One week after being labeled illegal, Hammer Skins, an international skinhead network, faced a national police operation in Germany. The action targeted the oldest and most historic neo-Nazi faction still active in the country, known as the Artgemeinschaft, or Germanische Glaubens Gemeinschaft, sometimes translated as the Racial Community or Teutonic Faith Community. Authorities allege the group brainwashed minors into a Germanic faith that rejected the modern constitutional order.
Following the police statement, officials announced the immediate disbandment of the group. The organization is part of a broader neo-Nazi spectrum with about 150 known members across Germany. The nationwide operation coordinated raids on 26 residences connected to 39 militants, spanning 12 of Germany’s 16 federal states.
Authorities had monitored the movement for roughly a year, describing it as sectarian, intensely anti-Semitic, and racist. The group traces its roots to 1951 and remains more like a tightly knit sect than a conventional political party. Its core ideology centers on ancestral myths and a belief in Germanic ethnic superiority, but the primary reason for the ban is the attempt to dismantle the German constitutional order and its institutions, a pattern similar to other groups that reject state authority including the Reichsbürger movement.
Brainwashing of minors
The operation highlighted the threat to children as members are accused of engaging in sexual abuse and coercive recruitment. The branch known as Family Action is identified as the main hub for these indoctrination efforts. The reach of the crackdown extends from Berlin and Brandenburg in the east to Bavaria in the south, North Rhine-Westphalia in the west, and Schleswig-Holstein along the northern coast near Denmark’s border.
Germany’s internal security agencies noted in their 2020 annual report an uptick in activity aimed at indoctrinating minors. They warned followers to recruit as many children as possible, hoping to embed racist and anti Semitic ideas, including anti Christian sentiments, into young minds. The group promotes Germanic myths as a supposed ancestral religion and uses such narratives to justify its stance against modern democratic values.
The ban on this sect followed a prior restriction placed on the neo-Nazi network’s German branch, which had links to activities abroad in the United States and other European countries. The 150 militants involved were not pursuing anti-center ideologies alone but also distributing music and other neo-Nazi propaganda. Coordinated records were collected from militants’ homes with the help of hundreds of authorities during the operation.
Neo-Nazi comrades
The crackdown on these fringe groups reveals a range of behaviors and identities within the neo-Nazi milieu. Several groups, including some militants, do not always identify themselves under a single banner. Alternative for Germany, commonly known as AfD, remains the only far-right party represented in Germany’s federal parliament, where it holds significant support in national polls.
In recent weeks, Minister Faeser has intensified operations tied to his political campaign in Hesse, a state hosting the financial center Frankfurt. Regional elections in Hesse and Bavaria are scheduled for October 8. Current alliances favor conservative coalitions in both states, with the Christian Democratic Union, supported by the Greens in Hesse, and the CSU in Bavaria forming key blocs. Polls indicate a tendency toward conservative outcomes in these elections.