A shock after believing the far-right could not rise again

THE reason the rampage in Hanau has shocked Germany so profoundly is the country thought it had dealt with its past.

The guilt it has carried since the Second World War was meant to have been heavy enough to prevent the far-right from ever taking root there again.

No longer. In the past 12 months, neo-nazi thugs have rioted in Saxony, politician Walter Lübcke was killed by a gunman with rightwing links and there was a fatal attack on a synagogue in Halle.

Just this week, police raided a neo-nazi cell planning terror attacks on a string of mosques.

At the same time, the far-right Alternative for Germany party has gone from strength to strength.

The right has used Angela Merkel’s decision in 2015 to open the doors to 1.5 million migrants from the Middle East to stoke hatred and resentment.

FANATICS

But the rise in extremism and right-wing terror is not unique to Germany.

In Britain, Labour MP Jo Cox was murdered by a far-right extremist during the EU referendum.

Far-right fanatics were behind the shootings at Christchurch in New Zealand, El Paso in Texas and Gilroy in California.

And far-right parties are on the march in Spain, France, Denmark and Poland.

Last year, the Met’s Assistant Commissioner, Neil Basu, warned right-wing extremism posed the fastest-growing terror threat.

There is no single reason for this worrying and unwelcome development. You can point to how social media is used to spread hatred and sow division.

The terrorists behind the Hanau and Christchurch atrocities both left video posts so that their vile acts could be promoted long after their deaths.

And extremists have also taken comfort from the rise of nationalist parties and strongmen such as Donald Trump.

If politicians whip up antiimmigration sentiment, they should not be surprised if that message is seen as a licence for extreme acts of hatred.

The authorities have also been too slow to recognise the threat.

Perhaps because, like Germany, they thought it could simply never happen here.