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The Daily

Day X, Part 2: In the Stomach

The Daily

The New York Times

Daily News, News

4.4102.8K Ratings

🗓️ 4 June 2021

⏱️ 40 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Franco A. visited the workplaces of two of his alleged targets. We meet both targets to hear the stories of two Germanies: One a beacon of liberal democracy that has worked to overcome its Nazi past, the other a place where that past is attracting new recruits. Today, we explore how Germany's history is informing the fight for the country’s future.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Today

0:07.0

Episode 2 of our series

0:12.0

Day X

0:16.0

You mentioned Francois, yes Francois?

0:29.0

I was informed by the Federal Criminal Police Office.

0:40.0

They had found the diary of Francois, Francois former Bundeswehr officer.

0:48.0

And there was a list of names, including the Foreign Minister,

0:56.0

some intellectuals, some human rights activists, and my name, Claudia Roth.

1:04.0

And this was so-called animalist to be killed, enemies to be killed.

1:16.0

Really he's a soldier in the Bundeswehr and he posed as a Syrian.

1:23.0

He posed as a Syrian to make refugees responsible.

1:29.0

So that was the idea. They would kill people, enemies,

1:33.0

but then they would blame refugees to be the perpetrators.

2:00.0

The case against Francois is remarkable for many reasons.

2:05.0

Not only that, as far as anyone I've talked to can remember,

2:09.0

he's the first active duty soldier to stand trial for plotting terrorism since World War II.

2:16.0

Or that he's a rest-open-the-door to a country-white network of people planning for Day X.

2:23.0

Or even that he had lived a double life as a Syrian refugee.

2:30.0

What's most remarkable is that the German authorities had been utterly blind to him.

2:37.0

It took a maintenance man stumbling upon a gun in an airport bathroom to uncover it all.

2:46.0

It was just chance.

2:58.0

Back when I first started reporting on this case, I called one of Francois lawyers to ask if Franco would talk.

...

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