Without any doubt, Germany is the country with the most excessive version of the far right – Nazism – the world has ever seen. 

Yet, after the “never-really carried out” Denazification and a litany of Neo-Nazi murders – the Neo-Nazi Octoberfest bombing of 1980, the forgotten Neo-Nazi killing of Shlomo Lewin and Frieda Poeschke, the anti-migration pogrom-style attacks of the 1990s, and the NSU network of 2000-2007 – there has been a decades-long continuation of Neo-Nazi and right-wing terrorism in Germany.

The continued high level of killings, bombings, beatings, arson attacks, and brutal violence perpetrated by Germany’s far right to this day – including a recent upswing – is all too obvious. The key question is: What to do?

The continued existence of violent right-wing extremism makes it clear that measures against right-wing extremism must start to become serious and must begin at various levels of society.

Here are seven strategies to combat right-wing terrorism and save democracy: 

Strategy 1: Recognize Authoritarian Right-Wing Dynamics

It is by no means simple to recognize right-wing extremists. These days they look like you and me, no longer in their skinhead, bomber jacket and 10-hole skinhead boots.  

However, if you know what to look for, people with right-wing extremist attitudes can still be identified by appearance and external characteristics. 

These signifying markers are often used when right-wing extremists want to express their ideology to others. 

One of these, the life rune, has non-political uses as well, for instance “on radios and TVs, the aerial input socket is marked by this symbol.” But if worn on a piece of clothing, or tattooed on skin, it is an obvious ID signal to other right-wingers.

There are a number of identification features which are more openly displayed at right-wing and Neo-Nazi rallies. The German Reich war flag from 1867 is one of these and has become popular in their movement. 

Technically, it “neither constitutes a statutory offense under the Criminal Code nor under the Administrative Offenses Act.” However, in cases of immanent threat of violence, the flag can be confiscated and the flag-bearers arrested.

There are also less well-known symbols and right-wing insignias which can only be identified by dyed-in-the-wool Neo-Nazi supporters. Right-wingers in Germany are confronted with a problem, and that is the illegal nature of, for example, the Hitler salute, the swastika, etc. 

Public display of anything directly linked to the NS era can land them in jail or with a big fine. And so, they link to US websites where Nazi flags and insignia are not banned and are often publicly displayed.

In other cases, right-wing extremists do not want to be directly identified as such or deliberately create a superficial distance between themselves – Neo-Nazis in suits – and Germany’s well-organized and violent Neo-Nazi groups. The suits and the distance are camouflage.

Studies on authoritarianism have repeatedly shown that right-wing attitudes are widespread among certain portions of a population in many countries – including Germany. 

With the strong, and rising, support for Germany’s neo-fascist AfD party, it is no longer a phenomena of the so-called far-right fringe. The success of Germany’s neofascist Alternative for Germany (AfD) is a case in point. This party of “Neo-Nazis in suits” has close connections to violent Neo-Nazi and far-right groups.

Recognizing the subtle and the obvious symbols is important. But recognizing the argumentation is crucial. The AfD’s right-wing arguments typically blur the boundaries in discussions about refugees or, more recently, the state’s efforts to contain the Covid-19 pandemic. 

By melding fact with fantasy, the right-wing seeks to introduce neo-fascist and authoritarian narratives into broad public discourses.

In order to counter all that, strategies against right-wing extremism need to start with preventive measures long before the radical right can engage in criminal and extremist activity. Anti-right-wing measures must not only target organized right-wing extremist groups, but also the more general right-wing dynamic that exists throughout German society.

It should be pointed out, for example, that there is a historical constancy of right-wing terrorist violence that links the anti-Semitism of the Nazis to today’s racism directed against migrants. The outcome of this link was shown recently in anti-Semitic and racist attacks in Halle (anti-Semitism) and Hanau (racism).

The tradition of right-wing anti-Semitism – from Auschwitz to Halle – must not be forgotten. Right-wing and Neo-Nazi anti-Semitism reared its ugly head in the 1980s with far-right murders by terrorists like the Hepp-Kexel-Group. 

“Odfried Hepp, a young neo-Nazi, went underground and joined the Tunis-based Palestine Liberation Front (PLF).” … After his arrest in Paris, “PLF commandos seized the Achille Lauro cruise ship … murdered Leon Klinghoffer, a wheelchair-bound Jewish American”, and “included on the PLF’s list of prisoners to be exchanged for the Achille Lauro hostages was the name of Odfried Hepp.”

Strategy 2: Federal and state approaches against right-wing extremism

During the investigations of the killer squad known as the NSU network, it later became clear that German state investigators followed their own prejudicial stereotypes. 

German police repeatedly questioned the affected families and led the search for motives for the murders within their communities. This revealed a xenophobic pattern. 

The police blatantly rejected the truthful answers from people who had a history which included migration. In the end, police simply blamed the victims and their “culture”.

