Germany bans far-right extremist group that tried to spread Nazi ideologies in children

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The German government on Wednesday banned a far-right, racist group known for its indoctrination of children as police raided dozens of homes of its members and other buildings early in the morning.

A statement from the German interior ministry said it banned the Artgemeinschaft group, an anti-democratic association with around 150 members. All of its sub-organizations, including the Gefaehrtschaften, Gilden, Freundeskreise, and Familienwerk e.V., were also banned, the ministry said.

"We are banning a sectarian, deeply racist and antisemitic association," Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said.

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"This is another hard blow against right-wing extremism and (those) who continue to spread Nazi ideologies to this day," she said, adding that the organization had attempted to indoctrinate their children and young people with their anti-democratic ideology.

Under the cover of a pseudo-religious Germanic belief in gods, the Artgemeinschaft spread its Nazi world view, the ministry said.

A police officer holding a hydraulic door opener walks on in Essen, Germany, on Sept. 27, 2023. Dozens of homes were raided in Germany Wednesday morning during a crackdown on the far-right extremist group Artgemeinschaft.  (Justin Brosch/dpa via AP)

"The group's central goal was the preservation and promotion of one’s own ‘kind,’ which can be equated with the National Socialist term 'race'," according to the statement.

In addition to the ideology of racial doctrine, the symbolism, narratives and activities of the group showed further parallels to the Nazis' ideology.

The group gave its members instructions on how to choose a "proper spouse" within the Northern and Central European "human kind" in order to pass on the "correct" genetic makeup according to the association’s racist ideology. People of other origins were degraded, the ministry said in its statement.

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In early morning raids across 12 states, police searched 26 apartments of 39 group members as well as the organization's club houses.

Last week, the German government banned the neo-Nazi group Hammerskins Germany and raided homes of dozens of its members. The group was an offshoot of an American ring-wing extremist group and played a prominent role in the far-right scene across Europe.