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A man wears a supporter jacket for the right-wing martial arts event "Kampf der Nibelungen": The scene also makes money with fan articles
Photo: Thomas Frey / dpa
From January to August, the Joint Extremism and Terrorism Defense Center of the federal and state governments dealt with the right-wing extremist martial arts scene 14 times.
Almost twice a month, training groups and competitions were the topic of the secret round.
Due to the corona protective measures, the scene was only able to act to a limited extent, larger events were not even possible.
As can be seen from a response from the federal government to a small request from the Greens, the German security authorities have been dealing with the problem more and more frequently since 2018: While there were eleven discussions on the topic in the common terrorist center law in 2018, there were already 22 in 2019, which is twice so many.
"Young right-wing extremists in particular are increasingly interested in joint sporting activities," states the Interior Ministry.
In addition to martial arts, strength training and mountaineering are also popular.
In view of these findings, the Greens expect a sport-political response to stop the infiltration of extreme martial arts.
"Mixed Martial Arts" and "Free Fights", brutal wrestling matches in which almost anything is allowed, are popular in the scene.
"It must be clear to us that the extreme right does not practice martial arts as an end in itself," said Monika Lazar, sports policy spokeswoman for the Greens in the Bundestag.
As a countermeasure, she suggests licensing procedures for sports studios and coaches.
The protection of the constitution has long warned against a dangerous mix of martial artists, neo-Nazis and hooligans.
The extreme right is acting increasingly professionally and internationally in this area.
With events such as the "Battle of the Nibelungs", which was banned for the first time in 2019, and combat schools, young people are recruited and money is raised.
Ultimately, the scene should be trained for the "final clash of cultures" and the overthrow on "Day X", writes the Brandenburg Office for the Protection of the Constitution in its latest report.
The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution also stated in its annual report for 2019 that the right-wing extremist martial arts scene was gaining strength.
The competence group fan cultures and sport-related social work also sees an urgent need for domestic and sport-political action, including bans on corresponding clubs, events and clothing labels.
The development and networking of the extreme right in martial arts is "dangerous and worrying," according to an analysis for the Bundestag.
Support from members of the armed forces
According to the protection of the Constitution, the martial arts groups in the right-wing extremist spectrum include "Baltik Korps" from Rostock and "Knockout 51" from Eisenach in Thuringia.
The protection of the constitution see personal overlaps and contacts between right-wing extremist martial artists and the hooligan scene in Dortmund, Cottbus and Chemnitz, for example.
As far as the Federal Government is aware, active members of the Bundeswehr have also given "Likes" to the "Battle of the Nibelungs" on Facebook in recent years and have taken part in this largest right-wing extremist martial arts event as visitors.
"The number of ratios is in the double-digit range," writes the Interior Ministry.
"Totally unacceptable" to Lazar.
We urgently need to draw conclusions here.
At the end of September, the police in Magdeburg banned this year's "Battle of the Nibelungs" and dissolved it.
Around 90 participants and visitors from ten countries had to leave the event site.
Around 140 officers were on duty.
A boxing ring was secured.
After the ban in the previous year (because of "preparing for a political fight") and probably also because of the corona restrictions, this time the organizers had planned a smaller, publicly unannounced competition, which should later be shown online.
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Löw / dpa