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The far-right in Germany () slowly reorganised itself after the fall of
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...
and the dissolution of the
Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...
in 1945.
Denazification Denazification () was an Allied initiative to rid German and Austrian society, culture, press, economy, judiciary, and politics of the Nazi ideology following the Second World War. It was carried out by removing those who had been Nazi Par ...
was carried out in Germany from 1945 to 1949 by the Allied forces of World War II, with an attempt of eliminating Nazism from the country. However, various far-right parties emerged in the post-war period, with varying success. Most parties only lasted a few years before either dissolving or being banned, and explicitly far-right parties rarely gained seats in the
Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet (assembly), Diet") is the lower house of the Germany, German Federalism in Germany, federal parliament. It is the only constitutional body of the federation directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag wa ...
(
West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...
's and now modern
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
's federal parliament) post-WWII until the 2010s. In the
communist state A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state in which the totality of the power belongs to a party adhering to some form of Marxism–Leninism, a branch of the communist ideology. Marxism–Leninism was ...
of
East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...
, open right-wing radicalism was relatively weak until the 1980s. Later, smaller extremist groups formed (e.g. those associated with football violence). The most successful far-right party in Germany in the immediate post-war period was the Deutsche Rechtspartei (German Right Party), which attracted former Nazis and won five seats in the
1949 West German federal election Federal elections were held in West Germany on 14 August 1949 to elect the members of the first Bundestag, with a further eight seats elected in West Berlin between 1949 and January 1952 and another eleven between February 1952 and 1953. They w ...
and held these seats for four years, before losing them in the
1953 West German federal election Federal elections were held in West Germany on 6 September 1953 to elect the members of the second Bundestag. The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) emerged as the largest party. This was the last election before Saarland joined West Germany in ...
. At the
2017 German federal election The 2017 German federal election was held in Germany on 24 September 2017 to elect the List of members of the 19th Bundestag, members of the 19th Bundestag. At stake were at least 598 seats in the Bundestag, as well as 111 Overhang seat, overhan ...
, the far-right
Alternative for Germany Alternative for Germany (, AfD, ) is a Far-right politics in Germany (1945–present), far-right,Far-right: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Right-wing populism, right-wing populist and National conservatism, national-conservative p ...
(AfD) party won 94 seats and became the largest opposition party in the Bundestag, the first time a far-right party other than the Deutsche Rechtspartei won seats in the Bundestag since the dissolution of the Nazi Party after
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
.


Definition

Far right politics is marked by radical conservatism,
authoritarianism Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of strong central power to preserve the political ''status quo'', and reductions in democracy, separation of powers, civil liberties, and ...
, ultra-nationalism, and nativism. "Far-right" is synonymous with the term " extreme right", or literally "right-extremist" (the term used by German
Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution ( or BfV, often ''Bundesverfassungsschutz'') is Germany's federal domestic intelligence agency. Together with the Landesämter für Verfassungsschutz (LfV) at the state level, the fed ...
), according to which
neo-Nazism Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazism, Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and Supremacism#Racial, racial supremacy (ofte ...
is a subclass, with its historical orientation at Nazism.


West Germany (1945–1990)

In 1946, the Deutsche Rechtspartei was founded and in 1950 succeeded by the Deutsche Reichspartei. As the
allied occupation of Germany The entirety of Germany was occupied and administered by the Allies of World War II, from the Berlin Declaration on 5 June 1945 to the establishment of West Germany on 23 May 1949. Unlike occupied Japan, Nazi Germany was stripped of its sover ...
ended in 1949, a number of new far-right parties emerged: The Socialist Reich Party, founded in 1949, the German Social Union (West Germany), the Free German Workers' Party, Nationalist Front and National Offensive. In 1964, the
National Democratic Party of Germany National Democratic Party of Germany (, NPD), officially called The Homeland () since 2023, is a Far-right politics, far-right, Neo-Nazism, neo-Nazi and Ultranationalism, ultranationalist political party in Germany. It was founded in 1964 as ...
was founded, which continues to the present day. The 1980s saw an increase in right wing organization and activity across Western Europe. In 1984-5 the
European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...
organized a Committee of Inquiry into the Rise of Racism and Fascism in Europe; in 1989, another Committee of Inquiry into Racism and Xenophobia. In the report of the second Committee, issued to parliament in October 1990, West German Social Democrat Willi Rothley argued that economic and social changes arising from "modernizing society" were responsible for the recent rise of right-wing extremism, particularly a weakening cohesion among family, work, and religious association leading to a "growing susceptibility to political platforms offering security by emphasizing the national aspect or providing scapegoats (foreigners)." The report notes the "meteoric" rise of the Republikaner Partei (REP) in 1989, whose leader
Franz Schönhuber Franz Xaver Schönhuber (10 January 1923 – 27 November 2005) was a German right-wing extremist journalist, politician, and author. He gained fame as a founder and eventual chairman of the right-wing German party The Republicans. He was a memb ...
had been a member of the
Waffen-SS The (; ) was the military branch, combat branch of the Nazi Party's paramilitary ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscr ...
, and who "proudly admits his Nazi past." The party won two million votes in the 1989 European Parliament elections on a platform that "openly advocated the abolition of trade unions, the destruction of social welfare, censorship, and the wholesale 'de-criminalization' of German history. Promoting the expulsion of immigrants and a reunification of Germany to the 1937 borders, the actual reunification of West and East Germany triggered a collapse of the REP's voter base. Until then,
Helmut Kohl Helmut Josef Michael Kohl (; 3 April 1930 – 16 June 2017) was a German politician who served as chancellor of Germany and governed the ''Federal Republic'' from 1982 to 1998. He was leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 1973 to ...
, as first chancellor of a reunified Germany, refused to guarantee Poland's western boundary. The German State Office for the Protection of the Constitution reported over 38,500 "extreme-rightists" in West Germany in 1989, but this number did not include 1-2 million members of the REP, while the NDP/DVU alliance, which was included, despite having only 27,000 members, won 455,000 votes in the June 1989 European elections. By 1991 a splinter group had formed into the Deutsche Allianz led by
Harald Neubauer Harald Neubauer (born 3 December 1951 in Hamburg; died 29 December 2021) was a German politician and journalist from the far right scene. He was a Member of the European Parliament from 1989 to 1994. Neubauer was trained as an overseas buyer and ...
. After reunification, right-wing activity seems to have shifted primarily to the states of former East Germany, which included violent border incidents after the opening of visa-free travel between Germany and Poland in April 1991.


Defunct parties

* Deutsche Rechtspartei (1946–1950) * Socialist Reich Party (1949–1952) banned * Deutsche Reichspartei (1950–1964) * German Social Union (1956–1962) * Free German Workers' Party (1979–1995) banned * Nationalist Front (1985–1992) banned * German Alternative (1989–1992) banned * National Offensive (1990–1992) banned


East Germany (1945–1990)

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...
(GDR) was founded under a different pretext than West Germany. As a
socialist state A socialist state, socialist republic, or socialist country is a sovereign state constitutionally dedicated to the establishment of socialism. This article is about states that refer to themselves as socialist states, and not specifically ...
, it was based on the idea that
fascism Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hie ...
was an extreme form of
capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by ...
. Thus, it understood itself as an
anti-fascist Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were op ...
state (Article 6 of the GDR constitution) and anti-fascist and
anti-colonialist Decolonization is the undoing of colonialism, the latter being the process whereby imperial nations establish and dominate foreign territories, often overseas. The meanings and applications of the term are disputed. Some scholars of decolon ...
education played an important role in schools and in ideological training at universities. In contrast to West Germany, organizations of the Nazi regime had always been condemned and their crimes openly discussed as part of the official state doctrine in the GDR. Thus, in the GDR, there was no room for a movement similar to the 1968 movement in West Germany, and GDR opposition groups did not see the topic as a major issue. Open right-wing radicalism was relatively weak until the 1980s. Later, smaller extremist groups formed (e.g. those associated with football violence). The government attempted to address the issue, but at the same time had ideological reasons not to do so openly as it conflicted with the self-image of a socialist society.


