Germany Cracks Down on Child-Targeting Neo-Nazi Sect

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser stated, “This represents another significant setback in the fight against right-wing extremism and against those who persist in propagating Nazi ideologies.”

The term “Artgemeinschaft” roughly translates to “racial community,” and according to the Interior Ministry, it had approximately 150 members.

The ministry revealed that the organization guided its members on selecting partners with a North or Central European background, aligning with their ideology of “racial preservation.”

Additionally, the sect operated an online bookstore and regularly organized cultural gatherings that drew in several hundred attendees. It presented itself as “Germany’s largest pagan community.”

Authorities assert that the group exploited a facade of “pseudo-religious Germanic beliefs” to disseminate its worldview, which is considered to violate human dignity.

Artgemeinschaft stands as one of Germany’s oldest neo-Nazi organizations, and it played a pivotal role in facilitating connections among various far-right and neo-Nazi groups within the country, as stated by Ms. Faeser.

German intelligence has reported that Stephan Ernst, the individual who carried out the murder of prominent regional politician Walter Lübcke in 2019, was affiliated with this group, and his motivations were rooted in “racism and xenophobia.”

Furthermore, German media outlets have indicated that members of Artgemeinschaft had associations with Ralf Wohlleben, a neo-Nazi who was convicted for providing support to members of a notorious cell responsible for ten racially motivated murders in Germany.

Germany’s domestic intelligence agency has estimated that approximately 38,800 individuals are actively involved in the country’s right-wing extremist scene, with over a third of them being considered “potentially violent.”