More than 180 police officers have raided homes in three German states after the German government banned a far-right group.
The homes of 11 members of the Wolfsbrigade 44 group 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,” the interior minister, Horst Seehofer, said. “There’s no place in this country for an association that sows hatred and and works on the resurrection of a Nazi state.”
The members of the group want to re-establish a Nazi dictatorship and abolish democracy, the interior ministry said. The “44” in its name stands for the fourth letter in the alphabet, DD, and is an abbreviation for Division Dirlewanger. Oskar Dirlewanger was a known war criminal and commander of a Nazi SS special unit.
The far-right group, founded in 2016, is also known for its antisemitic and racist ideology as well as its violent and aggressive appearances in public and on social media.
On Tuesday, officers found knives, a machete, a crossbow and bayonets during the raids. They also seized Nazi devotional objects such as swastikas and flags.
Earlier this year, the German government banned other far-right groups including the Combat 18 and the Nordadler, dpa reported.