Germany (since 1990)

In 1991, one year after
German reunification German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic and the int ...
, German neo-Nazis attacked accommodations for
refugee A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...
s and migrant workers in Hoyerswerda ( Hoyerswerda riots),
Schwedt Schwedt (or Schwedt/Oder; ) is a town in Brandenburg, in northeastern Germany. With the official status of a ''Große Kreisstadt, Große kreisangehörige Stadt'' (major district town), it is the largest town of the Uckermark (district), Uckermark ...
,
Eberswalde Eberswalde () is a major town and the administrative seat of the district Barnim in Brandenburg in north-eastern Germany, about northeast of Berlin. Population 42,144 (census in June 2005). The town is often called Waldstadt (forest town), beca ...
,
Eisenhüttenstadt Eisenhüttenstadt (; ; ) is a town in the Oder-Spree district of the state of Brandenburg, in eastern Germany, on the border with Poland. East Germany founded the city in 1950. It was known as Stalinstadt () between 1953 and 1961. Geography Th ...
and
Elsterwerda Elsterwerda (; Lower Sorbian: ''Wikow'') is a town in the Elbe-Elster district, in southwestern Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated on the Black Elster river, 48 km northwest of Dresden, and 11 km southeast of Bad Liebenwerda. Histor ...
, and in 1992, xenophobic riots broke out in
Rostock Rostock (; Polabian language, Polabian: ''Roztoc''), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (), is the largest city in the German States of Germany, state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the sta ...
-Lichtenhagen. Neo-Nazis were involved in the murders of three Turkish girls in a 1992 arson attack in Mölln (
Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; ; ; ; ; occasionally in English ''Sleswick-Holsatia'') is the Northern Germany, northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical Duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of S ...
), in which nine other people were injured. German statistics show that in 1991, there were 849
hate crime Hate crime (also known as bias crime) in criminal law involves a standard offence (such as an assault, murder) with an added element of bias against a victim (individual or group of individuals) because of their physical appearance or perceived ...
s; in 1992 there were 1,485 concentrated in the eastern Bundesländer. After 1992, the numbers decreased, although they rose sharply in subsequent years. In four decades of the former
East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...
, 17 people were murdered by far right groups. A 1993 arson attack by far-right skinheads on the house of a Turkish family in
Solingen Solingen (; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, 25 km east of Düsseldorf along the northern edge of the Bergisches Land, south of the Ruhr. After Wuppertal, it is the second-largest city in the Bergisches Land, and a member of ...
resulted in the deaths of two women and three girls, as well as in severe injuries for seven other people. In the aftermath, anti-racist protests precipitated massive neo-Nazi counter-demonstrations and violent clashes between neo-Nazis and
anti-fascists Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were op ...
. In 1995, the fiftieth anniversary of the
Bombing of Dresden in World War II The bombing of Dresden was a joint British and American Area bombardment, aerial bombing attack on the city of Dresden, the capital of the German state of Saxony, during World War II. In four raids between 13 and 15 February 1945, 772 heavy ...
, a radical left group, the
Anti-Germans (political current) "Anti-German" (; also Antideutsch(e) movement) is a collective term applied to a variety of theoretical and political tendencies within the left mainly in Germany and Austria. The anti-Germans form one of the main camps within the broader Antif ...
started an annual rally praising the bombing on the grounds that so many of the city's civilians had supported Nazism. Beginning in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Neo-Nazis started holding demonstrations on the same date. In 2009, the Junge Landsmannschaft Ostdeutschland youth group and the NPD organised a march but surrounded by policemen, the 6,000 neo-Nazis were not allowed to leave their meeting point. At the same time, some 15,000 people with white roses assembled in the streets holding hands to demonstrate against Nazism, and to create an alternative “memorial day” of war victims. In 2004, the National Democratic Party of Germany won 9.2% in the Saxony state election, 2004, and 1.6% of the nationwide vote in the
German federal election, 2005 The 2005 German federal election was held in Germany on 18 September 2005 to elect the members of the 16th Bundestag. The snap election was called after the government's defeat in the North Rhine-Westphalia state election, which caused them to ...
. In the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state election, 2006 the NPD received 7.3% of the vote and thus also state representation. In 2004, the NPD had 5,300 registered party members. Over the course of 2006, the NPD processed roughly 1,000 party applications which put the total membership at 7,000. The DVU has 8,500 members. In 2007, the Verfassungsschutz (Federal German intelligence) estimated the number of potentially right extremist individuals in Germany was 31,000 of which about 10,000 were classified as potentially
violent Violence is characterized as the use of physical force by humans to cause harm to other living beings, or property, such as pain, injury, disablement, death, damage and destruction. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines violence a ...
(''gewaltbereit''). In 2008, unknown perpetrators smashed cars with Polish registrations and breaking windows in
Löcknitz Löcknitz is a Municipalities of Germany, municipality in the Vorpommern-Greifswald district, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, in north-eastern Germany, located in the historic region of Pomerania, west of the German-Polish border and west of Szczecin ...
, a German town near the Polish city
Szczecin Szczecin ( , , ; ; ; or ) is the capital city, capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the Poland-Germany border, German border, it is a major port, seaport, the la ...
, where about 200 Poles live. Supporters of the NPD party were suspected to be behind anti-Polish incidents, per
Gazeta Wyborcza (; ''The Electoral Gazette'' in English) is a Polish nationwide daily newspaper based in Warsaw, Poland. It was launched on 8 May 1989 on the basis of the Polish Round Table Agreement and as a press organ of the Solidarity (Polish trade union), t ...
. In 2011, the
National Socialist Underground The National Socialist Underground (, ), or NSU (), was a German neo-Nazi militant organisation active between 1998 and 2011, and uncovered in November 2011. Regarded as a terror cell, the NSU is mostly associated with Uwe Mundlos, Uwe Böh ...
was finally exposed in being behind the murders of 10 people of Turkish origins between 2000 and 2007. In 2011, Federal German intelligence reported 25,000 right-wing extremists, including 5,600 neo-Nazis. In the same report, 15,905 crimes committed in 2010 were classified as far-right motivated, compared to 18,750 in 2009; these crimes included 762 acts of violence in 2010 compared to 891 in 2009. While the overall numbers had declined, the Verfassungsschutz indicated that both the number of neo-Nazis and the potential for violent acts have increased, especially among the growing number of
Autonome Nationalisten Autonome Nationalisten (English: Autonomous Nationalists, abbreviated AN) are German, British, Dutch, and to a lesser degree Flemish, nationalists, who have adopted some of the far-left and antifa's organizational concepts (autonomous activis ...
("Independent Nationalists") who gradually replace the declining number of Nazi Skinheads. In the
2014 European Parliament election The 2014 European Parliament election was held in the European Union (EU) between 22 and 25 May 2014. It was the 8th parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979, and the first in which the European political parties field ...
, the NPD won their first ever seat in the
European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...
with 1% of the vote.
Jamel, Germany Jamel is a German village in the municipality of Gägelow, in the Nordwestmecklenburg district, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. History According to the ', the village was first mentioned in 1230 as Jazel. On 1 July 1950, it merged with Wolde, as auton ...
is a village known to be heavily populated with neo-Nazis. According to interior ministry figures reported in May 2019, of an estimated 24,000 far-right extremists in the country, 12,700 Germans are inclined towards violence. Extremists belonging to
Der Dritte Weg The III. Path or The Third Path (, ) is a Far-right politics, far-right and Neo-Nazism, neo-Nazi political party in Germany. It was founded on 28 September 2013 by former National Democratic Party of Germany, NPD officials, and activists from ...
(the third way) marched through a town in
Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...
on 1 May, the day before the
Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
remembrance of the
Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...
, carrying flags and a banner saying "Social justice instead of criminal foreigners". In 2020, Deutsches Reichsbräu beer with neo-Nazi imagery was sold in Bad Bibra on Holocaust Memorial Day. In October 2019, the city council of Dresden passed a motion declaring a "Nazi emergency", signalling that there is a serious problem with the far right in the city. In February 2020, following an observation of a conspiratorial meeting of a dozen right-wing extremists, those involved were arrested after agreeing to launch attacks on mosques in Germany to trigger a civil war. The National Democratic Party (NPD) in Germany has made efforts to be incorporated into the environmental movement in an effort to attract new members amongst the younger generations. They have published conservation magazines including Umwelt und Aktiv (Environment and Active). This magazine and others of its kind incorporate both environmentalism and tips as well as far-right propaganda and rhetoric. It's argued by an anonymous member of the Centre for Democratic Culture that this endeavor is in part a rebranding of the NPD. They argue that the party is attempting to become associated with environmentalism and not politics. In the 2024 Thuringian state election, the
Alternative for Germany Alternative for Germany (, AfD, ) is a Far-right politics in Germany (1945–present), far-right,Far-right: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Right-wing populism, right-wing populist and National conservatism, national-conservative p ...
(AfD) became the first far-right party in Germany since the
Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...
to win a plurality of seats in a state election.


