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Anti-fascism and anti-Nazism in Germany. Voices in Resistance

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Anti-fascism and anti-Nazism in Germany: Voices of resistance (Giessen, 29 Nov 2025)
Vladimir Betancur Arias (University of Antioquia, Colombia) & Bruno Mayer (trade unionist; Die Linke, Germany)

After the Second World War, with the fall of the Third Reich, a process known as denazification [Entnazifizierung] began, designed to dissolve everything related to the dictatorship (policies, institutions, philosophy) and to prosecute members of the National Socialist Party, the armed forces, the militias, and the leaders of mass organisations, i.e., youth, women, or workers, through which the Nazi ideology sought to reach every citizen recognised as German by the state. This process, which lasted until 1951 and was coordinated by the Allied forces, winners of the second world war, was guided by various investigative processes to identify all those involved in war crimes and bring them to trial. Despite this, Nazi ideology never left the country, but rather it mutated, Thus, the “denazification” was never completed, due in part to the beginning of the Cold War, as the new enemies became communism and the Soviet Union.

During the second half of the twentieth century, new far-right organisations entertaining affinities for Nazi ideology and aesthetics emerged. They maintained contact with surviving former Nazis, some of whom were linked to the army, the NATO, and the state administration. Today, the constitution protects itself by making anti-constitutional actions and decision outlawed. For instance political thoughts and symbols hostile to the constitution that supports totalitarism and goes against plurality, like Nazi symbols and gestures, are prohibited by law since the end of the war.

Decades passed, the old Nazis died, but their ideas did not. For example, the Die Heimat [the homeland] party, formerly NPD (Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands) [National Democratic Party of Germany], was banned from receiving state funding on Tuesday, 21 January 2024, being stripped of the preferential tax treatment generally granted to parties, years after being determined to be hostile to the constitution and democracy. Following the decision taken by the German Constitutional Court, the Deutsche Welle reports:

In 2017, the Constitutional Court ruled that the party, then known as the NPD, was hostile to Germany’s constitutional and democratic order. But the court decided not to ban the party, considered marginal, arguing that it received too little support to be a viable threat.  Parliament responded by passing a new law allowing extremist parties to be stripped of state funding and tax benefits. Tuesday’s decision marks the first time such a law has been applied. (DW, https://www.dw.com/es/constitucional-de-alemania-veta-fondos-estatales-para-partido-de-extrema-derecha-die-heimat/a-68062222, 23 January 2024)

Another far-right party, the AfD (Alternative fuer Deutschland) was founded in 2013 as a liberal-conservative party and since then developed clear adopted xenophobic, ultra-nationalist, anti-Semitic and anti-European Union positions. It recently created a youth organisation that functioned as an association, with a certain degree of independence from the mother party, and which was characterized by a visible Nazi-like rhetoric. It was shut down by the party itself for fear that the German government would ban it. As a result a new Youth organization was re-founded, with the difference that the new organisation reports directly to the mother AfD party. These movements in the far-right political arena in Germany take place in an European context of increasing far-right ideologies, as Senso states,

In France, anti-Semitic attacks increased by 74% in 2019 and another 27% in 2020. In Germany, in 2018, the police recorded 1,646 politically and religiously motivated crimes against Jews, an increase of more than 10% compared to 2017. It was in that year that AfD MPs in Bavaria left the Chamber during a tribute to the victims of Nazism (Senso 2020, p. 170).

The new AfD Youth organisation, which presents itself as an alternative, has managed to forge links with Moscow in its efforts to extend its reach. Many of its members travel to Russia for this purpose. Benjamin Bidder, an “economics and business reporter for the German news magazine Der Spiegel who covers Russia and Ukraine as well as German and global economic affairs” (Centre for European Estudies. Harvard) explains on 24 July 2017 for the Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung (Federal Agency for Civic Education) of the German Federal State,

In early 2016, it became known that the AfD’s youth organisation JA, chaired by Markus Frohnmaier, was seeking an official alliance with the “Young Guard” of the Kremlin’s United Russia party. Gauland and Pretzell have not commented on the trips, which were financed by Russian sources, or have only made brief statements. Pretzell was listed as a “guest of honour” by the organisers of the conference in Crimea. […] Gauland defended his policy towards Russia with reference to German history. He claimed that he was following in the tradition of Bismarck and Metternich: “It is part of the German-Prussian tradition to maintain good relations with Russia.”

