Far-right terrorism

The prosecution of criminal acts committed by far-right terrorists is a focus of the Office of the Federal Prosecutor work. The discoveries about the “Nationalsozialistischer Untergrund” group (National Socialist Underground, NSU) put further emphasis on the need for comprehensive investigation.

The existence of the NSU was uncovered in November 2011. Over a 13 year period, its far-right terrorists murdered ten people and committed two bomb attacks and 15 armed robberies. Two members of the NSU escaped arrest by committing suicide. A further member of the far-right terrorist group was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2018.

The first time that multiple far-right extremists were convicted of membership of a right-wing terrorist group after being charged by the Office of the Federal Prosecutor was in the late 1970s. In proceedings known as the Bückeburger case, the four main defendants were sentenced to long prison sentences for multiple far-right terrorist attacks and robberies. On 26 September 1980, a far-right extremist committed a bomb attack on Munich’s Oktoberfest, killing 13 people. The Office of the Federal Prosecutor reopened its investigation in December 2014, having received new information pointing towards potential accomplices or supporters.

The willingness of the far-right scene to commit racially motivated acts of violence was seen again in the 1990s, when a total of nine people died in arson attacks in Mölln and Solingen. The perpetrators received long prison sentences. In December 2003, members of an extremist music group were convicted of the formation of a criminal group for the first time. The case also banned the far-right band “Landser”. Together with the security authorities, in May 2005 the Office of the Federal Prosecutor succeeded in arresting four leading members of the “Kameradschaft Süd” group before they were able to commit a planned attack. The leader of the group was given a long prison sentence.

The Office of the Federal Prosecutor uses all available means of a constitutional state to prosecute criminal acts committed by far-right extremists. In May 2015, an intervention by the law enforcement authorities prevented an attack by the “Old School Society”. Eight members of the far-right terrorist group “Gruppe Freital” were arrested in April 2016, and given long prison sentences by the Higher Regional Court in Dresden in March 2018.

Criminal acts and attacks by far-right extremists are consistently prosecuted by the Office of the Federal Prosecutor in order to protect our pluralist society. The range of criminal activity currently being prosecuted by the Office of the Federal Prosecutor includes acts committed by radicalised individual perpetrators and acts committed by members of far-right terrorist groups.

The findings on the NSU will remain an obligation for the Office of the Federal Prosecutor long into the future.

to the top