Article:

Das »rassifizierte Feld des Sichtbaren«. Deutungen des NSU-Terrors 2004–2011

Why was the series of killings and bombings by the Nationalsozialistische Untergrund [National Socialist Underground] (NSU) unresolvable? After its uncovering in November 2011, a common understanding was that the racist background of the assassinations could not be identified because of the lack of a claim of responsibility, witnesses, or other evidence. Taking up this argument, the essay is concerned with the perceptibility of racism and its premises. With reference to Judith Butler (1993), it can be argued that the seeing and reading of violence is not neutral but takes place in a «racially saturated field of visibility». The press coverage of the terrorist assaults between 2004 and 2011 shows: The seeing and reading of presumably missing evidence are structured by the very same field.