The Citizens' Movement Pax Europa (, BPE) is a German anti-Islam,

counter-jihad Counter-jihad (also known as the counter-jihad movement) is a self-titled Islamophobia, anti-Muslim political movement loosely consisting of authors, bloggers, think tanks, demonstrators, and other activists across the Western world. Proponents are ...

organisation. It was formed in 2008 from the merger of two previous groups, the Federal Association of Citizens' Movements (, BDB) formed in 2003, and Pax Europa formed in 2006.

Activities

The group describes itself as a "human rights organisation" that stands for "freedom and democracy" against "Islamisation". It has lobbied at the

Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is a regional security-oriented intergovernmental organization comprising member states in Europe, North America, and Asia. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, the pr ...

(OSCE), often represented by Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff, and has cooperated with the

International Civil Liberties Alliance The International Civil Liberties Alliance (ICLA) is an international counter-jihad organization that was originally founded as the 910 Group in 2006, and which has spanned over twenty countries. Central to the organization has been Edward S. May o ...

and the

Center for Security Policy The Center for Security Policy (CSP) is a US far-right, anti-Muslim, Washington, D.C.–based think tank. The founder and former president of the organization is Frank J. Gaffney Jr., who now serves as the group's executive chairman. The c ...

Frank Gaffney Frank J. Gaffney Jr. (born April 5, 1953) is an American defense policy analyst and founder of the Center for Security Policy (CSP). He founded the CSP in 1988, serving as its president until 2023, and thereafter as executive chairman. In the 1 ...

. René Stadtkewitz has been deputy chairman of the organisation, and its national secretary is Conny Axel Meier. In 2011, Meier held a speech at a conference in

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

, France arranged by Stop Islamization of America and Stop Islamisation of Europe that also included Robert Spencer and Roberta Moore of the Jewish Division of the

English Defence League The English Defence League (EDL) was a Far-right politics, far-right, Islamophobia, Islamophobic organisation active in England from 2009 until the mid-late 2010s. A social movement and Advocacy group, pressure group that employed street demo ...

. The BPE has attempted to claim to have revived the anti-Nazi

White Rose The White Rose (, ) was a Nonviolence, non-violent, intellectual German resistance to Nazism, resistance group in Nazi Germany which was led by five students and one professor at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, University of Munich ...

resistance movement, and when Meier spoke at the 2012 international counter-jihad conference in Brussels, he compared German Muslims to members of the Nazi Party. His statement referred to a study which revealed that half a million German Muslims openly supported

Sharia Sharia, Sharī'ah, Shari'a, or Shariah () is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition based on Islamic holy books, scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran, Qur'an and hadith. In Islamic terminology ''sharīʿah'' ...

over German law, which he translated to five times more than the number of Nazi Party members in 1928. One former member of the White Rose, Susanne Hirzel, was actively involved in the BPE.

2024 mass stabbing

On 31 May 2024, the BPE held an information stand in the

Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (), is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, second-largest city in Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, the States of Ger ...

market square featuring one of its most prominent activists,

Michael Stürzenberger Michael Stürzenberger (born 28 September 1964) is a German counter-jihad activist, blogger and critic of Islam. He was the leader of the German Freedom Party from 2013 to 2016, and has been active for many years with his public speaking and pr ...

. At the event, several people were stabbed by an Afghan refugee wielding a knife. Police on the scene shot the attacker. One police officer was critically injured and died two days later after being held in an induced coma.

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2008 establishments in Germany Anti-Islam sentiment in Germany Counter-jihad Political organisations based in Germany Political organizations established in 2008