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Nancy Faeser Vows to Fight Right-Wing Extremism in Germany’s Security Authorities

Hundreds of officers in Germany’s security authorities are connected to right-wing extremism in some way, according to a situation report Interior Minister Nancy Faeser released. She would not let them sabotage the democratic state of law, she vowed.

Sofia, Bulgaria, May 14th, 2022 (The Berlin Spectator) — Between July 1st, 2018 and June 30th, 2021, 860 officers and other employees of the German Federal Police, the customs and the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) were observed. Three hundred twenty-seven of them actually had contacts to the right-wing extremist milieu. This it what it says in the latest situation report about right-wing extremism in Germany’s security authorities.

Substantial Increase

Many of the officers and other persons that were observed took part in events organized by extremists. Some of them were in contact with right-wing extremist parties or they gave the Nazi salute. And there are those who were part of what the authorities call “subcultural right-wing extremism”, meaning they were members of hooligan or combat sport groups. Compared to the last report of this kind, which was released in 2020, the number of officials with an anti-constitutional, right-wing cast of mind has increased substantially.

The information for the report was compiled by Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution. Its President Thomas Haldenwang presented the situation report with Interior Minister Nancy Faeser in Berlin. Observations in all federal states were conducted. In Germany’s largest state, North Rhine-Westphalia, 179 cases were looked into. In Berlin, there were 74 of them. These numbers include suspected cases.

Good Reputation

“We will not have the democratic state of law sabotaged from the inside by right-wing extremists”, Nancy Faeser stated. Germany owed this to the big majority of colleagues in the public service whose views were in line with the constitution. Their good reputation should not be affected by the few extremists”, the Minister said.

In many of the listed cases, 152 of them, the officers who were observed were part of chat groups in which right-wing extremist content was shared. Memberships in radical organizations or contacts with the same were found 143 times. The observations uncovered 141 cases of “politically motivated insult” of persons with an immigrant background or of Jews. Some of the persons the authorities observed took part in “propaganda activities”.

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Law Amendment

Nancy Faeser announced her Ministry was working on an amendment of the Federal Disciplinary Act which would give the authorities the right to remove enemies of the constitution more quickly. She also said the prevention was going to be improved. The selection of new personnel for Germany’s security authorities is supposed to take place with more care.

In Berlin, Interior Senator Iris Spranger commented on the findings. “I will not tolerate right-wing extremists in Berlin’s security authorities”, she said. They undermined the confidence in the authorities. Two years ago, Berlin’s former Interior Senator Andreas Geisel and the city state’s Police Chief Barbara Slowik had introduced an extremism prevention plan for the Berlin Police Department. It includes reliability checks, an anonymous reporting system and an extremism coordinator who looks into suspected cases.

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