More than 800 agents carry out simultaneous registrations in 11 federal states
The Federal Criminal Investigation Office (BKA) has today dismantled by order of the Federal Prosecutor’s Office the right-wing extremist group “Atomwaffen Division” (AWD) as suspected of terrorist association and criminal association in one of the largest operations in memory in this country against neo-Nazi movements. More than 800 agents participated from the early hours of the morning in the search of 61 homes and premises of 50 people related to the extremist group in 11 German federal states. A spokeswoman for the Federal Prosecutor’s Office reported from its headquarters in Karlsruhe that four people are in preventive detention. The case apparently brings together five investigations that had so far been carried out individually and focuses on the followers of a wide network of neo-Nazi activists. Among the suspects is an active non-commissioned officer of the “Bundeswehr”, as revealed by several German media.
Developed after “years of secret investigations”, according to sources from the Federal Prosecutor’s Office, the operation carried out by the German security forces is directed fundamentally against the organization “Atomwaffen Division”, but also against other related groups suspected of being integrated into it such as the combat groups “Knockout 51” or “Combat 18”, the latter banned two years ago by the authorities. The number 18 refers to the first and eighth letters of the alphabet and the initials of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler. The neo-Nazi network has its origin in the United States and was founded in 2015 by young racists related to the Internet. In that country the authorities have accused its members of five murders. The German authorities registered in 2018 the establishment of a subsidiary of the «Atomwaffen Division» in Germany, after leaflets of that organization appeared in several locations. A year later the Federal Prosecutor’s Office ordered the BKA to investigate the network.
The first arrest of a supporter of the “Atomwaffen Division” occurred already in the spring of 2020. A 22-year-old electronics expert was then captured in Bavaria on suspicion of terrorism. The Nuremberg High Court later sentenced the young man to two years in prison for planning an assault rifle attack on a mosque. The prolonged and detailed investigations of the special commission of the BKA “Kern”, nucleus in Spanish, led to the identification of numerous members of the neo-Nazi network. Among them was former German army officer candidate Chris Marvin C., 26, who served in a tank unit in the town of Münster and had been observed by the MAD military intelligence services.
Another of those indicted by the Federal Prosecutor’s Office, responsible for the fight against terrorism in Germany, is the well-known neo-Nazi Leon R., a member of the “Knockout 51” combat group, who is held responsible for attacks and aggressions against left-wing militants and agents of police. Leon R. and 3 other members of his group were arrested during the operation carried out this Wednesday. Prosecutors accuse them of trying to subjugate the East German town of Eisenach, where they presented themselves as “law enforcement officers” and have been involved in several cases of assaults with injuries. Leon R. is also considered a member of the “Atomwaffen Division”
Thomas Haldenweg, president of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), which is responsible for counter-espionage and counter-terrorism services, pointed out that the operation represents “a major blow against the violent organizations of the extreme right and a great success for the security forces. The federal government’s recent package of intensive measures against the far-right is beginning to have an effect, said Haldenweg, who warned that “we will act consistently against all aspirations to revive banned organizations, as well as against far-right fighting groups.” The president of the BfV recalled that “Atomwaffen Division” aims to end the democratic order and establish a neo-Nazi dictatorship in Germany with terrorist methods.
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