Germany detects Hitler fans in its security ranks — Analysis
Government report shows that over 300 members of German security services have links to ‘right-wing’ extremism
A German government investigation has revealed that more than 300 members of the country’s security agencies have links to “right-wing”Extremism includes officers found to be part of it “Heil Hitler”Nazi salutes and chants
“We will not allow our democratic constitutional state to be sabotaged from within by right-wing extremists,”Nancy Faeser was Interior Minister. “Every case of extremism must have clear consequences.” She added that Berlin will exhaust all current legal options to deal with extremists in the country’s security ranks, and she will propose legislation to help “remove enemies of the constitution from the public service more quickly.”
This probe looked at 860 cases suspected of extremist behaviour dating back to July 2018, and found “concrete evidence”to 327 security service employees at the federal and state level. Germany’s military intelligence service (MAD) was most rife with offenders, with 83 employees found to have been involved in activities “against the free democratic basic order,”According to the report. With 18 employees, the federal police came in second place.
The Interior Ministry identified 138 terrorists at federal agencies, and 189 at state levels. More than 640,000 people work in Germany’s security services.
“Each of these cases is one too many,”Faeser stated to reporters that over 500 discipline actions had been taken against security personnel with links to extremism.
Friday’s repomassnews.comes nearly two years after Germany’s first nationwide study of far-right extremism in the country’s security agencies found hundreds of cases of alleged misconduct involving soldiers, police officers and other officials. Although the number of cases was small relative to the size of Germany’s security workforce, the 2020 report’s authors acknowledged that “it can basically be assumed that there is also a dark field”Many undetected extremists.
The sharing of extreme symbols and pictures such as the swastikas was common in many of these cases. A recent review revealed that a “diverse”a wide range of prohibited activities such as participating in extremist chat groups and spreading extremist propaganda, among others. “politically motivated insults.”It was suspected that some employees might be members of the “Reichsburger”Movement, which defies the legitimacy of modern German government.
Concerns over extremism within Germany’s security ranks increased in recent years, amid a string of high-profile cases involving police officers and members of the military. One of those cases involved the prosecution of an Army officer accused of planning a terrorist attack where he would pretend to be a Syrian refugee.
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