Support from the East

After 1990, far-right and
German nationalist German nationalism () is an ideological notion that promotes the unity of Germans and of the Germanosphere into one unified nation-state. German nationalism also emphasizes and takes pride in the patriotism and national identity of Germans a ...
groups gained followers, particularly among young people frustrated by the high unemployment and the poor economic situation. ''
Der Spiegel (, , stylized in all caps) is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of about 724,000 copies in 2022, it is one of the largest such publications in Europe. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...
'' also points out that these people are primarily single men and that there may also be socio-demographic reasons. Since around 1998 the support for right-wing parties shifted from the south of Germany to the east. The far-right party
German People's Union The German People's Union (, DVU, also ''Liste D'') was a far-right nationalist political party in Germany. It was founded by publisher Gerhard Frey as an informal association in 1971 and established as a party in 1987. In 2011, it merged with ...
(DVU) formed in
1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...
in Saxony-Anhalt and Brandenburg since
1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...
. In 2009, the party lost its representation in the
Landtag of Brandenburg The Landtag of Brandenburg is the unicameral legislature of the states of Germany, state of Brandenburg in Germany. Its 88 members of parliament are usually elected every 5 years. It is responsible for deciding on state laws, controlling the s ...
. The far-right
National Democratic Party of Germany National Democratic Party of Germany (, NPD), officially called The Homeland () since 2023, is a Far-right politics, far-right, Neo-Nazism, neo-Nazi and Ultranationalism, ultranationalist political party in Germany. It was founded in 1964 as ...
(NPD) was represented in the Saxon State Parliament from
2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...
to
2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...
. In Mecklenburg-Vorpommern the NPD losts its representation in the parliament following the 2016 state elections. In 2009, Junge Landsmannschaft Ostdeutschland, supported by the NPD, organized a march on the anniversary of the
Bombing of Dresden in World War II The bombing of Dresden was a joint British and American Area bombardment, aerial bombing attack on the city of Dresden, the capital of the German state of Saxony, during World War II. In four raids between 13 and 15 February 1945, 772 heavy ...
. There were 6,000 Nationalists which were met by tens of thousands of ″anti-Nazis″ and several thousand policemen. Pegida has its focus in eastern Germany. A survey by TNS Emnid reports that in mid-December 2014, 53% of East Germans in each case sympathised with the PEGIDA demonstrators. (48% in the West) The
Alternative for Germany Alternative for Germany (, AfD, ) is a Far-right politics in Germany (1945–present), far-right,Far-right: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Right-wing populism, right-wing populist and National conservatism, national-conservative p ...
(''Alternative für Deutschland''; AfD) had the most votes in the new states of Germany in the
2013 German federal election The 2013 German federal election was held on 22 September to elect the members of the 18th Bundestag of Germany. At stake were all 598 seats to the Bundestag, plus 33 overhang seats determined thereafter. The Christian Democratic Union of German ...
s, in 2017. and in 2021 elections. The party is seen as harbouring anti-immigration views. In 2016, the AfD reached at least 17% in
Saxony-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt ( ; ) is a States of Germany, state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.17 million inhabitants, making it the List of German states ...
,
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (MV; ; ), also known by its anglicized name Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania, is a state in the north-east of Germany. Of the country's sixteen states, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern ranks 14th in population; it covers an are ...
(where the NPD lost all seats) and
Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
. In 2015,
Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; ; ; ) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the sixteen states. Mainz is the capital and largest city. Other cities are ...
interior minister Roger Lewentz said the former communist states were "more susceptible" to "xenophobic radicalization" because former East Germany had not had the same exposure to foreign people and cultures over the decades that the people in the West of the country have had. A 2017 study found that the reason why East Germans were more prone to hold right-wing extreme and xenophobia views, was due to
East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...
communist rule. In 2018 the East German state of Saxony saw the anti-immigration Chemnitz protests. In the 2017 federal election, the AfD received approximately 22% of the votes in the East and approximately 11% in the West. In the 2021 federal election, the AfD emerged as the largest in the states of
Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...
and
Thuringia Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area. Er ...
, and saw a strong performance in
eastern Germany The new states of Germany () are the five re-established states of the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) that unified with the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) with its 10 "old states" upon German reunification on 3 October 1990. The ...
. In the 2025 federal election, the AfD emerged as the largest party in all five former
East German East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from its formation on 7 October 1949 until its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on 3 October 1990. Until 1989, it was generally vie ...
states.


State apparatus

Right-wing extremist attitudes in state authorities such as the federal and state police, the Armed Forces, the
judiciary The judiciary (also known as the judicial system, judicature, judicial branch, judiciative branch, and court or judiciary system) is the system of courts that adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and applies the law ...
and the
Office for the Protection of the Constitution The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution ( or BfV, often ''Bundesverfassungsschutz'') is Germany's federal Security agency, domestic intelligence agency. Together with the State Authority for the Protection of the Constitution, ...
are not recorded statistically or systematically in Germany. Since around 2015, more incidents with right-wing extremist references and the beginnings of right-wing extremist networks in state authorities have become known. Since 2016, a number of criminologists, social scientists and journalists have been investigating this phenomenon more intensively. They criticise the lack of profession-specific surveys, which allowed the responsible supervisory bodies and ministries to adopt stereotypical defensive reaction patterns, such as "the same standard phrase about regrettable individual cases".


Police


Bavaria

In November 2018, a female student filed a complaint of rape against a Bavarian police officer. In January 2019, investigators found a WhatsApp group of 42 former and active members of the Munich police support squad (USK) on his and other mobile phones. In it, they had shared a video showing the brutal use of a Taser and another that denigrated Jews in an anti-Semitic way.Sammy Khamis: ''Seit Jahrzehnten umstritten.'' In: Matthias Meisner, Heike Kleffner (Hrsg.): ''Extreme Sicherheit.'' Freiburg 2019, S. 174–187. In addition, one USK officer had saved pictures of swastika smearings on his mobile phone that were not supposed to appear in the chat. Furthermore, two USK officers are said to have deliberately injured two colleagues with a stun gun during Taser training. The USK had been known since the 1980s for its often brutal operations at demonstrations organised by the
anti-nuclear movement The Anti-nuclear war movement is a new social movements, social movement that opposes various nuclear technology, nuclear technologies. Some direct action groups, environmental movements, and professional organisations have identified them ...
. Some cases of police violence from the USK had been reported and punished. In May 2014, a USK officer stuck two stickers with neo-Nazi slogans ("Good Night Left Side" and "Anti-Antifa organizing ...") on his police bus. The USK has often had to protect neo-Nazi marches. In 2016, USK officers subjected protesters against a Nazi rally to a strip search, during which they had to strip naked and be humiliated. The
European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The court hears applications alleging that a co ...
later ruled in favour of one of those affected. The current case only became known in March 2019. The Ministry of the Interior stated that four USK officers were suspended immediately and a further eight were transferred. The supervisory authorities did not announce any specific follow-up measures.Sammy Khamis: ''Seit Jahrzehnten umstritten.'' In: Matthias Meisner, Heike Kleffner (Hrsg.): ''Extreme Sicherheit.'' Freiburg 2019, S. 174–187. By March 2020, eleven USK officers had been forcibly transferred, disciplinary proceedings had been opened against 15 and one had been punished for incitement to hatred. Two criminal proceedings on suspicion of violating official secrets were still ongoing.


