German Police Crack Down on Far-Right Movements
Far-right protesters march in Dresden, Germany, in 2020. (Wikimedia Commons)
German authorities banned the far-right extremist group Artgemeinschaft and conducted a series of raids on 26 of its members’ residences on September 27. In addition to blocking the organization’s website and social media accounts, officials allegedly confiscated evidence of members’ activities such as funds and propaganda material. This crackdown represents the latest installment in the German government’s ongoing efforts to combat rising right-wing extremism.
Artgemeinschaft self-identifies as a “Germanic faith community,” but authorities have denounced the organization as a neo-Nazi group that propagates antisemitic, racist, and white-supremacist ideologies. Founded in 1951 by Nazi Wilhelm Kusserow, the group has over 150 members today. Artgemeinschaft constituents promote a neo-pagan worldview and espouse völkisch beliefs that center around German ethnonationalism.
The group serves as both a political and religious organization; Artgemeinschaft members host gatherings to celebrate various pagan holidays but have few public events. Instead, the group propagates Nazi literature and other radical material online, including through their journal “Nordische Zeitung” [Nordic Newspaper] which covers German news and pagan topics. A defining feature of Artgemeinschaft is the organization’s connections with various other German far-right groups, specifically the extremist movement Reichsbürger.
The Reichsbürger, or citizens of the Reich, movement largely parallels the QAnon conspiracy theory, asserting that Germany’s postwar republic is not a sovereign nation, but a corporation established by the allies in the aftermath of World War II. This theory skyrocketed in popularity during the Covid-19 pandemic, and the rhetoric behind Reichsbürger has served as the impetus for some of the most dramatic clashes between German authorities and extremist groups in recent years.
One such confrontation unfolded a year ago when German police foiled a plot to overthrow the national government. In early December 2022, authorities raided the Waidmannsheil lodge in Bad Lobenstein, Germany. They uncovered weapons, explosives, and plans that highlighted a right-wing extremist group’s conspiracy to storm the German Capitol, arrest lawmakers, and execute the chancellor. The plot centered around Prince Heinrich XIII of Reuss, an elderly man whose family controlled regions in eastern Germany before the abolition of the monarchy in 1918. Heinrich XIII’s co-conspirators included former and current soldiers from elite special forces, police officers, at least two army reservists, and Alternative for Germany (AfD) Bundestag member and lawmaker Birgit Malsack-Winkemann. These individuals were among 25 people arrested during the raid. Malsack-Winkemann is perhaps the group’s most significant figure, as her government status indicates that right-wing extremists have access to core German institutions.
The AfD is a right-wing political party known for radically conservative policies, such as opposition to immigration and euroscepticism. Despite some involvement of AfD members in domestic terrorism, the party remains one of the most popular in all of Germany, with current polls giving the party a 22 percent voter share. Although the AfD is polling high, they trail behind the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), which holds a 27 percent voter share.
Germany has gained a reputation as one of the most economically stable and socially liberal countries in the world. Furthermore, the nation’s dark history of fascism and antisemitism lends its citizens a unique understanding of the catastrophic consequences of unregulated intolerance. Although Germany has laws in place that prohibit some expressions of bigotry, including the promotion or display of Nazi ideology and other antisemitic views, the number of right-wing voters continues to rise. The influence of international far-right movements continues to fan the flames of extremism domestically, leaving Germany in a potentially precarious position for upcoming parliamentary elections.