The German government has banned the far-right and racist group known as Artgemeinschaft, along with all its sub-organizations, following police raids on numerous homes and buildings. The Artgemeinschaft group, which had approximately 150 members, was described by the German interior ministry as an anti-democratic association. Interior Minister Nancy Faeser stated that the group promoted a sectarian, deeply racist, and antisemitic ideology. The organization was found to be indoctrinating children and young people with their anti-democratic beliefs.
The Artgemeinschaft group propagated its Nazi worldview under the guise of a pseudo-religious Germanic belief in gods, according to the ministry. The group’s primary objective was to preserve and promote their own “kind,” which aligned with the National Socialist concept of “race.” The ministry’s statement highlighted further parallels between the group’s symbolism, narratives, and activities with Nazi ideology. The organization provided its members with instructions on selecting a “proper spouse” within the Northern and Central European “human kind” to ensure the transmission of the association’s racist ideology. Individuals of different origins were degraded, as stated by the ministry.
In a series of early morning raids across 12 states, police searched 26 apartments belonging to 39 Artgemeinschaft members, as well as the group’s clubhouses. This action follows the recent ban on the neo-Nazi group Hammerskins Germany, which also involved raids on the homes of numerous members. Hammerskins Germany, an offshoot of an American right-wing extremist group, played a prominent role in the far-right scene across Europe.