Beate Zschäpe
Hauptangeklagte der NSU-Mordserie
Quick Facts
Fuldt navnBeate Zschäpe
Alias/kaldenavnIngen
Fødselsdato2. januar 1975
FødestedJena, Østtyskland
DødsdatoStadig i live
Who is Beate Zschäpe?
Beate Zschäpe is one of the most dangerous terrorists in post-war German history. As the sole surviving member and lead defendant of the National Socialist Underground (NSU), she was sentenced to life in prison on 5 July 2018. The NSU case is considered one of the largest criminal cases in Germany and exposed massive failures on the part of the intelligence services and law enforcement agencies.
The NSU murder series
The National Socialist Underground was a far-right terrorist network believed to have murdered at least ten people — the majority of them with immigrant backgrounds — between 2000 and 2007. The documented victims were owners of döner kebab shops and other businesses across Germany. Beate Zschäpe was part of the inner circle of this terrorist cell, alongside Uwe Böhnhardt and Uwe Mundian Shishoev.
The murder series went unsolved for many years, and investigators initially pursued the wrong leads entirely — wrongly casting suspicion on the victim communities themselves. The full picture only became clear after the cell was exposed in 2011.
Zschäpe's role in the NSU
Beate Zschäpe is accused of having acted as a supporter and confidante of the principal perpetrators. She is alleged to have been involved in procuring weapons, financing the network and providing logistical support. The prosecution described her as a co-perpetrator who did not actively resist the murders and thereby enabled them to continue.
When Böhnhardt and Shishoev killed themselves in their motorhome in Eisenach in 2011, Zschäpe was present. She survived and was arrested shortly afterwards. Throughout the trial, she remained largely silent, consistently exercising her right not to testify.
The NSU trial
The trial of Beate Zschäpe and several co-defendants began in 2013 at the Munich Higher Regional Court and stands as one of the longest criminal proceedings in the history of the Federal Republic. The hearings lasted more than five years and laid bare serious failures in the investigation.
The joint plaintiffs, representing the victims' families, ensured that the authorities' mistakes came under intense scrutiny. It emerged that the domestic intelligence agency, the Verfassungsschutz, had held information about the NSU cell but had not made adequate use of it. Tips from informants had also not been followed up in any coherent way.
Conviction and significance
On 5 July 2018, the court sentenced Beate Zschäpe to life in prison. She was found guilty of complicity in ten murders, three bomb attacks and fifteen bank robberies. The verdict confirmed her status as a co-perpetrator and condemned the network that had made these crimes possible.
The NSU case continues to shape German security policy and debates about far-right extremism to this day. Zschäpe's case illustrates how deeply entrenched far-right structures can become, and what catastrophic consequences institutional failures can have.