The federal government claims that there are no structural connections between the AfD and young Nazis. This is wrong in several ways.

Stab weapon distributed by the AfD Photo: Archive

The Federal Government recently responded to a parliamentary question that it saw no “structural connection” between the AfD and groups of young neo-Nazis such as the recently arrested after several arson and explosive attacks “Last Wave of Defense” and similar groups.

But even if no direct connections have been known in individual cases so far, both phenomena cannot be considered separately and belong structurally closely together: The distance of the AfD to young neo-Nazi groups is extremely small or non-existent in reality.

Several members of the armed Saxon separatists arrested a few weeks ago planned ethnic cleansing and were AfD members, one worked in the deputy’s office of the chairman of the Interior Committee in the Saxon state parliament, parts of the group posed together with Höcke. They were also still very young, although not minors: 21 to 25 years.

This shows that the AfD and the new, brutal and young neo-Nazi scene belong ideologically closely together, as can be seen not least at events of the far-right party.

Racist Mobilization

In the election campaign year 2024, where right-wing violence soped to a record high since the figures were collected, also because of the many up-and-need neo-Nazis, state elections were held in Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg. The AfD organized numerous “summer parties” as election campaign events, where one could easily observe how closely young young neo-Nazis and the racist mobilization of the AfD belong together.

At many of her “summer festivals” in the 2024 state election campaign, openly right-wing extremist youth groups were also present, for example in clothing glorifying Nazis, Höcke took selfies with young Nazis in Cottbus - a young Höcke fanboy wore a shirt with the inscription “blitzkrieg” and a black sun in the photo with the face of the völkische current in the AfD.

In his speech, Höcke had previously said: “I say yes to the road”, he is a street activist himself. Höcke is not the only one who always seeks to join the political-activist apron, which obviously also includes neo-Nazi groups.

Last year, the Brandenburg member of the Bundestag, Hannes Gnauck, also took photos in Templin with a group of young people who had apparently attacked political opponents on the sidelines of an election campaign event.

“Was awesome”

At the group photo with Gnauck, the young people dressed in black stretched out their fist and the white power sign, one wrote on his Instagram story: “It was awesome tick boxing”, as the Tagesspiegel researched.

After the attacks, the police checked the personal details of some suspected attackers - including a 14-year-old, two 16-year-olds, two 17-year-olds. Gnauck, former head of the now dissolved Junge Alternative, put the attacks and the responsibility of the AfD into perspective. He was not there for the attacks, said Gnauck, you can’t control everyone who comes to the AfD festivals - real distancing is no indication.

The far-right party also bears a considerable responsibility for the radicalization of young people: it deliberately targets young people on social media, but also at its events with racist agitation. Online, the party incites on Tiktok, Instagram and Youtube in video formats and with AI against minorities, also specifically addressing young target groups.

Offline, she distributed helium balloons in the form of deportation planes at her “summer festivals”, set up bouncy castles and offered children’s face painting and carriage rides - while racist speeches resound from the stage, other people are devalued and the listeners themselves are upgraded.

And for action-oriented young people, for example, the state parliament member Lena Kotré had stabbing weapons distributed in Brandenburg, so-called Kubotans, with the inscription “Be defensive!”.

The alliance with the right-wing extremists has a system for deputies like Kotré: Just last week, the AfD politician traveled to a “remigration conference” of the Identitarians in Milan and met, among others, the identitarian leader Martin Sellner - although the organization is officially on the party’s incompatibility list.

The Identitarian Movement recently also carried out targeted flyer campaigns at schools nationwide, as well as activists of the group try their hand as social media influencers, show the “white power greeting” and spread their völkische ideology on various platforms.

The right-wing shift to society as a whole in the waters of the AfD, which is also responsible for by democratic parties, forms a larger resonance space for the radicalization of many young neo-Nazis.

Thus, the discourse tilted to the right not only leads to highs of right-wing violence and right-wing extremist crimes, but also to the mobilization of the neo-Nazi scene, which feels additionally empowered by the right-wing course of the federal government(s) - a phenomenon that is already known from the nineties and the baseball bat years.

Don’t know if it’s the translation, but this reads like AI slop.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not defending either group; two different piles of shit can still be called shit. Just pointing out this is giving me “convince someone ____ and ____ are linked” prompt vibes.

NGL at first I thought that was an extra long butt plug and thought, that’s really gonna fucking hurt if you grab the ring and treat it like you’re starting a lawnmower.