Synopsis
“The boat is full”, “Foreigners out”, “Germany to the Germans”.
The slogans of the far right have nowadays become unmistakable. The same goes for the violence directed against those people who are perceived as “”foreign””. With frightening continuity, racist riots, attacks and murders have been repeated in the Federal Republic of Germany for decades.
THE SECOND ATTACK focuses on the perspectives of those affected by this violence, which has so far received little attention. In in-depth interviews, the film develops a precise picture of the many traumatic experiences that the protagonists of the film have made. Osman Taşköprü tells the story of the murder of his brother Süleyman, which the right-wing extremist National Socialist Underground (NSU) committed in Hamburg in 2001. Ibrahim Arslan describes his memories of the racist arson attack in Mölln in 1992, which he himself barely survived, and Mai Phương Kollath herself lived in Rostock-Lichtenhagen when the so-called „sunflower house“ was set on fire by neo-Nazis to the applause of hundreds of onlookers.
But it doesn’t stop there. In view of continuing racist riots, the inadequate clarification of the NSU complex and the entry of the AfD into the political landscape of the FRG, Mai Phương, Ibrahim and Osman have made a decision: they will no longer remain silent. Their stories interweave, and while they demand a complete clarification of the facts and an end to violence, a network of people who have experienced something similar emerges.
Gülüstan Ayaz-Avcı, whose partner Ramazan had already been murdered by Nazis in the 1980s, also raises her voice. Her case shows that racist motivated violence in Germany did not only begin with the reunification of West and East Germany. Özge Pınar Sarp also reports on current developments and opens up a migrant perspective on antifascist engagement in Germany in the film. When she came to Germany a few years ago and became politically active herself, she was also exposed to deeply rooted everyday racism.
THE SECOND ATTACK brings these stories together in a multi-layered narrative and provides a detailed insight into the struggle of migrant communities against racism in Germany.