There was – and perhaps still is – a real danger of this type of right-wing dynamic that can shape a police investigation. In the case of the NSU, the narrow focus on migrant families as potential offenders diverted attention away from the NSU. 

This allowed the Neo-Nazi network a seven year long killing spree, undetected until their suicide in 2011.

This debacle has led to a – seemingly – more conscious approach towards right-wing extremism by state institutions. In particular, the far-right murder of the CDU politician Walter Lübcke in 2019 seems to have shown this. 

Yet belief in the hallucination that the Neo-Nazi murder duo were only a single lone wolf – a single Neo-Nazi, rather than a network of Neo-Nazis is still prevalent.

In the wake of the Neo-Nazi killing of Lübcke and the right-wing Hanau killings, even German conservatives started to support a catalogue of measures against right-wing extremism.

For one, there is an expansion of powers given to the BfV, Germany’s secret police – officially called: the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution. 

Secondly, there is also the promotion of democratic values and financial support for anti-right-wing programs. These programs attempt to slow down Germany’s right-wing. They also seek to dissolve right-wing extremist networks. 

The current green-liberal-progressive government sees right-wing extremism as the greatest threat to our democracy. Its coalition agreement sets up four key anti-right-wing measures:

1. There is a new focus on research into right-wing and racist radicalization;
2. A second focus is on the promotion of new civic and democratic projects;
3. A third is on legal and institutional changes – especially of criminal law; and,
4. finally, there are new measures to promote intercultural exchange.

Strategy 3: Civil Society Initiatives

This strategy focuses on the legal foundations as well as supportive state infrastructures to fight against racism and right-wing extremism. Meanwhile, it is also important to have sufficient social initiatives for different target groups. These are not limited to Germany’s substantial right-wing milieu. These programs promote:

• the development of a democratic social sphere;
• support victims of extreme right-wing violence;
• back up existing professionals and institutions in support of a democratic society;
• assist right-wing extremists who want to get out [Aussteiger].

This strategy also enables children, young people, and adults to interact with democratic society in their everyday lives and to connect with established forms of democracy beyond mere elections. 

These programs are based on the conviction that democratic education and training plays a fundamental part in the conscious awakening of awareness of the danger of fascist-like ideas.

The ZPS (Zentrum für Politische Schönheit) is an artists’ collective that takes a different approach – most definitely an unusual one – in its war against the AfD and the right-wing menace. Through the use of a deep-fake that presents Chancellor Olaf Scholz demanding the banning of the AfD as a political party, the building of a holocaust memorial near the house of one of the AfD leaders, the outing – name and shame – of members of various right-wing groups, they “poke the bear” and provoke interesting responses from those they expose to ridicule. 

Satirizing and making fun of the absurdities that fascism and authoritarianism throws at us has been a standard modus operandi of authors and painters (Picasso’s Guernica) since Aristophanes, Shakespeare, Voltaire and numerous others. Right-wing people hate being the butt of the joke.

Strategy 4: Education and Training

In addition to the use of already existing educational programs, for example at the German Holocaust Memorial site in Berlin, democratic pedagogy targets history-conscious educational work. These programs have been established to target right-wing radicalization. 

One of the key strategies is to prevent certain youth groups and milieus from forgetting how democracy actually functions. Conversation and compromise are key aspects of democracy and are exactly the two elements right-wingers try to destroy through their “my way or the highway” argumentation.

A more open and conscious democratic society can act as a corrective. This type of work is also designed as a kind of “checks-and-balances” measure to assist German state institutions to function more smoothly. 

The idea is that a more aware civic society with an increased sensitivity toward emerging right-wing extremist ideas will be able to detect right-wing networks, even inside Germany’s police and its army – the Bundeswehr. 

The existence of right-wing extremist groups inside Germany’s state apparatus has become a serious problem in recent years. Today we know that there have been, for example, free-corps styled Neo-Nazi networks like Hannibal and Nordkreuz – often ornamented with SS insignias – inside Germany’s army. 

This is a pressing issue that cannot be completely solved with just the firing of 225 Neo-Nazi soldiers. The issue is so serious that even the U.S. Military Academy at West Point is monitoring Germany’s army.

Ultimately this strategy aims at uncovering and prosecuting any army-internal Neo-Nazi networks. A second strategy, which is related to this, is to expose these networks and use the resulting information as an opportunity to challenge right-wing extremist attitudes and to sensitize police officers and soldiers to the values of democratic society.

Strategy 5: Support for victims of right-wing violence

This strategy includes countermeasures, counseling, and additional assistance for victims of right-wing violence as well as for their relatives. 

Beyond psycho-social and legal support, there must be additional support during court hearings where the perpetrators and the victims are in the same space. There are also more specific low-threshold – usually anonymous and free – contact points offering professional psychological support for people afraid to be identified in public as victims.

This strategy also targets misanthropic, xenophobic, anti-Semitic and racist forms of online hate speech. It sets up partisan, solidarity-building, and empowering action. Consulting services are implemented in several languages. In addition to this, legal advice covers legal costs. 

