far-right extremism

Thursday, Jul 17, 2025

The New Neo-Nazi Youth Scene in Germany

On July 17, 2025, CEP hosted a webinar, "Back to the 90's? New Neo-Nazi Youth Groups in Germany and Poland". CEP Senior Advisor Alexander Ritzmann gave a presentation on the extreme-right (youth) strategies and developments in Germany.

In the last few years, new neo-Nazi youth formations have emerged across Germany and Poland. Some of these groups visually and organizationally resemble the German “Kameradschaft” (comradeship) scene of the 1990s and 2000s. Our experts will discuss how dangerous this development is and how can it be countered.

CEP has published a policy brief in German and a short article in English on the situation in Germany.

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“What makes them unique is the ‘wolves in sheep’s clothing’ approach, which aims at fooling law enforcement into believing Active Clubs are just about sports,” Alexander Ritzmann, a political scientist and senior advisor at the Counter Extremism Project who studies the movement, told the Guardian. In a 2023 report, Ritzmann warned that the ultimate goal of Active Clubs “is the creation of a stand-by militia of trained and capable [right wing extremists] who can be activated when the need for coordinated violent action on a larger scale arises”.
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June 21, 2025
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