Losing focus, Germany is failing to curb rising far-right extremism

Politically motivated crimes and violence in Germany have reached their highest levels in at least 20 years, but the government's inability - or unwillingness - to address this increase flies in the face of its commitment to putting past demons to rest.

For decades, German society and its leaders have tried to address Germany's historical role in perpetuating Nazism, racism and expansionism during the Third Reich (1933-1945).

Such "historical guilt" and the desire to set "right" the "wrongs" of Nazism should be anchored in addressing the residues of Aryan supremacy, expansionism and far-right totalitarianism which continue to exist in German politics and society today.

But instead, by failing to tackle the upsurge in crime, Germany is reinforcing, rather than addressing, its historical guilt.

Far-right extremism

Far-right crimes ranged from property damage to attacking Muslim immigrants to verbal abuse on university campuses and violence against Muslim women.

The crimes are motivated by a perceived notion that Muslim immigrants have been flooding Germany and Muslims are directly responsible for condoning attacks on Israel. According to the German Press Agency, the dramatic surge in anti-Muslim crimes is linked to the Israel's war on Gaza.

The spike in hate crimes sheds light on Germany's lingering problem which has not been addressed beyond condemning far-right extremism.

The attacks also come as Chancellor Olaf Scholz's government weaponises "guilt washing" over the Holocaust to crack down on Muslims, left-wing activists, anti-Zionist Jews and pro-Palestinian advocates.

To wash away Germany’s record perpetuating Nazism, Scholz has opted for targeting Muslims and Palestinians to stand in so-called solidarity with Jewish people and pro-Zionism Israelis.

While not all Jews endorse Zionism, the Scholz government seeks to muzzle out pro-Palestinian voices under the garb of atoning for past ills. Instead of atonement, such policies have perpetuated Islamophobia and clipped the Palestinian cause within Germany.

Meanwhile, authorities registered 60,028 politically motivated offences in 2023, according to a report from Germany's domestic intelligence agency.

This marked only a 2 percent increase in political crimes from 2022. Notably however, 25,660 of these crimes were committed by right wing extremists, a 22 percent jump from the previous year.

The intel report also points out that the vast majority of crimes were committed after the Hamas attack in October 2023.

Furthermore, 1,926 Islamophobic incidents were registered by the CLAIM network of NGOs in Germany which seeks to create nationwide and pan-European visibility of anti-Muslim and racist tendencies in Europe.

Far-right extremism has not affected Muslims alone. Anti-Semitic attacks rose to 492 from just 33 in 2022. The hate crimes are largely being conducted by far-right extremist groups who hold nativist, ultranationalist and anti-Muslim ideologies.

This comes in the form of propaganda offences from far-right political parties and organisations such as the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, whose leader Bjorn Hocke was found guilty of using a Nazi slogan during a speech. Damages to property, incitement to hatred and violations of assembly rules have also been reported.

Yet beyond condemnation, the German government's response to far-right extremism in the post-Nazi era has been both duplicitous and hypocritical.

Not enough has been done. This may be because Germany considers supporting Israel and its genocidal campaign in Gaza to be a form of atonement for past sins during the Nazi era. And in this wake, Palestinians and Muslims have become targets and are scapegoated as the cause of all of humanity's ills and woes.

Selective clampdowns

Post-war, Germany has been on a quest to honour the Holocaust. Ironically, this has translated into Scholz's government banning pro-Palestinian demonstrations, activists, artists and cultural figures after October 2023 for fear of offending its Jewish population.

This includes shutting down a three-day Palestinian Congress in April 2024 over hate speech fears and axing art installations from renowned South African Jewish artist, Candice Breitz over her criticism of the Israeli government's actions in Gaza.

As the German government disproportionately fixates on muzzling pro-Palestinian, left-wing and anti-war voices, far-right extremists appear to be getting a free pass for their politically motivated crimes. In April for example, they physically attacked Matthias Ecke, a member of the left-wing Social Democrats party.

While official condemnation of far-right violence has come from the government and leaders of the Social Democrats party, there is little evidence to suggest that the German government is systematically clamping down on far-right extremism or comprehensively banning groups subscribing to Nazi ideology.

The Bjorn Hocke case is a prime example. Hocke, a member of the AfD, was fined $18,000 for using a banned Nazi slogan during a speech. For a country which seeks to address historical guilt, imposing fines is insufficient; he should have been banned from political activities.

Similarly, AfD figures such as Matthias Helferich has faced no repercussions for endorsing Nazism several times during his 2024 speech in Cottbus, where he also called for mass deportations of Muslim and African immigrants from Germany.

Despite this, Helferich remains a member of the Bundestag or the German parliament. He has also spoken at a so-called "summer party" hosted by the Institut Fur Staatspolitik, which is designated as a right-wing terrorist organisation by Germany's federal domestic intelligence agency for supporting Nazism.

Alarming trends

It is clear that Germany under Olaf Scholz is witnessing an existential threat from the extremists which it has failed to prevent. Due to this misperceived notion that Germany will atone for its past crimes by attacking left wingers, Muslims and non-Zionist Jews, Berlin has opted to stay away from calling out far-right extremism, which is aimed at immigrants and Muslims.

Instead, the German government has played on the "threat" card by demonising Muslims and considering them responsible for overpopulating the country, spreading radicalism and replacing the German population.

While it has not actively encouraged right-wing extremism as reflected in official condemnations, it simply doesn't appear compelled to act against such bigotry.

The narrative since October 7, 2023 has been to stamp out pro-Palestinian advocacy to wash away historical guilt instead of rooting out far-right Nazi ideologies festering within and gaining appeal. The AfD party is already witnessing a surge in popularity, particularly among the youth, which is an ominous sign for the future of Nazism in the country.

For Germany to lay its toxic past to rest, far-right parties, extremist ideologies and groups targeting Muslims, pro-Palestinian advocates and minorities must be criminalised and banned through statewide crackdowns and passage of legislation through the Bundestag.

Absence thereof would not address historical guilt. Instead, it gives an impression that Germany has not learnt from the past with Nazism being an ever-present threat.