The European far-right is far from being a mere ghost of the past, as can be seen from the events in Cologne (Germany) on 9 June 2004, when a nail bomb placed in Keupstrasse by members of a group calling itself the National Socialist Underground (NSU) left 22 people injured, some seriously. Another case of right-wing extremism occurred in Hanau (Germany) on 19 February 2020, when a man affiliated with the AfD shot and killed nine people and wounded seven more, most of them of migrant origin, before murdering his mother and shooting himself. Such violence is not exclusively directed at migrants, as our trade union colleague tells us,

[…] right-wing terrorism has long been affecting the very representatives of the system: in Heilbronn, NSU terrorists shot police officer Michèle Kiesewetter in the head, while her partner narrowly survived another shot to the head. The president of the Kassel regional government, Walter Lübcke, a member of the CDU, was shot in the back of the head and killed by a right-wing extremist. Compared to deadly terrorism, the 2020 incident in Berlin seems almost comical, when conspirators attempted to storm the Reichstag. They almost succeeded, as the Bundestag building was protected by only six police officers, contrasting with the 6,000 placed at the exhibition halls in Giessen [Meeting location for the re-founding of the AfD Youth Party in November 2025] (German Trade Unionist).

Faced with the need to strengthen the youth base of the party, the AFD has taken it upon itself to spread its ideas through social media, presenting itself as a supposed alternative, an anti-establishment party. In this context, on 29 November 2025, the AfD held the founding meeting of its new youth movement in the city of Giessen, in the state of Hessen. The event met widespread resistance throughout the Federal Republic of Germany.  Social movements and civil society mobilised all their forces, blocking the roads and filling them with colour, slogans, agitation, diversity, indignation and joyful rebellion. Dozens of buses arrived from all corners of the country to make their position clear, accompany local organisations, and affirm that they will not allow fascism or Nazism to return to power.

The mobilisation, which took place in early winter, brought together trade unions, parties, left-wing organisations and collectives, the organisations participating in Wiedersetzen [Oppose] who actively oppose the AfD, as well as youth organisations, the Catholic and Evangelical churches, LGBTIQ+ communities and organisations, migrant groups, among other forms of social mobilisation from across the country planned since July this year. In general, it was a peaceful march. The couple of exceptions were somewhat unusual in the German context, where the police tends to be more “respectful of human rights” and does not fire tear gas or bombs at demonstrators, as a fellow trade unionist tells us. The unionist referred to the conflict between activists and police on the construction site of the B49 and in particular to a video that circulated widely on social media showing how a police contingent rushes on foot at full speed towards a group of demonstrators walking slowly and immediately begins to beat them with sticks.

With our skin and hearts interwoven with the rivers of people, and intent on beating with vitalist rebellion and shared indignation, we present below the shared and personal dreams of some of the participants. These are words that walk, have faces and voices; some are migrants, others are European workers, young people, women and queers. The comrades with whom we spoke during and after the mobilisation, with clear consciousness and full of motivation, know that it is not only social movements that dream of the world, but also the far right, 

Many young people vote for the AfD because they feel abandoned by current politics. This is because, in fact, both the CDU and the SPD mainly make policies for the elderly and the wealthy. The AfD does this too, but it wraps it up in a bunch of populist statements that make young people, who have little media literacy, consider the AfD a party that supports young people. In addition, many young people long for the stability that has been lost in recent years (German secondary school student).

For his part, the Afghan classmate, being a refugee, points out very clearly how the dream of some can become the nightmare of others: “They dream of a nationalist society for ‘pure’ Germans. Added to this is their intolerance of other religions and cultures. They dream of a white ethno-nationalist society.” (Afghan migrant, left-wing activist).

Migrants, like refugees, unjustly rejected or feared, but deeply grateful to this country that welcomed them, supported them, and gave them work, hold up their dreams, both subjective and collective, as banners in the fight against fascism, Nazism, and all forms of oppression, including fundamentalism. These people, as some of them told us, know well that human dignity should be inviolable, a matter enshrined in the constitution, that they have the right to be accepted and respected, to be part of this society, not to be victims of hatred, which is partly responsible for their current situation.

Fascism must be fought everywhere. By fascism, I mean hatred towards other people, towards people of a different skin colour, for example, in Europe, and hatred towards people with different ideologies or beliefs. Like the Taliban in Afghanistan. This hatred is not new to me, as the Taliban rule in the same way in Afghanistan. Fascism can only exist because oppression and repression have become normalised. Fascism thrives on propaganda, as it wants to present complicated issues in a simplified way. For example, on the issue of migration, they want to deport millions of people overnight, even though they know that this is not realistic (Afghan Migrant Left-wing Activist).

