Gundolf Köhler’s case remained closed until 2014 — 34 years later — when authorities decided to reopen it after a witness stepped forward to talk about the attack. Per The Washington Post, prosecutors said the witness suggested the 21-year-old had “co-conspirators” with whom he’d worked when he bombed Theresienwiese during Oktoberfest in Munich in 1980. They also said it was clear Köhler “had been motivated by far-right extremism” rather than simple young adult angst.
Prosecutors found Köhler had undergone military training with the neo-Nazi paramilitary organization Wehrsportgruppe Hoffmann, a group which The Washington Post says was just one of “several dozen other” such groups lurking in West Germany at the time. He also had a very telltale poster of Adolf Hitler above his bed. And yet, as Tagesspiegel quoted authorities at the time (via Deutsche Welle), “There weren’t sufficient indications [at the time] for the involvement of other people either as accomplices, instigators or helpers.” According to Deutsche Welle, such conclusions have drawn the ire of those who accuse German authorities of “downplaying the danger posed by far-right extremist” in the country.
For his part, Bavarian president Frank-Walter Steinmeier seemingly shares these sentiments. At a 2020 memorial event marking the 40-year anniversary of Köhler’s attack he said that individuals like Köhler didn’t act in a bubble, but were part of “networks that we need to investigate,” per The Washington Post. In an acknowledgement of Germany’s difficult past, he also admitted that “right-wing extremism has deep roots in our society.”
[Featured image by Martinus KE via Wikimedia Commons | Cropped and scaled | CC BY-SA 4.0]
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