Solingen Arson Attack of 1993 - Defendants

Defendants

The defendants were:

• Felix Köhnen, a 16 year old student at the time of the crime. His father was a doctor active in the peace movement and his mother an architect active in environmentalist causes. There were reports that Felix fell into right-wing circles because he felt unable to cope with the academic expectations of his parents.
• Christian Reher, a 16 year old student who grew up in children's homes. He lived close to the arson house and was the first to be arrested. He had previously distributed leaflets expressing his hatred of foreigners.
• Christian Buchholz, 19 years old, working odd jobs. He was the son of a middle-class workman. His diary contained anti-foreigner writings.
• Markus Gartmann, 23 years old, welfare recipient. As a youth, he was reportedly a loner who was unsuccessful with girls. He was a member of the nationalist DVU party.

All of them were members of the far right skinhead scene of Solingen and exercised together in a martial arts school. This school was later revealed to be run by an informant of the North Rhine-Westphalia domestic intelligence agency (the Verfassungsschutz).