Jeremiah Duggan's mother: 'I will not stop the fight until my son’s killers are brought to trial'

 
Seeking justice: Erica Duggan spent 12 years trying to get German officials to investigate the death of her son Jeremiah Main picture: Glenn Copus
Glenn Copus
Ben Morgan28 May 2015

The mother of a Jewish student who died after attending a Right-wing youth camp in Germany said today she would not rest until “her son’s killers are brought to justice”.

Jeremiah Duggan, 22, was found dead on an autobahn in Wiesbaden on March 27, 2003 after attending a conference organised by US-based far-Right organisation LaRouche to protest against the impending Iraq war.

German authorities concluded that his death was “a suicide by means of a traffic accident”, but last week north London coroner Andrew Walker ruled that the 22-year-old had not committed suicide and recorded a narrative conclusion. He said that attending the conference might have had some bearing on his death, adding that there were “unexplained injuries on his body”.

Today, his mother Erica, 65, she believed German authorities “covered up” mistakes in the initial investigation. She said: “My father came from Germany and escaped from Hitler in Berlin and his only grandson died out there. Jerry did not know what he was going to and found himself among people with anti-Semitic views in a country with Germany’s history.

“He was critical and suddenly they said he was a spy. It’s so shocking this is allowed to go on in Germany.”

Mr Duggan phoned his mother hours before he was found dead to tell her that he was worried the group was after him. For 12 years, Ms Duggan and her ex-husband Hugh Duggan campaigned for the case to be examined by German prosecutors. She said: “Whatever happened in 2003, mistakes were made and they were covered up.” Three years ago, the German high court ordered a fresh probe into Mr Duggan’s death.

Mr Duggan was studying English literature in Paris when he was handed a newspaper promoting the LaRouche anti-war event. He befriended the recruiter and signed up for the five-day conference.

Ms Duggan said: “When he was there, Jerry said to me he was seriously worried. He had already been worked on and told that something terrible would happen if he didn’t protest against the war in Iraq. It’s very important a message gets through to German authorities about this group, because for too long they have turned a blind eye to youth camps inciting anti-British and anti-Jewish sentiments.”

She said that justice meant seeing those responsible for her son’s death stand trial in Germany. She said: “It’s been hard after 12 years, because you feel like you’re banging your head against a brick wall.

“But the one legacy for Jeremiah is for other young people to be alerted to the dangers of cults and how they can be beguiled, sucked in and destroyed by this organisation.

“They instil phobias in people and say if you do not join us then something bad — like the World War Three — will happen. Young people come to believe them. It’s important they are aware of how they can be targeted. You see it in Syria with IS.”

The LaRouche movement operates in the US and Germany and promotes the ideas of 92-year-old Lyndon LaRouche, who has run for US president eight times, the last time in 2004.

In 1988, Mr LaRouche and 25 other members of the group were convicted of fraud charges.

His wife Helga Zepp-LaRouche founded the Schiller Institute which sponsored the conference attended by Mr Duggan in March 2003. The Schiller Institute has always maintained that it had no involvement whatsoever in Mr Duggan’s death.

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