The Price of Political Apathy in Merz’s Germany

When the state fails at its most basic duty—guaranteeing the physical safety of its citizens—it usually compensates with political rituals. A brief phone call from the Chancellor, a brief expression of official sympathy, and then business as usual. For the family of Marius Dick, a 22-year-old history student stabbed to death on an open street in Trier on July 15, the political response ended almost as quickly as it began.

The facts of the case reflect a systemic breakdown that has become all too familiar over the past two decades. Marius Dick was targeted without provocation by Sajad Mirzaee, a 22-year-old Afghan national who entered Germany in 2015. Armed with a kitchen knife, the assailant inflicted fatal injuries on a young man he had never met before.

In the aftermath, Chancellor Friedrich Merz personally called the victim’s parents, Thomas and Elke Dick, to offer condolences. That single phone call remained the sole gesture from the federal government. Thomas Dick, himself a member of the CDU, noted with quiet sarcasm that he hardly expects further contact from the Chancellor, suggesting a signed autograph card might be the most he could hope for. The political action and structural changes that the family anticipated never materialized.

Instead, the judicial apparatus appears ready to follow a well-worn script. Prosecutors have indicated that the suspect suffered from psychiatric issues prior to the attack and currently resides in a closed forensic psychiatric facility. The prospect that the perpetrator could be declared legally non-imputable due to mental illness leaves the victim's parents deeply disillusioned. For a family seeking a formal conviction for murder, attributing fatal violence to psychological trauma offers little justice and even less accountability.

The political class, meanwhile, remains intent on insulating itself from the reality on the ground. When a national memorial event was held on Frankfurt's Römerberg on September 19 to honor victims of violence since 2015, not a single invited politician bothered to attend. Instead, grieving relatives were met with hostility from passersby and catalogued on extremist websites as participants in a far-right gathering.

For Thomas Dick, the solution requires dismantling the ideological taboos that paralyze German governance. He has urged his own party to tear down its defensive firewall against the AfD and engage in direct dialogue across all parliamentary factions. Following a severe heart attack in August that required surgery and weeks of rehabilitation, and with a second son having just turned 18, the family's concern is no longer just grief over the past, but dread for the future of a country where public safety continues to erode under the weight of unaddressed policy failures.

Written by Thomas Nussbaumer thomas.nussbaumer@alpineweekly.com