Constant incitement against refugees and migrants, far-right conspiracy theories about “left-wing elites” or the denial of pandemics—in Germany, all of this has been rendered socially acceptable in recent years, promoted by media and government representatives. The latest data from the criminal authorities shows that right-wing extremists feel strengthened and encouraged by these developments.

Right-wing extremist crimes reached a shocking high in 2024. With at least 41,406 offenses, the crime rate was fully 40 percent higher than in 2023. This was the result of a “Minor Inquiry” from the Left Party in the German Bundestag (federal parliament). Because the official figures will not be published until May, the final tally may even higher, due to late reports.

This is a continuation of a dangerous trend. Right-wing crime had already increased 23 percent in 2023, reaching its highest level since 2001 with 28,945 offenses. These figures have again been surpassed in 2024.

The figures themselves are systematically underestimated. In 2023, the authorities assigned 16,678 crimes to the “Other” category. This includes crimes from the milieu of “Reichsbürger” (Imperial Citizens) and “Querdenker” (Lateral Thinkers) movements, whose extreme right-wing world view differs only in nuances from that of the officially recognized fascists.

Around half of the crimes were so-called propaganda offenses in 2024, another 5,000 were incitement of hatred and around 2,000 were damage to property. With a provisional total of 1,443 violent crimes, this figure also reached a modern high.

Regardless the final figures in May, there is a huge uncertainty in the numbers. For decades, various initiatives have proved that the police regularly deny the existence of right-wing extremist motives. In some cases the record has been corrected, but only after years of effort.

In 2022, the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), the State Office of Criminal Investigation, under public pressure, began reviewing 30 violent crimes from the years 1984 to 2020. Last year, four of these crimes were retroactively recognized as right-wing extremist acts. The cases are so clear-cut that they shed light on the far-right structures within the state apparatus itself.

For example, it took almost 20 years for the murder of Horst Pulter to be recognized as right-wing extremist. The homeless man had been stabbed to death by seven neo-Nazis in the Velbert City Park on February 5, 1995. They had previously beaten him and insulted him as a “Penner” (bum) and a “Scheissjuden” (pejorative for Jew).

Other victims continue to fight for recognition, including the now 90-year-old mother of Alexander Selchow, who was murdered on New Year’s Eve 1991 near the city of Göttingen by neo-Nazis associated with Thorsten Heise, a well-known militant neo-Nazi.

Another example is Rolf Baginski, who was killed by a neo-Nazi in Nordhausen in the state of Thuringia, in 1991. While in custody, the same neo-Nazi was then recruited as an informant by the Verfassungschutz (the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the German domestic intelligence agency). He was active in the National Socialist Underground movement, which carried out ten murders between 2000 and 2007.

The best-known case is the denial of the right-wing extremist background in the murder of Alexander W. in Idar-Oberstein. The 20-year-old student was shot dead while working as a cashier at a petrol station after he had told a far-right coronavirus denier that he was obliged to wear a mask.

The Amadeu Antonio Foundation lists these and a further 219 right-wing extremist murders that have occurred since 1990, of which only 116 cases are recorded in government statistics.

Increasingly, the governing parties themselves are falling victim to the demons they summon. As early as 2019, a right-wing extremist murdered Kassel District President Walter Lübcke (Christian Democrats, CDU) because he had spoken out in favor of the basic right to asylum. In 2024, crimes against elected representatives or public officials increased from 4,047 to 4,923.

It is not a new phenomenon in German history that political leaders become victims of their own policies. After the end of the First World War, for example, the Social Demcrats (SPD) repeatedly worked with extreme right-wing military and the Freikorps militia to suppress workers’ uprisings. However, this did not protect them from themselves becoming victims of the Nazi regime after 1933.

The current election campaign has also been repeatedly overshadowed by attacks. A week ago, right-wing extremists attacked a Left Party campaign stand in the city of Bautzen. A campaign worker was punched in the face and a political stand was attacked with fireworks.

At the beginning of February, an election stand of the Young Socialists (the youth organization of the SPD) in the city of Freising was attacked and in mid-January an election stand of the Left Youth (youth organization of the Left Party) at Dresden Central Station was attacked by around 20 right-wing extremist soccer hooligans. The attackers threatened to set fire to the stand and destroyed the table.

Shortly before Christmas, half a dozen masked men attacked three Left Party campaign workers in the city of Görlitz, injuring them so badly that they had to be treated in hospital. Shortly before, a right-wing extremist attacker killed six people and injured 299 in an attack on the Magdeburg Christmas market.

Last May, Matthias Ecke (SPD) was beaten by a group of right-wing extremist youths in Dresden and required hospitalization.

The growth of right-wing extremist groups of thugs is cause for serious concern. It is part of the general shift to the right of the entire political establishment. This development not only normalizes right-wing extremist viewpoints but also prepares the social breeding ground for right-wing extremist networks in the state apparatus, which covers up their activities.

For example in 2023, 62 Bundeswehr (German military) soldiers, including 10 officers, were dismissed due to far-right views, addressing only the tip of the iceberg. Of the far-right police officers behind the “NSU 2.0” wave of death threats, only a handful were prosecuted.

In view of the clear dangers emanating from the state apparatus itself, the criticism formulated by representatives of the Left Party following their “Minor Inquiry” is politically empty.

For example, Petra Pau stated in the taz newspaper that the government’s “Stimmungsmache” (firing up of sentiment) against refugees and migrants legitimizes the actions of right-wing perpetrators of violence. Pau then denounced the same right-wing government because “far too little has happened” to prevent violent behavior.

In fact, a lot has “happened” under Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser (SPD). Not only has she expanded the powers of police and intelligence agencies, she has also stepped up attacks on refugees. At the same time, she has criminalized climate activists and suppressed the Palestine Congress in Berlin using police-state methods.

Much as the elites in the US are backing Trump’s fascist agenda, the governing parties in Germany are adopting the Alternative for Germany’s (AfD’s) program or, like CDU leader Friedrich Merz, are even seeking an open alliance with the far-right party. This is not due to a lack of “understanding” or a false political calculation, as the Left Party preaches, but a deliberate political agenda.

Like a hundred years ago, the German ruling elites are relying on far-right forces to push through their program of rearmament, social cuts and dictatorship against popular opposition. Anyone who does not clearly state this fact is aiding and abetting the far-right conspiracy.