Germany bans far-right, pro-Nazi group, police raid homes

Anti-facists protest against a rally of the anti-immigrant Pegida movement (Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the Occident) on October 26, 2020, marking the 6th anniversary of their founding, in Dresden, eastern Germany. (File/AFP)

• The homes of 13 members of the far-right group Wolfbrigade 44 were searched in Hesse
• The group’s goal is to re-establish a Nazi dictatorship, according to security officials

BERLIN: Police raided homes in three German states early Tuesday after the German government banned a far-right group, a spokesman for the interior ministry said.
The homes of 13 members of the far-right group Wolfbrigade 44 were searched in Hesse, Mecklenburg West-Pomerania and North Rhine-Westphalia to confiscate the group’s funds and far-right propaganda material, the German news agency dpa reported.
“Whoever fights against the basic values of our free society will get to feel the resolute reaction of our government,” Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said, according to his spokesman, Steve Alter.
The group’s goal is to re-establish a Nazi dictatorship, according to security officials. The 44 in their name stands for the fourth letter in the alphabet, DD, and is an abbreviation for Division Dirlewanger. Oskar Dirlewanger was a known Nazi war criminal and commander of a Nazi SS special unit.
The far-right group was founded in 2016. It is known for possessing illegal weapons and members have participated in far-right protests.
Earlier this year, the German government banned other far-right groups including the Combat 18 and the Nordadler, dpa reported.