When 5,000 to 8,000 people gather at a small crossroads in the Hessian city of Hanau, the noise level is bound to rise – or so you would think. But on Saturday, 17 February 2024, the Kesselstadt district is quiet for the time being. Four years after the right-wing terrorist attack in which a 43-year-old man shot nine young people for racist reasons, thousands of people are taking part in a demonstration to remember the victims and send a message against xenophobia and right-wing violence.

"We made a promise after the racist murders," says Çetin Gültekin, the brother of one of the victims and a member of the 19th February Hanau initiative. "It still applies. We will not allow the names of the victims to be forgotten." The victims are Gökhan Gültekin, Sedat Gürbüz, Said Nesar Hashemi, Mercedes Kierpacz, Hamza Kurtović, Vili Viorel Păun, Fatih Saraçoğlu, Ferhat Unvar and Kaloyan Velkov. Their faces are emblazoned on hundreds of signs and banners of the demonstrators, who slowly set off in the much too mild winter weather to walk the assassin's route in the opposite direction through Hanau.

A glance at the crowd shows that this is not an isolated incident but a terrible continuation of the series of right-wing extremist killings in Germany: The names of other victims of right-wing violence can be read on hundreds of posters. According to the Amadeu Antonio Foundation, there have been at least 219 homicides with an extreme right-wing motive in Germany since 1990. This includes Munich in 2016, where a right-wing extremist shot nine people at and in the Olympia shopping centre. Three years later, two people died in an attack in Halle. In the same year, the then Kassel District President Walter Lübcke was the first sitting politician to be shot dead by a right-wing extremist.

At some point during the funeral procession in Hanau, the message is sent out into the world acoustically: "So many right-wing extremist isolated incidents!" chant the demonstrators. Otherwise, the atmosphere remains peaceful. A passing bridal couple who have just said "I do" in Philippsruhe Castle receive congratulations and applause.

By the afternoon, the crowd has reached the market square, where relatives of the victims have their say in several speeches. One of them refers to the deportation fantasies of German politicians – and recalls the work that people often do with a migrant background. "We dispose of your rubbish, we look after your old people," he says. And ends his speech with a thought experiment: "What would happen if all people with a migrant background in Germany simply stopped working?" With more than five million employees without German citizenship who are subject to social security contributions, this would certainly be noticeable.