Berlin

In 2015, the far-right blog "Halle Leaks" published excerpts from Berlin police investigation files containing the names and addresses of visitors and residents of a squat in the Rigaer Straße. At the time, they also investigated whether police officers could have leaked the data. The perpetrators were not found and the investigation was closed. At the end of December 2017, six left-wing organisations in Berlin, including the house on Rigaer Straße, received a letter containing the private data of 42 people from that part of the city: personal photos, names, addresses, nicknames, favourite travel destinations, pets and illnesses. The photos came from police files, the official population register, identity card applications and arrests. They were all stored in the Berlin police database. The anonymous author or authors threatened to pass the data on to the far-right
Identitarian Movement The Identitarian movement or Identitarianism is a Pan-European nationalism, pan-European nationalist, Ethnic nationalism, ethno-nationalist, Far-right politics, far-right ideological movement centred on the preservation of White people, white ...
, autonomous nationalists or the police. They accused the recipients, who did not know each other, of belonging to a tightly organised radical left-wing group and referred to a poster with portrait photos of Berlin police officers that the left-wing portal
Indymedia The Independent Media Center, better known as Indymedia, is an open publishing network of activist journalist collectives that report on political and social issues. Following beginnings during the 1999 Carnival Against Capital and 1999 Seat ...
had published four days earlier after the eviction of the house in Rigaer Straße. It was therefore suspected that police officers had illegally passed the material on to third parties or sent the letters themselves. Following a criminal complaint by the Berlin data protection commissioner, the police handed over the internal investigation to the Berlin public prosecutor's office. The latter found out that a female detective inspector, responsible for ''politically motivated crime - left-wing'' in the State Office of Criminal Investigation, had searched the police system for data that appeared shortly afterwards in the threatening letters. Her partner, a police commissioner, had a USB stick with the photos and personal data of the recipients. He had collected them privately for years and then, according to his own statements, used them as revenge for Indymedia's "manhunt" for the threatening letters. As he had previously worked as an undercover investigator in Berlin's left-wing scene and had been exposed by left-wing activists, it is also suspected that he was seeking revenge. In 2019, he received a fine for a data protection offence and was transferred to Berlin-Friedrichshain, where many of the recipients of his letters live.


Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania

In January 2016, police inspector Marco G. founded a prepper group in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania called Nordkreuz, whose 60 to 70 members prepared for an expected collapse of the state order on "Day X" with weapons, ammunition and food depots as well as shooting exercises. Among them were many members of the police and Bundeswehr. Some leaders kept lists of enemies with tens of thousands of names. The group also procured body bags and slaked lime. In 2019, Marco G. received a suspended sentence for his collection of weapons and ammunition.Tom Schimmeck
''Rechtsextremismus bei der Polizei. Zu viele Einzelfälle.''
Deutschlandfunk, 20. Dezember 2019.


Lower Saxony

In 2016, a former member of the
far-right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on the far end of the ...
political party
Alternative for Germany Alternative for Germany (, AfD, ) is a Far-right politics in Germany (1945–present), far-right,Far-right: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Right-wing populism, right-wing populist and National conservatism, national-conservative p ...
federal executive board passed on information from a classified report by the Federal Criminal Police Office, including on refugee numbers, to party friends by email. The man wrote the email as an administrative officer in the Osnabrück police headquarters. It remains unclear how he obtained the data.Karolin Schwarz: ''Datenlecks und Morddrohungen.'' In: Matthias Meisner, Heike Kleffner (Hrsg.): ''Extreme Sicherheit.'' Freiburg 2019, S. 71–76.


North Rhine-Westphalia

In
North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...
(NRW), investigators discovered a chat group in the
Aachen Aachen is the List of cities in North Rhine-Westphalia by population, 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, 27th-largest city of Germany, with around 261,000 inhabitants. Aachen is locat ...
-West police station in January 2020 whose members were exchanging racist images, such as a black man with wide open eyes and the sentence "The social welfare office is broke, starting today we will work" or a photo of an
imperial eagle The eagle is used in heraldry as a charge, as a supporter, and as a crest. Heraldic eagles can be found throughout world history like in the Achaemenid Empire or in the present Republic of Indonesia. The European post-classical symbolism of ...
with a swastika. Investigation proceedings were initiated against three police officers.Jörg Diehl, Lukas Eberle, Fidelius Schmid, Jean-Pierre Ziegler
''Rechtsextreme Chatgruppen der NRW-Polizei: Hetzer auf der Wache.''
Spiegel Online, 16. September 2020
In February 2020, the Federal Public Prosecutor General's Office found a right-wing extremist chat group during its investigation into the right-wing terrorist Group S. In it, Chief Superintendent Thorsten W. (member of the S. group and informant on their terror plans), another police officer at Hamm police headquarters and an administrative officer had been exchanging far-right messages for years, such as swastikas, SS runes, skulls, information on where to order bed linen with Nazi symbols without being observed, racist slogans and Nazi propaganda. They joked about wanting to shoot foreigners. As media research showed, Thorsten W. had clearly demonstrated his far-right views at his police station in Bockum-Hövel and gathered official information about the Reichsbürger scene, to which he himself belonged. State Interior Minister Herbert Reul then appointed external extremism officers in all police headquarters in North Rhine-Westphalia to make it easier for police officers to report anti-constitutional statements or attitudes of their colleagues. In
Essen Essen () is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and Dortmund, as well as ...
, the wife of the local police chief was appointed to this position. In September 2020, investigators found right-wing extremist photographs on the private mobile phone of a police officer in Essen who had allegedly passed on official secrets to a journalist. Using the memory data on this one mobile phone, they came across at least five far-right chat groups. The oldest had existed since 2012; the group with the most images was founded in 2015. The chat members distributed 126 image files, including photos of
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
and a fictitious depiction of a refugee in a
gas chamber A gas chamber is an apparatus for killing humans or animals with gas, consisting of a sealed chamber into which a poisonous or asphyxiant gas is introduced. Poisonous agents used include hydrogen cyanide and carbon monoxide. History Donatie ...
.''Nordrhein-Westfalen: Rechtsextreme Chat-Gruppen bei Polizei aufgedeckt.''
SZ, 16. September 2020
On 16 September 2020, around 200 police officers then searched 34 police stations and private homes of police officers involved in
Duisburg Duisburg (; , ) is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine (Lower Rhine) and the Ruhr (river), Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruh ...
,
Essen Essen () is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and Dortmund, as well as ...
,
Mülheim an der Ruhr Mülheim, officially Mülheim an der Ruhr (, ; ; ) and also described as ''"City on the River"'', is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia in western Germany. It is located in the Ruhr Area between Duisburg, Essen, Oberhausen and Ratingen. It is home ...
,
Oberhausen Oberhausen (, ) is a city on the river Emscher in the Ruhr Area, Germany, located between Duisburg and Essen ( ). The city hosts the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen and its Gasometer Oberhausen is an anchor point of the European Rout ...
,
Moers Moers (; older form: ''Mörs''; Dutch language, Dutch: ''Murse'', ''Murs'' or ''Meurs'') is a German List of cities and towns in Germany, city on the western bank of the Rhine, close to Duisburg. Moers belongs to the district of Wesel (distric ...
and
Selm Selm () is a town in the district of Unna, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated approximately 20 kilometers north of Dortmund and 25 kilometers west of Hamm. Geography The town belongs to the southern part of the Münsterland ...
. They confiscated 43 telephones and numerous storage media. 29 suspected officers and one female officer were suspended from duty.''Innenminister über Skandal in NRW: Reul spricht über problematische „Kameradschaft“ in der Polizei.''
Spiegel Online, 17. September 2020
Disciplinary proceedings were opened against them. Almost all of them belonged to a service group at Mülheim police station, including the group leader. The squad was disbanded. Eleven members are said to have actively posted and sent criminally relevant content in the chat groups. They were investigated for incitement of the people and use of symbols of anti-constitutional organisations. The remaining 18 are said to have received the right-wing extremist messages but not reported them. At least 14 of the officers involved were to be dismissed. Mr Reul explained that he expected further findings and was no longer assuming individual cases. He ordered a special inspection for the particularly affected police headquarters in Essen and appointed Uwe Reichel-Offermann (previously Deputy Head of the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution) as a special commissioner to draw up a situation report on right-wing extremism in the NRW police force and a concept for its early detection. On 24 September 2020, Reul reported to the Interior Committee of the NRW state parliament on 100 suspected cases of right-wing extremism in NRW's police force since 2017. 92 disciplinary proceedings were initiated against police officers, 21 of which were concluded without action, and sanctions were imposed eight times. Of the 71 ongoing proceedings, 31 are directed against members of the recently exposed right-wing extremist chat groups. Following their discovery, 16 further reports of right-wing extremist or racist statements were received from NRW police officers. Another officer from the Essen police headquarters was suspended. According to the NRW Ministry of the Interior, North Rhine-Westphalian police authorities reported a total of 275 cases of suspected right-wing extremism among their officers between 2017 and the end of September 2021. By October 2021, suspicions had been confirmed in 53 of these cases and not in 84 cases. 138 other cases were still being investigated. The confirmed cases have already been penalised under criminal and disciplinary law. Six trainee inspectors were dismissed by mid-September 2021, two were dismissed and three warned. In many other cases, however, the judiciary categorised the chats in question as private communication, meaning that the perpetrators could at best be punished under disciplinary law, but not for disseminating unconstitutional material. These included saved data with the banned Horst Wessel song, photos of Christmas tree baubles with
SS runes SS runes () is a generic name given to a collection of pseudo-runes used by the ''Schutzstaffel'' (''SS''), from the 1920s to 1945, for Nazi occultism-purposes; featured on flags, uniforms and other items as symbols of various aspects of Nazi ...
and "
Sieg Heil The Nazi salute, also known as the Hitler salute, or the ''Sieg Heil'' salute, is a gesture that was used as a greeting in Nazi Germany. The salute is performed by extending the right arm from the shoulder into the air with a straightened han ...
" inscriptions, with a swastika made from service ammunition and the photo of an officer in uniform giving the "Hitler salute" while standing on two patrol cars.