Similarly, a young secondary school student affirms that the fight against Nazis goes hand in hand with the fight against racism, patriarchy and xenophobia, as well as the fight against homophobia, transphobia and other forms of exclusion. “Nazis represent an accumulation of all these struggles and embody everything we oppose. The fight against Nazis is not only a fight for marginalised people, but for human rights in general” (German secondary school student). This argument is similar to the words of an LGBTIQ+ activist who kindly granted us an interview. In addition to pointing out the need for unity, he says he feels fear in the face of the strengthening of the far-right.

[…] we must unite for the community, we must be brave, we must fight for diversity and we must unite for diversity […] And that is why, personally, I am afraid that this wind of hatred that the AFD has generated in recent years will take root in young people, if it has not already done so, and that they will become the next generation of haters.

 The exclusions, oppressions or discriminations experienced by the different people we talk to are not the same. It is not the same to be a white German working man as it is to be a school-age youth, a woman, a queer person, an Afghan refugee or an Ecuadorian doctoral student. Capitalism, colonialism and monoculturalism have always benefited from exploitation, war, repression and dispossession in the name of religion or civilisation, democracy and freedom. In this way, the struggles of social movements and diversities are much broader than the borders of nation states. “In America, Europe, Asia and Latin America, we have a global anti-history against queer people. There are countries in Latin America that still do not have as many queer rights as we do (in Germany)” (LGBTIQ+ activist). On Islamophobia, hatred of Christians, anti-Semitism and internationalist solidarity with the peoples of the world, our refugee comrade tells us,

I am aware of one thing: radical Muslims, radical Christians and radical Jews (Zionists) are a problem for peaceful coexistence […] for me, they are the same as the AfD, only with different forms and disguises. Therefore […], anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and hatred of Christians are inhuman, distasteful and contrary to the beliefs of these religions themselves […], I find it unbearable that, in the 21st century, women are denied access to education, as is the case in Afghanistan.  Just as we fight against the AfD and fascism in Germany, we must also fight against the election of a far-right presidential candidate, as in the case of Chile, because fascism wants only one thing throughout the world: to spread hatred! Neocolonial aspirations are on the rise again. This can be clearly seen in the Caribbean and Venezuela. This policy of the United States leads to the destabilisation of the region and prevents countries from continuing to develop in a sovereign manner (Afghan migrant, left-wing activist).

All this mobilisation and struggle at the level of the Federal Republic of Germany, as an Ecuadorian colleague told us, has not been reflected in the polls, where racist and xenophobic narratives have been evident, labelling some people as ‘affected’ by migration and others as ‘causing such effects’, that is to say: migrants, especially Muslims.

You have many more people voting for the AfD than for the left (Die Linke) or the Greens. In the last election, there was an increase in votes for the left, but it did not reach 10%. On the other hand, the AfD is now in third place nationally. And the trend is growing. I think the lesson here is that the right wing has taken over the innovative discourse, the discourse that moves you. And people are susceptible to that. People don’t have time to delve into why racism exists. They see that foreigners behave in ways that are not well regarded (for example, here the issue of rubbish, punctuality, silence) and they swallow the whole narrative of the far-right. (Ecuadorian doctoral  student).

Following the actions already taken, the next steps are being organised, which will consist of blocking the AfD party congress, as well as other smaller demonstrations. There is a real possibility that this party will come to power in the federal states of Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, in addition to increasing its number of seats in the Bundestag, the federal parliament.

The mobilisation that took place on 29 November 2025 in the city of Giessen was, according to voices on the street, one of the largest demonstrations held in both the region and the country in a long time, illustrating the discontent, anger and deep desire to prevent the far right from coming to power, by all means possible that allow us to defend life in diversity, freedom and autonomy.  

Imagen2 Eure Ordnung ist auf Sand gebaut [Your order is built on sand]. (kuroshiro_photography, november 29 2025, Giessen)

When the Nazis came for the communists, I remained silent; I was not a communist.

When they imprisoned the social democrats, I remained silent; I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists, I did not protest; I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews, I did not protest; I was not a Jew.

When they came for me, there was no one left to protest.

Martin Niemoeller.

References in original language,

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