When public debates in Germany turn to “extremism”, many people immediately think of Islamist terrorism. Media coverage and political campaigns often amplify this association. Yet, if we look at Germany’s own official documents, a different picture emerges: right-wing extremism is currently classified as the greatest threat to German democracy by the country’s security authorities.

The annual Report on the Protection of the Constitution, published by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), monitors extremist activity across the spectrum. The 2023 report recorded around 25,660 offences with a right-wing extremist background, including more than 1,100 violent crimes. Offences with xenophobic motives rose by roughly 39% compared to the previous year, and right-wing extremist antisemitic crimes reached about 2,762 cases in a single year.

Subsequent figures for 2024 show that this trend has not reversed. The total number of right-wing extremist offences is estimated to have increased by over 40%, with more than 50,000 such crimes in 2024, including a significant share of violent acts.

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser has repeatedly underlined this reality: while Islamist terrorism, left-wing extremism and foreign interference are all serious issues, right-wing extremism remains the “No. 1 threat” to Germany’s democratic order.

This is not only about fringe neo-Nazi scenes. The domestic intelligence service has identified a growing extremist segment inside the far-right AfD party, and noted a sharp increase in racist, xenophobic and antisemitic crimes.

For everyone living in Germany – whether with or without a migration background – this has concrete implications:

• Security is not a narrative against migrants, but with them.
  Many victims of right-wing extremist violence are refugees, migrants and people perceived as “foreign”. But mayors, journalists, judges and activists are also being targeted, which undermines trust in democratic institutions.
• Right-wing extremism feeds on crises and narratives.
  Economic uncertainty, social polarization and conspiracy theories circulating online provide fertile ground. Combating this threat requires not only police and courts, but also responsible media that avoid normalising hate speech or presenting racism as just another “opinion”.
• Extremism is not confined to one religion or group.
  Islamist extremism and left-wing extremist violence remain real challenges, as shown by recent security warnings around Euro 2024 and data on politically motivated crimes.
  But the official ranking of threats is clear: organised right-wing extremist networks pose the most serious, long-term danger to German democracy.

For our “Countering Extremism” section, this means:

• We will base our analysis on data and official reports, not on stereotypes.
• We will unpack how hate speech works, how extremist narratives spread from fringe forums into mainstream debates.
• We will give space to victims’ voices and to former extremists who have left these scenes and can explain from the inside how recruitment and radicalisation actually work.
• We will connect the topic to other key themes of this platform: integration, identity, racism, digital culture and smart, responsible media.

The goal is simple: anyone who reads these pieces should come away not with more fear of “the other”, but with a clearer understanding of the real threats – and of the tools we have to defend an open, democratic society together.

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