Saxony

In May 2015, leftists found a mobile phone with logs of chats that police officer Fernando V. had had with neo-Nazis. In these chats, he had informed a violent offender with a criminal record about upcoming police operations against other neo-Nazis and exchanged
anti-Semitic Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...
conspiracy theories. After it became known, he was transferred to a police academy to train police officers. In September 2015, Pegida founder Lutz Bachmann published police investigation files, including the address of a suspect in a rape case. He claimed that he regularly received internal police information labelled as classified. The data was true, but the source was not found. In December 2015, a main suspect of the Freital group testified that he had received information from the local riot police. This may have been one of the reasons why the eight perpetrators were able to plan and carry out their terrorist attacks unhindered for six months. Investigations into this were only initiated after a victims' lawyer filed a complaint, but were closed without results until 2017 because the three suspected police officers remained silent and their mobile phones with the alleged chats were not found.Karolin Schwarz: ''Datenlecks und Morddrohungen.'' In: Matthias Meisner, Heike Kleffner (Hrsg.): ''Extreme Sicherheit.'' Freiburg 2019, S. 71–76. It was only after the Federal Public Prosecutor General intervened that the Freital group was arrested in 2016 and later convicted of forming a terrorist organisation. The Dresden public prosecutor's office had persistently refused to bring charges for this offence. Saxony's Deputy Prime Minister
Martin Dulig Martin Dulig (born 26 February 1974) is a German politician for the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Social Democratic Party (SPD). Until 20 December 2019, he was the Saxony, Saxon State Minister of Labor and Traffic and Deputy Minister Presi ...
( SPD) therefore suspected at the time that "sympathies for ''Pegida'' and the ''Alternative for Germany (AfD)'' are greater in Saxony's police force than in the average population" and added: "Our police officers are the representatives of our state. As the employer, we can expect them to have internalised the basic elements of political education." In January 2016, the NPD in Leipzig used
Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
to disseminate the protocol and photo of a police check on demonstrators against Legida, during which weapons were confiscated. The photo was taken from a police computer. How it reached the NPD remained unclear. In the summer of 2018, Lutz Bachmann and the small right-wing extremist party Pro Chemnitz published the police arrest warrant for an Iraqi who was on the run at the time and was accused of murdering a man from Chemnitz. The Saxon justice official Daniel Zabel revealed himself as the source and claimed that he had wanted to counter media lies by copying and passing on the arrest warrant. He was suspended and then ran for Dresden city council as an AfD member. Another police officer disseminated the arrest warrant on Facebook and was fined for doing so.Karolin Schwarz: ''Datenlecks und Morddrohungen.'' In: Matthias Meisner, Heike Kleffner (Hrsg.): ''Extreme Sicherheit.'' Freiburg 2019, S. 71–76. On 11 January 2016, the first anniversary of Legida, up to 300 right-wing hooligans and neo-Nazis attacked the Connewitz district in
Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...
, which is inhabited by many left-wingers, armed with iron bars, batons, tear gas and a hand grenade. They destroyed 23 pubs, 19 cars, damaged residential buildings and shops, and threatened and injured many passers-by and onlookers. The attackers came from all over Germany, many were known to the police and belonged to right-wing terrorist groups such as Weisse Wölfe Terrorcrew, Skinheads Sächsische Schweiz, "Kameradschaft Tor Berlin", Gruppe Freital, the NPD and violent hooligan groups such as the Imperium Fight Team (Leipzig), Faust des Ostens (Dresden) and NS-Boys (Chemnitz). They had been preparing the attack on social media for months, naming Connewitz as the target days beforehand and their meeting point on arrival. The State Office for the Protection of the Constitution of Saxony had warned of the attack on 9 January 2016. Nevertheless, Saxony's State Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Ministry of the Interior claimed in the Connewitz trials from August 2018 that they had been unaware of the planning. On the other hand, neo-Nazis travelling to the event had learned from police sources about controls against leftists. Antifa research revealed that Saxon police officers were acting as trainers and recruiters for the Imperium Fight Team. No cars of travelling neo-Nazis had been searched during police checks, although weapons were visible in some of them. After the attack, the police collected all discarded items in a box and thus covered up DNA traces, left balaclavas and weapons lying around, allowed detainees to communicate on their mobile phones for hours and thus made it possible to delete arranged chats. From the second of around 112 Connewitz trials, the Leipzig district court, in agreement with neo-Nazi lawyer Olaf Klemke, only handed down suspended sentences to confessed offenders in order to avoid time-consuming witness interrogations. As a result, even organised neo-Nazis and NPD functionaries with previous convictions were classified as fellow travellers and only punished with fines. The court initially did not prosecute violence against persons at all and only called a victim of violence as a witness after press reports about the defendant's previous convictions. The trial was intended to be shortened by merging charges and dispensing with a full hearing of evidence. Trial observers criticised the cooperation of some right-wing police officers and district judges with neo-Nazis and the exploitation of staff shortages in the Saxon judiciary for the lack of prosecution of organised political crime. In 2024, the police conducted an investigated of the neo-nazi group the Saxon Separatists. The Federal Criminal Police Office BKA, the
Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution ( or BfV, often ''Bundesverfassungsschutz'') is Germany's federal domestic intelligence agency. Together with the Landesämter für Verfassungsschutz (LfV) at the state level, the fed ...
BfV and the Saxony State Criminal Police Office were involved in the investigation. Austrian and Polish secret services were also involved. The Federal Prosecutor's Office finally came to the conclusion that ''Saxon Separatists'' made active preparations for a violent coup in Germany. The Federal Prosecutor's Office then found eight men or young people in various places in Saxony in the early morning of November 5, 2024 in Germany and Poland and arrested the suspects. The arrests took place in and around Leipzig, in Dresden, in the Meißen district. The alleged leader Jörg S. was arrested in
Zgorzelec Zgorzelec (, , , , Lower Sorbian: ''Zgórjelc'') is a town in Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in southwestern Poland, with 30,374 inhabitants (2019). It is the seat of Zgorzelec County and of Gmina Zgorzelec (although it is not part of the territory ...
, Poland, in the neighboring town of
Görlitz Görlitz (; ; ; ; ; Lusatian dialects, East Lusatian: , , ) is a town in the Germany, German state of Saxony. It is on the river Lusatian Neisse and is the largest town in Upper Lusatia, the second-largest town in the region of Lusatia after ...
. The police searched 20 properties including in
Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
,
Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
, and the
Krems-Land Bezirk Krems is a district of the state of Lower Austria in Austria. It comprises the areas to the south, west and north of the city of Krems an der Donau, which itself is a statutory city. Municipalities Suburbs, hamlets and other subdivisions o ...
district. More than 450 emergency services were involved in the operations.


