The police raided eight cities in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, which is Germany’s most populous state with 18 million inhabitants, as well as in the capital Berlin and in Brandenburg, which surrounds it. All the accused are German citizens. In addition to the police, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), which has the powers of the internal secret service in Germany, also participated in the investigation.
The DPA agency reminded that from 2024 the number of violent crimes committed by neo-Nazis, some of them very young, will increase. These are, for example, attacks on participants in pride marches of the LGBT+ community. According to the Federal Criminal Office (BKA), the majority of the group of young neo-Nazis first arose on the Internet and then began to assert themselves in the real world and commit crimes.
The Jung und Stark group belongs to the largest neo-Nazi youth groups, others are, for example, Deutsche Jugend Voran (German Youth Forward) or Letzte Verteidigungswelle (Last Defense Wave). Young people suspected of being members of the Last Defense Wave are now facing charges of several violent crimes in a court in Hamburg.
