How closely the young right-wingers aligned themselves with the Nazis

There is talk of a "race war", there is said to have been a "propaganda minister" and a 13-year-old allegedly became head of the "Gestapo": following the sensational arrest of a young group of suspected right-wing terrorists, a document from the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) makes it clear how closely the accused, some of whom were young, are said to have followed the National Socialists.

Suspected right-wing terror cell

In May, the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office had five people aged between 14 and 18 arrested in Hesse, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Brandenburg. The authorities accuse them of membership - and in one case support - of a right-wing extremist terrorist organization. The charges also include attempted murder and attempted arson resulting in death. The police also searched properties in Saxony and Thuringia.

The investigation concerns a suspected right-wing extremist terrorist group called "Letzte Verteidigungswelle" (Last Wave of Defense). The group sees itself as the last resort in defense of the "German nation", according to the federal prosecutor's office in Karlsruhe. By attacking asylum shelters and left-wing institutions, they wanted to bring about the collapse of the democratic system of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Openly active on social networks

The now published Federal Supreme Court decision essentially relates to the continued pre-trial detention of one of the alleged ringleaders. For the first time, however, details of the processes within the group have also become public.

For example, the alleged members are said to have openly posted racist and anti-Semitic messages on social media. In doing so, they glorified the "Third Reich" and National Socialism.

"The aim was to "reconquer" the "own country" in the tradition of the SA and in the political thinking of the NSDAP and to hold armed meetings throughout Germany," the document states. NSDAP stands for the National Socialist German Workers' Party led by Adolf Hitler. The Sturmabteilung (SA) was its paramilitary combat organization.

According to the ruling, the members of the group had the intention of "triggering a race war in which a spiral of violence of reaction and counter-reaction was to be set in motion in order to preserve the "white race" and ultimately eliminate liberal democracy". In chats, they had repeatedly discussed how this could be achieved.

Names and references from the Nazi era

According to the decision, one of the defendants was appointed "Propaganda Minister", while another, who was 13 years old and still under the age of criminal responsibility, was appointed head of the "Gestapo". "Gestapo" is short for secret state police, which was founded after the National Socialists came to power in 1933.

A member of the group is said to have been appointed "Gauleiter Sachsen". A co-defendant allegedly held a similar position for the federal state of Thuringia. This also echoes concepts of the Nazi dictatorship.

"The group appeared externally on social media with specially created profiles and promotional videos," writes the Federal Court of Justice. It used its own logo with a reference to the Waffen SS. "Their motto was: "We are the wave that washes the dirt out of our country and destroys its existence"." According to the leadership, the number of members was to increase to up to 400 within four years.

The group was reportedly of the opinion that people with a migration background and people from the left-wing political spectrum were particularly harmful to Germany. "They wanted to counteract the supposed threat of foreign infiltration due to what they saw as mass migration," the resolution states. "There was also a pronounced aversion to the LGBTQ+ movement."