Figures and causes

According to media reports, right-wing extremist incidents involving the German police have risen sharply in recent years. In response to enquiries from police authorities in all federal states,
Deutschlandfunk Deutschlandfunk (DLF, ''Broadcast Germany'') is a public-broadcasting radio station in Germany, concentrating on news and current affairs. It is one of the four national radio channels produced by Deutschlandradio. History Broadcasting in t ...
received information on around 200 such cases across Germany in 2018 and 2019, including racist and inciting statements, contacts or affiliation with the "Reichsbürger", the use of symbols of unconstitutional organisations and others. The enquiries were prompted by the faxes and emails signed " NSU 2.0" containing death threats and private data from Hesse police registers, which a victims' lawyer in the
National Socialist Underground The National Socialist Underground (, ), or NSU (), was a German neo-Nazi militant organisation active between 1998 and 2011, and uncovered in November 2011. Regarded as a terror cell, the NSU is mostly associated with Uwe Mundlos, Uwe Böh ...
trial has been receiving since August 2018. The Frankfurt public prosecutor's office investigated its own colleagues internally for four months before the case became public. As a result of this scandal, dozens of cases were discovered where police officers had made far-right comments in chat groups or at parties, collected Nazi memorabilia, chatted with neo-Nazis or sent swastikas. Hessian Interior Minister Peter Beuth, who had been aware of the suspicions against Frankfurt police officers for months but had concealed them, denied that it was an extreme right-wing network. According to a survey by
Tagesspiegel (meaning ''The Daily Mirror'') is a German daily newspaper. It has regional correspondent offices in Washington, D.C., and Potsdam. It is the only major newspaper in the capital to have increased its circulation, now 148,000, since reunification ...
, 14 state interior ministries registered a total of at least 170 right-wing extremist incidents involving their police officers between the beginning of 2015 and August 2020. These included Hitler salutes, anti-Semitic videos and Reichsbürger symbols. The state of Hesse did not provide any information on this, Saxony did not register the cases, Berlin did not provide exact figures and some authorities only collected incomplete data. In Bavaria, there were 30 mostly unresolved disciplinary proceedings regarding right-wing extremist incidents, 26 cases in Schleswig-Holstein, 21 in North Rhine-Westphalia, 18 each in Baden-Württemberg and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, five in Hamburg, two in Brandenburg, one in Saarland and none in Bremen. Internal police chat groups with right-wing extremist content have so far been reported in Hesse, Berlin, Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein and Baden-Württemberg. None of the 16 authorities registered any left-wing extremist incidents.Fatima Abbas
''Hitlergruß, antisemitische Videos, Reichsbürgersymbole: Mindestens 170 Verdachtsfälle von Rechtsextremismus bei der Polizei.''
Tagesspiegel, 8. September 2020
Police researchers and criminologists explain the findings by saying that the police profession attracts people with authoritarian and right-wing to far-right attitudes more than many other professions and that the cohesion required for their work in the service groups means that incidents are rarely reported. After the "NSU 2.0" letters became known in December 2018, NSU victim advocate and police trainer Mehmet Daimagüler demanded the following measures from the federal and state governments: * to screen applicants more closely, not only for previous convictions, but also for possible contacts with right-wing extremists being monitored by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution; * increase the proportion of women in the police force in order to reduce excessive police violence; * regularly teach human rights training during training and on duty; * to continue to regularly monitor the trained officers in personal interviews and through enquiries with the Office for the Protection of the Constitution; * withdraw their access to sensitive data if they are observed to be close to anti-democratic groups; * to discipline officers who have attracted the attention of right-wing extremists more consistently and quickly. Jörn Badendick, a staff representative in the Berlin police force, added: "Every police officer has to stand up in such cases and say: I'm not going along with this." Offices for internal investigations should no longer be under the control of the police themselves, but should report directly to the public prosecutor's offices. Representatives of the Green Party called for the appointment of independent police commissioners at federal and state level, modelled on the military commissioner, who could also accept and investigate anonymous reports of shortcomings and misconduct by police officers. Political scientist Christoph Kopke and criminologist Tobias Singelnstein blame the following factors for the increase in right-wing extremist incidents in the German police force: * The development in the police force reflects the development of society towards the right "like in a burning glass", whereby regional differences are to be expected. * In Saxony, the CDU-led state government had claimed for decades that there was no problem with right-wing extremism in the state, thereby influencing the administration and police. * Nationwide, no research commissions were awarded on changing attitudes among German police officers or on institutional racism. The authorities were mostly dismissive of critical enquiries. * Applicants with a migration background are too rarely trained and employed by the police. * The established parties had allowed themselves to be influenced by the AfD's propaganda against refugees in election campaigns and in their deportation policy, so that analogue attitude patterns were increasingly found in the police force. Officers have been given more room for manoeuvre, including for deporting well-integrated foreign families, and are increasingly exploiting this. * The problem of
racial profiling Racial profiling or ethnic profiling is the offender profiling, selective enforcement or selective prosecution based on race or ethnicity, rather than individual suspicion or evidence. This practice involves discrimination against minority pop ...
during entry checks without suspicion is not yet sufficiently addressed in police training. * Despite clearly distancing themselves from right-wing extremism, police leaders and supervisory bodies still do not recognise the problem of structural and institutional racism, but instead usually misinterpret it as an accusation of guilt against all officers and reject it. In March 2020, the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) presented a new study on institutional racism in Germany. The authors found a significant increase in racism, Islamophobia, unresolved far-right attacks and the trivialisation of the AfD by the authorities between 2014 and June 2019. They called for Germany to include mandatory courses on racism and discrimination, human rights and equal treatment in education laws and curricula in schools, universities and especially in police training. Police racial profiling has been sufficiently proven, but continues to be denied, ignored or dismissed as isolated cases by German police authorities. Victims of discriminatory and racist violence therefore largely lack trust in the German police. The police and the Office for the Defence of the Constitution must specifically campaign for people to leave extreme circles. The Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency must be given more funding and the right to support victims and bring legal action. Political scientist Hajo Funke sees the right-wing extremist incidents in German police authorities as a "structural problem" of right-wing networks in state institutions. The security authorities "systematically allow such tendencies to spread". The "respective leadership", independent investigations, a functioning judiciary and public pressure are crucial for successful clarification. There is a "lack of political will to investigate" in the Hessian authorities "at all levels, from the police chief to the Minister of the Interior to the Minister President". This is why the author or authors of the "NSU 2.0" threatening emails have still not been caught after more than two years. Criminologist Dirk Baier explained that chat groups, as typical echo chambers, also cause radicalisation in other ways: "People send each other messages that reinforce their own views. Deviating information is no longer taken note of." Sebastian Fiedler (Association of German Criminal Investigators) called for police officers to be banned from setting up chat groups for official matters on private phones in future. For too long, he said, most federal states had done nothing to tackle this long-known problem. Tobias Singelnstein called for anonymous reporting procedures for internal grievances in the police force, because 'blackening the colours' of colleagues through official channels is generally rejected there.


