The German Government Warns of the Rising Number of Right-Wing Extremists: “It’s a Terrifying Figure.”

The German Interior Minister, Alexander Dobrindt, alerted on Tuesday about the significant increase in right-wing extremists recorded last year and the danger it poses to the country. In total, more than 50,000 individuals were identified by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV)—the domestic intelligence agency—as right-wing extremists, marking an increase of nearly 23% compared to the previous year. “It is a terrifying number,” Dobrindt declared during the presentation of the annual BfV report.

The authors of the document refer to them as “potential right-wing extremists,” which includes all individuals that intelligence services consider to belong to the spectrum of the far-right, even if they are not directly involved. This encompasses sympathizers, individuals with sporadic contact with extremist groups, or people whose ideological beliefs overlap partially, even if they are not politically active.

“In the last ten years, this number has more than doubled,” indicated Dobrindt. “Since 2015, the number of individuals involved in right-wing extremism has increased from just over 20,000 to more than 50,000. Of these, 15,300 are considered violent extremists, a significant increase from the previous year [about 800 more].” In his opinion, while it is not surprising that both figures are rising, “it is dramatic that this is advancing at such speed.”

At the same time, crimes with a right-wing extremist background have also increased by 47.4%, reaching “a dramatic figure of nearly 38,000 recorded offenses,” of which 3.4% were violent. A month ago, the Interior Ministry announced that in 2024, a record number of politically motivated crimes was registered: over 84,000 cases.

The rise of the far-right is also related, among other things, to the increasing number of members in the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which was the second most voted party in the recent general elections in February. Last November, AfD claimed to have around 50,000 members. In the report, 20,000 supporters of the ultra platform were classified as “potential right-wing extremists,” compared to 11,300 recorded in 2023.

However, despite the link between AfD and the increase in right-wing extremists, Dobrindt reminded that AfD has appealed to the judiciary against the recent classification as a far-right group and noted that, although he “has no doubt” it is a far-right party, one must wait for the judicial decision. He rejected, however, that this classification is sufficient as a basis to initiate a procedure to ban the party.

The Influence of the Internet

The Vice President of the BfV, Sinan Selen, emphasized that “more and more young people are radicalizing online; they are instructed and, at times, take action,” a phenomenon that applies to both right-wing extremism and Islamism. This poses “a special challenge” for the country’s intelligence services because “they are not ideologically formed over a long period; rather, they radicalize very quickly and also develop a willingness to take action.”

For Selen, it is also “especially concerning” in the realm of right-wing extremism the existence of online subcultures among youth that are not very ideological but “extremely violent and radicalized,” highlighting two organizations: Jung und Stark (Young and Strong) and Deutsche Jugend Voran (German Youth Forward).

Additionally, according to the BfV, there was also a slight increase in the number of left-wing extremists, rising from 37,000 to about 38,000 in 2024. Dobrindt stated that the conflict in the Middle East has also influenced the increase and is becoming “increasingly significant.” “The left-wing extremist scene also acts here as an agitator and motor for mobilization,” he asserted.

Regarding left-wing extremists considered violent, the number of individuals remained at the same level as the previous year, with 11,200 extremists. However, Dobrindt pointed out the significant increase in the number of people in this spectrum over the last ten years.

Sabotage

Along with this increase in extremism, Germany also faces sabotage, espionage, misinformation, as well as violent acts and threats. “The constitutional order of Germany is threatened almost daily,” highlighted Dobrindt. Particularly, German intelligence services have detected that the use of so-called “low-level agents” to carry out espionage or sabotage in Germany is becoming more frequent. “We are observing a clear increase here,” declared the minister. He also recalled that attacks do not only come from Russia but from “various actors” like China, which remains active in both cyberspace operations and economic and influence espionage.

The new figures on extremists in Germany were presented on the same day that the trial regarding the ban on the far-right magazine Compact began, a ban ordered nearly a year ago by the Interior Ministry, which deemed it a “central mouthpiece of the far-right scene.” The Federal Administrative Court of Leipzig must now analyze whether, as claimed by the German government and the BfV, the magazine, established in 2010, violates the dignity of certain groups by promoting a nationalist and ethnic concept and inciting hatred against immigrants, Muslims, and Jews with anti-Semitic publications.