Wolfgang Bosbach, a senior German lawmaker from Germany's ruling Christian Democratic Union party, has been one of the leaders of a group of MPs pushing Chancellor Angela Merkel to change her stance on immigration this past fall. Before the migrant crisis began, Bosbach made waves in 2013 after rejecting calls to give Muslims in the country two official holiday days for important Islamic religious occasions, saying Germany does not historically have an Islamic heritage.
Speaking to Sputnik on Tuesday about the deadly Berlin attack, the politician suggested that there are differences between today's Islamist terrorists and those like the Red Army Faction which rocked West Germany in the 70s and 80s.
Specifically, Bosbach said, terrorists today are not only ready to commit any crime, but are "also ready to give up their own lives in order to kill others. There is a total lack of restraint, total ruthlessness and endless cruelty."
This, in the politician's view, separated modern terrorists from the 'romantics' of the late 20th century. "Here is the contrast between the current terror and that of the Red Army Faction in the 1970s and 1980s," he said.
The Red Army Faction, also known as the Baader-Meinhof Gang, was one of several major terrorist groups operating in West Germany and throughout Europe during the Cold War, mostly engaging in bombings, assassinations, kidnappings and bank robberies.
Ultimately, the lawmaker said that Germany must now be prepared for a long and difficult struggle against the terrorist scourge. "We have to adjust [and prepare] for a very long and fierce fight."
At the same time, Bosbach emphasized that more importantly than anything, Germans must not allow themselves to cave to terrorist pressure – must not allow terror to change the way they live their lives. "We should not close ourselves off, or hide from public events. We should not give up the open and joyful life, because the goal of the terrorists is to make us do just that."
