Germany conducts nationwide raids on neo-Nazi groups

Almost 800 police officers in 11 of Germany's 16 federal states took part in raids on far-right extremist groups on Wednesday, German media reported.

Authorities said they searched the residences of 50 suspected right-wing extremists. Some 11 other locations were also searched.

The raids began in the early morning and the neo-Nazi groups "Atomwaffen Division" (AWD), "Combat 18" (C18) and "Knockout 51" (K51) were the main focus.

A spokesperson for the state prosecutor's office said four suspects were arrested, German magazine Der Spiegel reported. The suspects are believed to be leaders of K51, one of whom is also being investigated in connection with AWD.

Some of the suspects face charges of being members of terrorist groups, others of being part of a criminal organization, according to Der Spiegel.

AWD is a neo-Nazi terror organization that started out in the US and is made up of leaderless terror cells. Members of the US group have been linked to at least five murders.

A splinter group was set up in Germany in 2018. Their flyers were spotted around Berlin as well as in a neighborhood in Cologne that was targeted by the neo-Nazi terror group National Socialist Underground (NSU) more than a decade prior.

People claiming to be members of the organization also sent death threats to German Green politicians Cem Özdemir and Claudia Roth in October 2019.

The state prosecutor's office is investigating 10 suspected members of the group, five of whom were targeted by Wednesday's raids. The office said investigations had begun in September 2019.

According to Der Spiegel, one of the suspected members of AWD is a former military officer cadet. He had been under observation by the German military counter-intelligence organization (MAD) that keeps tabs on neo-Nazi activity in the Bundeswehr, but they were unable to cut off his access to weapons and munitions.

C18 first appeared in the UK in the 1990s as the street-fighting wing of the far-right British National Party (BNP).

Authorities were aware of the group's presence in Germany by the end of the decade. They were involved in neo-Nazi events and far-right music festivals.

A suspected C18 member shot dead a Tunisian man in a supermarket in 2007. The assailant spent eight years in prison during which time he sparked up a relationship with the only surviving member of the NSU, Beate Zschäpe.

According to German public broadcaster ARD, he was also targeted by Wednesday's raids. Investigators believe C18 had other connections with the NSU, who murdered ten people between 2000 and 2007.

Chronicle of the NSU murders A mysterious string of murders For years, neo-Nazis of the right-wing organization National Socialist Underground (NSU) killed people across Germany. The suspects: Uwe Mundlos, Uwe Böhnhardt (center) and Beate Zschäpe. Their victims: eight people of Turkish origin, one Greek man and a German policewoman. Their motive: xenophobia. Until 2011, the German public was not aware of the scope of their crimes.

Chronicle of the NSU murders Unsuccessful bank robbery The murder spree was uncovered on November 4, 2011, when Mundlos and Böhnhardt robbed a bank in the east German town of Eisenach. For the first time, they failed. Police officers surrounded the caravan in which the two men were holed up. A later investigation concluded that Mundlos first shot and killed Böhnhardt, then set the caravan on fire and killed himself.

Chronicle of the NSU murders Zschäpe turns herself in Shortly after the death of Böhnhardt and Mundlos there was an explosion at Frühlingsstraße 26 in Zwickau, in the state of Saxony. Beate Zschäpe lived at that address together with the two bank robbers. Zschäpe allegedly set the house on fire to destroy evidence. Four days later, she turned herself in to the police. The terror suspect has been custody since that day.

Chronicle of the NSU murders The truth comes out In the ruins of the Zwickau flat, police officers found a self-made video in which the terror cell claimed responsibility under the name of the NSU, the National-Socialist Underground. The 15-minute video shows crime scenes and pictures of the victims killed by the right-wing terrorist group between 2000 and 2007.

Chronicle of the NSU murders NSU claim responsibility Famous cartoon character The Pink Panther hosts the amateur video, which is full of slogans of hatred against people with an immigrant background and which mocks the murder victims. Before her arrest, Zschäpe allegedly sent out copies of the video in which the NSU claimed responsibility for the crimes.

