CEP Senior Director Dr. Hans Jakob-Schindler quoted: “The constitution includes measures to intervene in the activities of radical parties, because Germany has dark memories of the Nazi era, when the far-right rose to power in democratic elections. In Germany, it is known that the end of democracy does not require civil war. Democracy can be weakened, and it can also be driven down by democracy's own tools, says Schindler.”

The Reichsbürger are not a single group. For the German secret services they are anti-state extremists. Analyst Hans Jakob Schindler [CEP Senior Director] draws a profile of them. Authorities estimate 2,000 Reichsbürger but the real number may be higher. Many have gun licenses, some are former military or members of the police force and some are ready for battle. This is the case of the group led by the self-styled Prince of Reus, dismantled in December 2022, while preparing an armed coup. 130 searches and 25 arrests, the largest anti-terrorism operation in recent history in Germany. A parallel reality that has become a concrete threat.

Blonde pigtails, blue eyes, country flair: this is how "Die Heimat", formerly the NPD, sells itself on its homepage. Its offspring, on the other hand, are aggressive, masked and openly violent. In order to win over young people from outside the party, they set up local groups with new names.

Hans-Jakob Schindler classifies these groups as extremely dangerous: "Firstly, the network poses a danger because there is a network of violence-oriented individuals. At some point, it will become difficult for the security authorities to monitor everyone at the same time. And secondly, all kinds of attack scenarios are played out in these channels, from bomb attacks to knife attacks." The Center for Monitoring Analysis and Strategy, CeMAS for short, has found more than 650 Germans in 164 "Terrorgram" groups since 2022. CeMAS expert Miro Dittrich is particularly concerned that many Germans are so heavily involved in these groups: "It is alarming that some very young people are active in these channels. 12- or 13-year-olds who are already at the end of a radicalization process. Some of them order explosives and plan to commit mass murders for an extreme right-wing ideology." He warns that the network could continue to try to motivate attacks - in Germany too.

Alexander Ritzmann from the Counter Extremism Project has been researching the phenomenon for years and believes there is a danger that shadow militias could emerge from some of the groups and strike on D-Day. Day X is supposed to be the assumption of power by a right-wing dictator. The historical model for part of the movement is the Sturmabteilung (SA) of the NSDAP. Also Julian M.'s men in Berlin. In October 2024, a DJV member wrote to his leader in a chat that he now wanted to set up his own "subgroup along the lines of the SA".

CEP Senior Director Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler spoke with RTL Nachtjournal about the closure of schools in the western German city of Duisburg following right-wing extremist threats.