Crackdown on Hate: Police Swoop in on Alleged Right-Wing Terror Cell

Racist, anti-Semitic, apocalyptic? A militant terrorist group is said to have assumed Germany would collapse – and has plans for “X-Day”.

The Federal Prosecutor’s Office has had eight suspected right-wing terrorists arrested in Saxony and Poland. At the same time, around 20 properties are being searched, as the Karlsruhe authorities announced. Searches are also taking place in Austria.

The Federal Prosecutor’s Office accuses the accused of belonging to the “Saxon Separatists”. This group was established in November 2020 at the latest. “This is a militant group made up of fifteen to twenty people whose ideology is shaped by racist, anti-Semitic and in some cases apocalyptic ideas,” the statement said. “Its members share a deep rejection of the basic free-democratic order of the Federal Republic of Germany.”

According to the information, the society assumes that Germany is facing “collapse”. Should the state and society collapse, the group wants to use armed force to conquer areas in Saxony and possibly also in other countries in East Germany “in order to establish a state and society there that is compatible with Socialism National,” he said. “Unwanted groups of people should be removed from the area through ethnic cleansing if necessary.”

Four of those arrested are said to be among the original members, and one is said to have been a leader. According to the Federal Prosecutor’s Office, the others joined later. They repeatedly completed paramilitary training with combat equipment. “In particular, urban warfare, the use of firearms, night marches and forced marches as well as patrols were practiced,” the statement said. The group was also given military equipment such as camouflage suits, combat helmets, gas masks and protective vests.

According to dpa information, the oldest of them is 25 years old. “It is a great success that the Federal Prosecutor General and the security authorities managed to uncover these scandalous plans and arrest those responsible,” said Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (FDP). At the same time, the success of this investigation is once again a warning: “Our constitutional state and the free-democratic basic order are under threat from many sides.”

“The fact that they were trained to handle weapons and acquire military equipment shows how dangerous these right-wing extremists are,” said Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD). He referred to the group’s early clarification from the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution.

Those arrested will be brought before the investigating judge at the Federal Court of Justice on Tuesday and Wednesday, who will decide on pre-trial detention. In Germany alone, more than 450 security forces and police officers from the Federal Criminal Police Office, special forces from the Federal Police and the Saxony State Criminal Police Office were deployed.