'Culture of violence:' German police launch raid on young neo-Nazis

German police targeted the country's far-right scene in early morning raids on Wednesday, searching premises linked to dozens of suspects believed to be key players in neo-Nazi youth groups.

Those targeted are accused of being part of "Young and Strong" and "German Youth Forward," two groups that authorities consider to be criminal organizations, a spokeswoman for federal prosecutors said.

Most of the 36 suspects - the youngest of whom is 16 years old - are believed to be ringleaders, while eight are also being investigated over dangerous bodily harm, according to a statement by the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office in Karlsruhe.

No arrests were planned on Wednesday, the spokeswoman said, adding that the raids, which took place across 12 of Germany's 16 federal states, were focused on searching premises.

Prosecutors believe the two groups were founded in mid-2024, and are active nationwide via regional chapters.

Members network both via social media and at regular meetings, where calls have been made for acts of violence against political opponents and against alleged paedophiles, according to prosecutors.

Some of the accused are said to have attacked members of the left-wing scene or people they believed to be paedophiles. In each case, the victims were beaten by several attackers and sustained significant injuries, prosecutors said.

Some of the attacks are believed to have targeted Pride events.

Violence in Germany by young neo-Nazis has increased since 2024, including at Christopher Street Day parades, one of the largest LGBTQI celebrations in the country.

Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) said in mid-2025 that it has observed the emergence of new youth-led far-right groups over the past year, many of which were initially formed online. These groups are now increasingly appearing in public through events, disruptive actions and criminal offences.

The largest of these groups was Young and Strong, which security sources estimate to have a mid-three-digit number of followers.

German Youth Forward is believed to have more than 100 members.

Potsdam-based political researchers Christoph Schulze told dpa that the two groups are different from other far-right organizations in that most of their supporters are very young.

They oppose everything and everyone considered to be left-wing and affiliated with the Antifa movement, as well as the LGBTQI community, he said.

Last year, German Youth Forward affiliates took part in counterprotests at Pride protests in East Germany, where they were seen displaying aggressive behaviour and chanting slogans such as "HIV, help us, gays still exist," Schulze said.

While the size of the groups targeted by the raids is relatively small in terms of members, and they are not yet firmly established in terms of an organizational structure, a "culture of violence" prevails within them, according to the expert.

Prosecutors' actions such as Wednesday's raids help to weaken the neo-Nazi groups, but they are not enough to eliminate spaces that allow the fostering of "far-right tendencies among young people," Schulze added.

Schulze is a research associate at the Moses Mendelssohn Centre for European-Jewish Studies at Potsdam University. His work focuses on right-wing extremism.