German Armed Forces

The Military Counterintelligence Service (MAD) is responsible for registering right-wing extremist incidents in the German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr). The annual reports of the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces document them for parliament and the public. The report for 2018 cited 270 new cases of suspected right-wing extremism and 170 reportable incidents. The MAD's criteria only categorise soldiers as extremists if they clearly wanted to eliminate the FDGO. Hitler salutes and Wehrmacht memorabilia are not included; cases reported at unit level are also not statistically recorded. Bundeswehr instructors who report such incidents therefore assume that the number of unreported incidents is up to ten times higher. The official figures are far too low, also because many soldiers are bullied in the troops and forcibly transferred if they report their comrades. The Ministry of Defence often only reacts to media reports on right-wing extremist incidents in the Bundeswehr. Some notable examples in recent years include * The training books in the army Einsatznah ausbilden and Üben und Schießen contained numerous soldier stories of the alleged heroic spirit of the
Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...
, drawing on their guidelines and sources from the Nazi era. They were only revised in 2009 following media reports. * The soldier motto "Treue um Treue", which translates to "Loyalty for loyalty" was banned in the Bundeswehr in 2014. However, the slogan appeared repeatedly during the Bundeswehr's deployment in Afghanistan. Paratroopers created the Facebook page "''Fallschirmjäger - Grüne Teufel!''" (Paratroopers - Green Devils!) and thus followed in the tradition of the Wehrmacht paratroopers known as the Green Devils, who had committed many massacres of civilians. * For decades, soldiers also laid wreaths for Wehrmacht divisions such as the Feldherrnhalle Armoured Corps and the ''Großdeutschland Panzergrenadier Division'' at the annual
Remembrance Day Remembrance Day (also known as Poppy Day owing to the tradition of wearing a remembrance poppy) is a memorial day observed in Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth member states since the end of the First World War to honour armed forces me ...
ceremony in the Panzer Troops' Grove of Honour in
Munster Munster ( or ) is the largest of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the south west of the island. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" (). Following the Nor ...
. These had committed numerous war crimes during the Nazi era. Invited veterans of the Wehrmacht also took part in the commemoration. In 2012, a veteran played the Waffen-SS's song of loyalty on the harmonica to young Bundeswehr soldiers. It was only when the ARD magazine Kontraste showed this that the Ministry of Defence had the memorial grove in Munster removed. * A soldier from an armoured division continued to incite hate against refugees from 2015 and wanted to "put Chancellor Angela Merkel up against the wall" if "the right people" came to power. The case against him was dropped in 2017. * In 2018, a soldier attended several meetings of the right-wing extremist Knights of the Cross fraternity despite a ban on contact. He received a reprimand. * During further training, five Bundeswehr instructors made discriminatory comments against fellow soldiers of other origins and religions. They were fined as a disciplinary measure, but were allowed to continue training. * One soldier is said to have remarked in front of a discotheque when seeing dark-skinned people in the presence of other soldiers that "the blacks should have been shot". He was consequently lectured and retained his access to weapons. * A first sergeant rejected a comrade because he was "not of the same race" and "the races should not mix". He described a training course provided by the Military Counterintelligence service (MAD) on right-wing extremism as lying propaganda. He was not dismissed. * For decades, Air Force Squadron 74 at
Neuburg Air Base Neuburg Air Base is a military air base in Germany. It is located in the district of Neuburg-Schrobenhausen on the Danube River, approximately 20 km west-southwest of Ingolstadt. Its primary user is Jagdgeschwader 74 (JG 74 for short, Figh ...
glorified Wehrmacht Colonel
Werner Mölders Werner Mölders (18 March 1913 – 22 November 1941) was a World War II German Luftwaffe pilot, wing commander, and the leading German fighter ace in the Spanish Civil War. He became the first pilot in aviation history to shoot down 100 ...
, who had been involved in the mass extermination of civilians in the
Condor Legion The Condor Legion () was a unit of military personnel from the air force and army of Nazi Germany’s Wehrmacht which served with the Nationalist faction during the Spanish Civil War. The legion developed methods of strategic bombing that were ...
since 1936. His name was on aeroplanes and air force uniforms. A tradition room in the barracks displayed his personal paraphernalia, including a
Knight's Cross Knight's Cross (German language ''Ritterkreuz'') refers to a distinguishing grade or level of various orders that often denotes bravery and leadership on the battlefield. Most frequently the term Knight's Cross is used to refer to the Knight's Cro ...
with diamonds, which Adolf Hitler had only awarded to a few Wehrmacht officers. The anniversary of Mölders' death was celebrated annually with a formation of honour and eulogies at his grave. It was not until 2005 that the then Defence Minister Peter Struck had the barracks renamed. However, Mölders was still stubbornly honoured locally. A Mölders association with the magazine Der Mölderianer and a Mölders memorial stone continued to commemorate the Luftwaffe pilot until 2018. Then defence Minister
Ursula von der Leyen Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen (; ; born 8 October 1958) is a German politician, serving as president of the European Commission since 2019. She served in the Cabinet of Germany, German federal government between 2005 and 2019, holding position ...
only intervened after renewed reports about this. * Following her order in 2017 to ban Wehrmacht memorabilia from barracks and rename barracks named after Wehrmacht soldiers, most town councillors and soldiers in
Rotenburg (Wümme) Rotenburg may refer to: *Rotenburg (district), Lower Saxony, Germany *Rotenburg an der Wümme, capital of the district *Rotenburg an der Fulda, near Kassel in Hesse *Hersfeld-Rotenburg, a district in Hesse, Germany See also * Rotenberg (disambigua ...
voted in favour of retaining the namesake of the Lent barracks, Helmut Lent. They regarded the Nazi perpetrator as a war hero and patriot who carried out his orders, just "on the wrong side". * Members of the Special Forces Command (KSK) allegedly played right-wing extremist music and gave the Hitler salute at the farewell ceremony for a company commander in 2017. Anti-Semitic and xenophobic statements were repeatedly reported in the KSK. However, the MAD military intelligence agency did not investigate these suspected cases. * At the Special Operations Training Centre in Pullendorf, there were repeated instances of degrading admission rituals. When these became known, KSK soldiers reported numerous anti-Semitic and racist statements by their comrades in an anonymous letter. One of them had sent a photomontage by email showing the entrance gate of the
Auschwitz concentration camp Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 Nazi concentration camps, concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany, occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) d ...
through which refugees were streaming. Above it was the sentence: "There is room for every one of you here." The company commander knew about this but did nothing about it. It is common in the KSK for such service offences to be covered up. They wrote anonymously because otherwise they were threatened with harassment and the perpetrators would get away unpunished. * Non-commissioned officer Patrick J. frequently reported right-wing extremist comments made by KSK soldiers on social media, even outside of the troop. One of them constantly spoke of a "Jewish gene" and repeatedly insulted fellow soldiers as "Jews". The MAD ensured that the Bundeswehr Personnel Office dismissed the reporter because he lacked "character suitability": From 2017 onwards, he had pretended with many reports "to want to point out possible right-wing extremist tendencies and undemocratic behaviour in the entire armed forces".