Chronicle of the NSU murders Verbal slip-ups Until 2011, the term "döner murders" was frequently used when reporting about the killings. Nothing was known about the connection between the individual cases, nor about the motive. There were rumors the victims were linked to the drug scene. But the NSU's video left no doubt. The term "döner murders" was chosen as Germany's "Unwort des Jahres" (doublespeak of the year) in 2011.

Chronicle of the NSU murders NSU also behind Cologne pipe bomb "The findings made by our security authorities so far show no indication of a terrorist background, but of a criminal milieu," said German Interior Minister Otto Schily on June 10, 2004. A day earlier, a pipe bomb explosion in Cologne left 22 people injured and many shops damaged. In 2011, it became clear: the NSU’s right-wing terrorists were also behind the Cologne bombing.

Chronicle of the NSU murders Memorial service in Berlin On February 23, 2012, Germany commemorated the victims. At the ceremony at a Berlin concert hall, the focus was on the relatives of the victims. Semiya Simsek (right), the daughter of the murdered flower stand owner Enver Simsek, gave an emotional speech. German Chancellor Angela Merkel made an official apology to the victims and promised them that all questions would be answered.

Chronicle of the NSU murders Memorial for Mehmet Kubasik "Dortmund is a colorful, tolerant and welcoming town – and opposes right-wing extremism!" This statement was made by mayor Ullrich Sierau at the unveiling of the memorial stone for NSU victim Mehmet Kubasik in September 2012. The memorial was set up just meters away from the kiosk in which Kubasik was killed on April 4, 2006.

Chronicle of the NSU murders Solidarity with the victims On November 4, 2012, exactly a year after the terror cell was uncovered, people in many German cities staged solidarity demonstrations against right-wing extremism. The protesters called for thorough investigations into the racially motivated murders - which in their view was not happening fast enough.

Chronicle of the NSU murders Beate Zschäpe lone survivor Believed to be the last survivor of the NSU trio, Beate Zschäpe went on trial in May 2013.Over 800 witnesses were heard. Zschäpe did not speak for the first two and a half years of the trial.

Chronicle of the NSU murders Life sentence Beate Zschäpe was given a life sentence. She was found guilty of joint complicity in 10 counts of murder, arson, robbery, extortion, the formation of a terrorist organization and membership in a terrorist organization. Though there was no evidence that she herself was present at the scene of the crimes, the judges felt that the "particular severity of guilt" required for a life sentence applied.

Chronicle of the NSU murders The co-accused Ralf Wohlleben received 10 years for procuring weapons for the NSU, co-accused Holger G. got three years for providing false identity papers. Another co-accused, Andre E, received two and a half years for providing the NSU with rail passes in his and his wife's name. He also allegedly rented a mobile home which the cell drove to Cologne to carry out a bombing.

Chronicle of the NSU murders Long lasting impact When conservative politician Walter Lübcke was murdered by a neo-Nazi activist in 2019, his name was also found on the 'list of enemies' for targetted killings. Lübcke had come under attack from the far-right following a speech he made in 2015 defending the decision to take in refugees from the Syrian war.

Chronicle of the NSU murders Securty agency failings The federal and the state parliaments launched investigations to shed light on the security authorities' failures in the NSU case: The role of paid informants, the lack of cooperation between the various intelligence agencies and state interior ministries, which are responsible for police in the respective states, and allegations of systemic racism on the part of German authorities. Author: Anna Peters / nh

Combat 18 was eventually declared illegal in 2020, a move that was heavily criticized as being too little too late, German broadcaster Tagesschau reported.

The other group under fire, K51, were targeted after they tried to set up a "Nazi hood" in the town of Eisenach in the eastern German state of Thuringia. Germany's attorney general named the group a criminal organization and ordered the arrest of four suspected members.

The federal prosecutor's office said that members of the group were involved in protests against hygiene measures to slow the spread of COVID-19 in cities such as Leipzig and Kassel that resulted in violent clashes with police and counter-protesters.