far-right extremism

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What's more, it is becoming increasingly well organized—even across national borders, according to extremism expert Hans-Jakob Schindler, director of the Counter Extremism Project in Berlin. “In the German milieu, we repeatedly observe close ties to right-wing extremist milieus abroad, particularly in Austria and Switzerland, but also in Eastern European countries,” Schindler said in an interview with Ippen.Media's Frankfurter Rundschau.

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December 9, 2025
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What's more, it is becoming increasingly well organized—even across national borders, according to extremism expert Hans-Jakob Schindler, director of the Counter Extremism Project in Berlin. “In the German milieu, we repeatedly observe close ties to right-wing extremist milieus abroad, particularly in Austria and Switzerland, but also in Eastern European countries,” Schindler said in an interview with Ippen.Media's Frankfurter Rundschau.

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December 9, 2025
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What's more, it is becoming increasingly well organized—even across national borders, according to extremism expert Hans-Jakob Schindler, director of the Counter Extremism Project in Berlin. “In the German milieu, we repeatedly observe close ties to right-wing extremist milieus abroad, particularly in Austria and Switzerland, but also in Eastern European countries,” Schindler said in an interview with Ippen.Media's Frankfurter Rundschau.

Date
December 9, 2025
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Such rhetoric spread within hours to other Telegram communities and social media websites including Trump’s Truth Social platform. Violent groups have pounced on the recent news events to promote themselves, rehabilitate their images and reach new audiences, said Joshua Fisher-Birch, a researcher at the Counter Extremism Project, a nonprofit that tracks such activity online.

“Propagandists are also hoping that federal action will spill over to journalists and those who monitor the extreme right,” he said.

Date
September 25, 2025
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The youth organization of the NPD successor party Die Heimat, Junge Nationalisten (JN), for example, relies on decentralized "Tiktok divisions" in addition to numerous newly founded so-called Revolte local groups, as a digital report by the Else-Frenkel-Brunswik-Institut (EFBI) in Leipzig noted. These groups "pursue a sophisticated social media strategy by using youth-oriented aesthetics such as bomber jackets, sneakers, combat boots or fashwave looks and combining topics such as migration with identity and self-valorization offers", writes Alexander Ritzmann from the Counter Extremism Project (CEP).

Date
August 28, 2025
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For the first time in modern history, far-right and populist parties are simultaneously topping the polls in Europe’s three main economies of Germany, France and Britain. […] More recent societal stressors such as the coronavirus pandemic and war in Ukraine have further increased the allure of populism, according to Hans-Jakob Schindler, the senior director of the Counter Extremism Project, a nonprofit international group. But populist parties in Europe have also harnessed social media more powerfully than their more centrist opponents, he said.
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August 13, 2025
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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”.
Date
June 21, 2025
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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.”

Date
May 27, 2025
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