Introduction & Updates in National Landscape
On December 1, 2022, a court in Germany ruled that former AfD member of parliament (until 2021) Jens Maier may not return to his job as a judge. That means that some AfD Politicians cannot come back to their normal jobs. (German: https://taz.de/AfD-Richter-Jens-Maier/!5895626/)
Also, in December 2022, the AfD suffered some losses. In Saxony, state parliament member Ivo Teichmann resigned from the AfD. One of the reasons he gave for leaving was the AfD’s lack of distance from the Free Saxony party. (German: https://www.mdr.de/nachrichten/sachsen/politik/afd-austritt-freie-landtag-teichmann-100.html) In December 2022, Walter Wissenbach and Rainer Rahn, AfD members of the state parliament in Hessen, left their party and parliamentary group. (German: https://www.t-online.de/region/frankfurt-am-main/id_100094914/-schande-fuer-deutschland-abgeordnete-verlassen-afd-fraktion-in-hessen.html)
On the morning of December 7, 2022, house searches took place by the police in 150 properties and the arrest of 25 people in the 11 German Federal states of Baden-Württemberg, Berlin, Brandenburg, Hessen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Saarland, Thüringen and Niedersachsen, as well as in Kitzbühel (Austria) and in Perugia (Italy). Of these, 22 are accused of being suspected members of a right-wing terrorist organization, as well as three suspected supporters. In addition, there are another 27 suspects. The Reichsbürger group affected by the raids is said to have planned the overthrow of the government and its replacement by an authoritarian regime. According to the public prosecutor’s office, it had “set itself the goal of overthrowing the existing state order in Germany and replacing it with its own form of government, the outlines of which had already been worked out. Several former soldiers from the elite „Kommando Spezialkräfte“ (KSK) unit were involved in the group. In addition, the measure was also directed against Birgit Malsack-Winkemann, a judge and former AfD member of the Bundestag. Birgit Malsack-Winkemann was also a member of the party’s Federal Arbitration Court until the end. The AfD has distanced itself from its former MP. The party does not officially represent any Reichsbürger ideology. On the other hand, the party has a rallying character for various right-wing currents, which also attracts Reichsbürger. (https://antifascist-europe.org/germany/raid-against-reichsburger-mad-in-germany/)
On December 12, 2022, convicted right-wing terrorist Stephan Balliet took two judicial officers hostage in the high-security Burg prison using a homemade shooting device. He was overpowered after an hour. Balliet attacked a synagogue on October 9, 2019, murdering two people as random victims. For this, he was sentenced to life in prison in December 2020. (https://apnews.com/article/prisons-9bab145548ecd4d5c0fde32064c2f4c4)
Transnational Activities & Group Interactions
On December 10, 2022, a delegation of AfD and FPÖ members attended a Republican gala in New York. Among them from the USA were Donald Trump Jr, Republican MP Marjorie Taylor Greene, Trump lawyer Rudi Giuliani, Stephen K. Bannon, and Matthew Tyrmand (Breitbart columnist).
From Éurope, Harald Vilimsky (FPÖ MEP), Nicolaus Fest (AfD MEP), Gerald Grosz (FPÖ politician), Maximilian Krah (AfD MEP), Maximilian Krauss (chairman of the FPÖ youth organization “Ring Freiheitlicher Jugend”) and Robert Roos (JA21 MEP) participated. Marjorie Taylor Greene gave a speech in which she said, among other things, “Let me tell you something: If Steve Bannon and I had organized the [Storming of the Capitol], we would have won. Not to mention we would have been armed.” (German: https://www.belltower.news/netzwerke-afd-und-fpoe-abgeordnete-zu-besuch-bei-us-rechtsextremen-144367/)
In mid-December 2022, it became known that the Italian far-right politician Silvio Berlusconi had acquired the two major German private stations “Pro Sieben” and “Sat.1” through his media holding company “MFE – Media For Europe NV”. (German: https://www.de24live.de/deutschland/exklusiv-berlusconi-meldet-alleinige-kontrolle-ueber-prosiebensat-1-an/539319647)