 38, allegedly blew up their Zwickau hideout before being arrested. Zschaepe is now the focus of a criminal trial that is looking at both the alleged crimes and plans of the far right in Germany during the past decades.
The trial in Munich began in May and is expected to continue throughout 2014 (court days are scheduled as late as December 2014). Thus far the case has focused on the network of support the cell relied upon, from the mother of one defendant to those who allegedly supplied money and the murder weapon.
The fallout since the capture of Zschaepe has been significant. The German Interior Ministry has reviewed 3,300 unsolved murders since 1990 in Germany and determined that in addition to the 60 racially based killings they'd previously reported, there could be far-right involvement in an additional 746 cases representing 849 victims.
Berger said she'd been cautioned that many of the 746 cases now being re-examined would be unlikely to actually have far-right connections. Still, she added that most anti-hate groups believe there have been more than 200 such murders.
Muhammad Sameer Murtaza, who works with the Global Ethic Foundation at the University of Tubingen, said few who study the reality of modern German or European society are surprised to find that race-based crimes have been dismissed. Immigrants know that there are other groups similar to the National Socialist Underground that operate under police radar.
Murtaza says tales of subtle, or even overt, anti-Islam prejudice are common, even among Germany's sizable Muslim professional class. He's been told by police he'd been closely watched. And he said the problem is far from limited to Muslims.
Anti-terror expert Aron Kundnani, writing for The Hague-based International Center for Counter Terrorism, noted that European policy isn't focused on dealing with such problems right now. Instead, the narrative being followed by law enforcement looks at far-right terrorism as a police matter, but the threat of Islamic terrorism as a constitutional threat.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story gave the wrong name for the American Jewish Committee.
Germany marks Kristallnacht's 75th anniversary asking: What tips a society into madness?