The Nazis have left the earth a long long time ago. There’s hardly a chance that a surviving member of the dreadful Nazi party is active anywhere around, even as we’ve seen, time and again surviving members of the prison camps and guards and other aged lower-ranking officers being put to trial. But those who still exist and hang around, and perhaps not exactly in starkly poor numbers are the neo-Nazis. The neo-Nazis exist in several countries of the world, such as the United States and Germany. And it is the rise in far right extremists in Germany that seems to be the plight the country still haunted by its dark Nazi past.
You read that right. The rise in the far right extremists in Germany, particularly in 2020, has turned out to be a cause of concern for a populace that believes in liberal, democratic values. But the question is – just what led to the rise of the far-fight extremists in Germany in a year where much of the world was locked inside homes, with hardly a soul venturing out in lines with the concern caused by COVID 19?
News from ground zero in the country is that more and more far right extremists in Germany joined protests against the curbs and restrictions in lieu of the dreadful COVID 19 situations in the country.
But exactly how many neo-Nazis are there in the economic powerhouse of Europe?
According to the German interior minister Horst Seehofer shared that there are, at present, no fewer than 35,000 far right extremists in the country. But the underlying concern is that their population indicates a 4 percent increase in the numbers when compared to the previous year, 2019.
Perhaps not incorrect to say that to a country that has seen some of the ghastliest days in the war, being the epicentre of the malaise that was the rise of Nazism and its targeted attack of the Jews, the last thing that anybody, and, in particular, Germany wishes to see is the rise of far-right extremists again.
Meanwhile, a report from AP.com on the story happened to share the following:
First quoting the minister, the report shared a quote- “Far-right extremists were repeatedly able to protest side-by-side” with non-extremist opponents of the pandemic restrictions.”
The minister added that it was worrying how the protesters often didn’t distance themselves from the far-right extremists marching among them.
According to data published in an annual report by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the domestic intelligence agency known by its German acronym BfV, some 40% of the far-right extremists in Germany are believed to support the use of violence for political ends.
The report also noted an increase in the number of left-wing extremists last year compared to 2019, though a smaller share were considered supportive of violence.
The number of Islamists remained stable last year, according to the report.
It is the far right extremists in Germany that are against the country opening its borders and accepting with warmth and grace anyone who’s not German and isn’t born in the country, an aspect that has led to violent (but avoidable) clashes between the Muslim immigrants in the country and those who resist their presence. So how will Germany tackle the glaring issue?