Legal issues

The German Criminal Code forbids the "use of symbols of unconstitutional organizations" outside the contexts of "art or science, research or teaching". However, Nazi paraphernalia has been smuggled into the country for decades. Neo-Nazi rock bands such as Landser have been outlawed in Germany, yet bootleg copies of their albums printed in the United States and other countries are still sold in the country. German neo-Nazi websites mostly depend on Internet servers in the US and
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
. They often use symbols that are reminiscent of the swastika, and adopt other symbols used by the Nazis, such as the Black Sun, Algiz rune, and
Iron Cross The Iron Cross (, , abbreviated EK) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, the German Empire (1871–1918), and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). The design, a black cross pattée with a white or silver outline, was derived from the in ...
alongside the
flag of the German Empire The black-white-red flag (), also known as the flag of the German Empire, the Imperial Flag () or the Realm Flag (), is a combination between the flag of Province of Prussia, Prussia and the flag of the Hanseatic League. Starting as the national ...
. Neo-Nazi groups active in Germany which have attracted government attention include Volkssozialistische Bewegung Deutschlands/Partei der Arbeit banned in 1982, Action Front of National Socialists/National Activists banned in 1983, the Nationalist Front banned in 1992, the Free German Workers' Party, the German Alternative and National Offensive. German Interior Minister
Wolfgang Schäuble Wolfgang Schäuble (; 18 September 1942 – 26 December 2023) was a German politician whose political career spanned more than five decades. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), he was the longest-serving member of any democratic G ...
condemned the Homeland-Faithful German Youth, accusing it of teaching children that anti-immigrant racism and
anti-Semitism Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...
are acceptable. Homeland-Faithful German Youth claimed that it was centred primarily on "environment, community and homeland", but it has been argued to have links to the National Democratic Party (NPD). Historian
Walter Laqueur Walter Ze'ev Laqueur (26 May 1921 – 30 September 2018) was a German-born American historian, journalist, political commentator, and Holocaust survivor. He was an influential scholar on the subjects of terrorism and political violence. Biograph ...
wrote in 1996 that the
far right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and Nativism (politics), nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on ...
NPD cannot be classified as neo-Nazi. In the 2004 Saxony state election, the NPD received 9.1% of the vote, thus earning the right to seat state parliament members. The other parties refused to enter discussions with the NPD. In the 2006 parliamentary elections for
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (MV; ; ), also known by its anglicized name Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania, is a state in the north-east of Germany. Of the country's sixteen states, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern ranks 14th in population; it covers an are ...
, the NPD received 7.3% of the vote and six seats in the state parliament. On 13 March 2008, NPD leader
Udo Voigt Udo Voigt (; born 14 April 1952) is a German politician and former Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the far-right and Neo-Nazi party National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD) between 2014 and 2019. He was a member of the European Parl ...
was charged with ''
Volksverhetzung (), in English "incitement to hatred" (used also in the official English translation of the German Criminal Code), "incitement of popular hatred", "incitement of the masses", or "instigation of the people", is a concept in German criminal law t ...
'' ("incitement to hatred", a crime under the German criminal law), for distributing racially charged pamphlets referring to German footballer Patrick Owomoyela, whose father is
Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...
n. In 2009, Voigt was given a seven-month suspended sentence and ordered to donate 2,000
euro The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...
s to
UNICEF UNICEF ( ), originally the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, officially United Nations Children's Fund since 1953, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Development a ...
.


Criminal and violent offences


Recording and Methodology

Since 2001, the German law enforcement agencies' (e.g. BKA, police and BfV) definition system for politically motivated crime (PMK) has included hate crimes motivated by group hatred in addition to traditional state security offences. This includes offences that are "directed against a person because of their political views, nationality, ethnicity, race, skin colour, religion, ideology, origin, or because of their external appearance, disability, sexual orientation or social status", as well as offences that are directed against an institution or object for precisely these reasons. The Federal Criminal Police Office classifies offences as politically right-wing motivated "if references to ethnic nationalism, racism, social Darwinism or National Socialism were wholly or partially the cause of the offence". The "right-wing extremism potential" is defined by research as people with a "coherent right-wing extremist world view". The methods and criteria used to determine this are controversial.Jürgen R. Winkler: ''Rechtsextremismus. Gegenstand – Erklärungsansätze – Grundprobleme.'' In: Wilfried Schubarth (Hrsg.): ''Rechtsextremismus in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland: Eine Bilanz.'' Wiesbaden 2001
S.63 f.
/ref> Since March 2008, the crime statistics have also included unsolved or unsolvable propaganda offences as politically motivated crimes. For a long time, however, the state criminal investigation offices hardly ever investigated possible right-wing extremist motives in the case of non-organised individual perpetrators. A review of murder motives before 2015 resulted in considerable upward corrections to the state victim statistics, but was carried out without a standardised methodology. Victims' associations and experts continue to assume that the number of unreported offences is high.


General statistics

List of state registered right-wing extremists:''Verfassungsschutzbericht Brandenburg 1999.''
PDF, S. 18 (1998–1999). Wolfgang Frindte, Jörg Neumann (Hrsg.): ''Fremdenfeindliche Gewalttäter. Biografien und Tatverläufe.'' Springer VS, Wiesbaden 2002,
S. 11
(1999–2000). BMI
''Verfassungsschutzbericht 2001''
S. 36–43.
''Verfassungsschutzbericht 2002.''
PDF, S. 29f.
''Verfassungsschutzbericht 2003.''
PDF, S. 29f.
''Verfassungsschutzbericht 2004.''
PDF, S. 36–39.
''Verfassungsschutzbericht 2005.''
PDF, S. 32–40 und 54.
''Verfassungsschutzbericht 2006.''
PDF, S. 22–32 und 50.
''Verfassungsschutzbericht 2007.''
PDF, S. 19–29 und 47.
''Verfassungsschutzbericht 2008.''
PDF, S. 35–41 und 50.
''Verfassungsschutzbericht 2009.''
PDF, S. 37–43 und 57.
''Verfassungsschutzbericht 2010.''
PDF, S. 35–41 und 54.
''Verfassungsschutzbericht 2011.''
PDF, S. 36–42 und 56.
''Verfassungsschutzbericht 2012.''
PDF, S. 36–42 und 56.
''Verfassungsschutzbericht 2013.''
PDF, S. 37–42 und 68.
''Verfassungsschutzbericht 2014.''
PDF, S. 26–28 und 34.
''Verfassungsschutzbericht 2015.''
PDF, S. 25–30 und 43–45. PDF, S. 34f. und 38. PDF, S. 25 und 50. PDF, S. 24 und 50.
''Verfassungsschutzbericht 2022.''
PDF, S. 51 f.
State-registered right-wing extremist offences since 1990:Armin Pfahl-Traughber: ''Rechtsextremismus in der Bundesrepublik.'' München 2006, S. 68f. (Gewalttaten 1990–1997). Frank Esser, Bertram Scheufele, Hans-Bernd Brosius: ''Fremdenfeindlichkeit als Medienthema und Medienwirkung.'' Springer VS, Wiesbaden 2002,
S. 51
(1991–1996). Frieder Dünkel, Bernd Geng: ''Rechtsextremismus und Fremdenfeindlichkeit: Bestandsaufnahme und Interventionsstrategien.'' Forum, Godesberg 1999,
S. 112
(1997).


Election results


See also

* Firewall against the far-right in Germany * Antisemitism in 21st-century Germany *
Neo-Nazism Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazism, Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and Supremacism#Racial, racial supremacy (ofte ...
*
Neo-Nazism in Germany Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazism, Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and Supremacism#Racial, racial supremacy (ofte ...
* Radical right *
Reichsbürger movement (; ) or (; ) are several Unrechtsstaat, anticonstitutional Historical revisionism, revisionist groups and individuals in Germany and elsewhere who reject the legitimacy of the History of Germany (1990-present), modern German state, the Germany ...
* Right-wing terrorism in Germany *
Strafgesetzbuch § 86a The German (StGB; ) in section § 86a outlaws use of symbols of "unconstitutional organizations" and terrorism outside the contexts of "art or science, research or teaching". The law does not name the individual symbols to be outlawed, and ...
*
Terrorism in Germany Germany has experienced significant terrorism in its history, particularly during the Weimar Republic and during the Cold War, carried out by Far-left politics, far-left and Far-right politics in Germany, far-right German groups as well as by ...


References


Further reading

* * * * * * * * * * * *


External link

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Far-right politics in Germany 1945-present Antisemitism in Germany Political movements in Germany Far-right politics in Europe
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
Neo-Nazism in Germany Racism in Germany Political history of Germany Contemporary German history