According to Baden-Württemberg’s Minister of the Interior, Strobl, radicalization has set in since the start of the war in Ukraine. He warns that those who support the war could become victims of attacks. The Bundeswehr is also in focus.
In the course of the war against Ukraine, government parties, the German armed forces and armaments companies are increasingly being targeted by violent left-wing extremists, according to Baden-Württemberg’s Minister of the Interior, Thomas Strobl.
It can be assumed that “everyone who is seen as a warmonger by the left-wing scene is also at risk of becoming a victim of an attack,” said the CDU politician in Stuttgart. “These include in particular the governing parties, the Bundeswehr and companies related to the armaments industry.” Developments will be carefully monitored.
Strobl said that with the beginning of the Russian war of aggression, “anti-militarism” was increasingly playing a role again in the local left-wing extremist scene alongside “anti-fascism”.
In this context, some crimes have already been committed in Baden-Württemberg – so far mainly paint attacks. “If the situation in Ukraine and the effects on Germany worsen, we have to expect that this scene will become more radical.”
At the presentation of the 2021 report for the protection of the Constitution at the beginning of June, Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser also attested that violent left-wing extremism had “a high level of radicalization”. What is needed is “a very consistent and early intervention.”
According to the report, the number of left-wing extremist crimes nationwide fell by 7.4 percent to around 6,100 crimes. In 2021, however, the number of violent left-wing extremists rose again and is now 10,300. For comparison: the number of violent right-wing extremists is given as 13,500.