Strategy 6: Professional help for Groups and Individuals

In the meantime, there are also mobile consultation teams in the field. These have become established and work professionally on the principle of outreach-based community work. These teams see themselves as civic society initiatives for democracy education. 

They operate in a decentralized and mobile manner, providing advice to those affected by right-wing violence. They serve as a bridge between individuals and democratic society. 

Mobile support also offers political education for children and young people. Its educational specialists make it possible to stimulate a critical-analytical view of the authoritarian power relationships prevalent inside right-wing extremism. 

A good example in this field of youth education is the Anne Frank Educational Institution in Frankfurt. It offers its own educational programs. These programs also take place in schools and address entire classes of students. 

The focus of this activity is on the raising of awareness as regards discrimination (tolerance vs. intolerance) while assisting students to position themselves against discrimination. In addition there is, for example, “racism-critical” education for different addressees, e.g. inner-city youth groups.

Strategy 7: Support for Neo-Nazi Dropouts

The last strategy is intended to work specifically against right-wing extremists. It is aimed directly at people within Germany’s vast right-wing milieu. 

The goal of this strategy is to support Neo-Nazis who leave their far-right milieu. Here, state-based, commercial, and civil society groups offer what is called “exit programs”.

Exit programs offer specific educational initiatives, advice, and support during the process of leaving the right-wing milieu, which is often a very dangerous and lonely experience.

Commercial providers – who rely on volunteers – have been particularly active in the field of exit-oriented educational work. This is done, for example, by arranging speakers for lectures and workshops. The integration of the stories of dropouts is increasingly used. 

One of the most prominent providers in this field is an organization called “Exit-Deutschland” – Exit-Germany. “Exit” focuses on detaching an individual from the far-right milieu.

This strategy also seeks to protect children and young people from drifting into Germany’s right-wing milieu through active social work in what is known as “preventative street-work.”

The research done by Margaret T. Singer in her exposition of how cults work, and how cult members must be deprogrammed after their experience, is essential to understanding the dynamic of how right-wing psychological manipulation works. 

The Russo-American right-wing psyops (psychological operations) being carried out currently is a perfected version of the methods employed by Goebbels and Edward Bernays, with the added benefit of a wide-ranging social media network.

Conclusion

In the end, and given the complexity of Germany’s right-wing cesspool, only a variety of initiatives can counter far right radicalization, Neo-Nazis, and right-wing extremism. 

With the strategies outlined above, organizational initiatives and programs, Germany has developed and introduced wide-ranging measures to seriously challenge Germany’s Neo-Nazis and right-wing extremists. Germany’s federal government detected and countered a very advanced plan for a violent coup d’état plotted by the Reichsbürger in 2022. 

The plan was – after rafts of people were to be executed – to turn Germany into a military dictatorship.

Yet there is also a downside to Germany’s seven strategies. It is necessary to note that there are still structural problems and challenges for the provision and protection of all those initiatives. Currently, there is still insecure financial support from Germany’s government for these seven strategies. 

These difficulties already became clear through on-going struggles to secure permanent financial support. However, securing the continuity of these programs can be achieved through direct financial support by the federal government. 

For one, associations and organizations that are combating right-wing extremism need to be officially recognized as non-profit organizations. This would allow them to expand their resourcing of finance because donations would be tax free.

Only a secure existence makes it possible to create lasting network structures to combat Germany’s Neo-Nazi and right-wing extremist milieu. Moreover, institutional security needs be organized centrally in order to coordinate anti-Neo-Nazi activities Germany-wide. 

This needs to be based on cooperation with scientists, research institutions, the federal government, the 16 states, and democratic institutions. Such an approach allows institutions fighting right-wing extremism to identify new developments inside Germany’s far-right, enabling them to react in anticipation and quickly.

In addition to these solvable issues, the seriousness of combating Neo-Nazis can already be seen. Crimes and violence motivated by right-wing extremism, racism and anti-Semitism have recently increased. 

This has happened despite the fact that the seven strategies have had considerable success in recent years. The upswing in right-wing extremism also occurred in the wake of recent successes by Germany’s most prominent neo-fascist party, the AfD. 

Once the AfD had been elected to “all” of Germany’s state parliaments, it immediately started to undermine projects targeting Neo-Nazis, and right-wing extremism.

At present, it remains to be seen to what extent Germany’s democracy – particularly in the context of current political developments with the rise of the AfD – and the seven strategies outlined above, as well as the programs battling Germany’s Neo-Nazi and right-wing extremists, can survive the murderous assault being carried out against our basic freedoms.

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Thomas Klikauer is the author of Alternative Für Deutschland – The AfD: Germany’s New Nazis Or Another Populist Party?

Danny Antonelli grew up in the USA, now lives in Hamburg, Germany and writes radio plays, stories and is a professional lyricist and librettist.

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