Positioning Germany’s Right-Wing Revival in Global Context<sup>1</sup>

Abstract

Right-wing extremism and neo-fascism have recently come to the fore again in the Federal Republic of Germany. This includes political organizations, people and groups that proclaim racist, nationalist, anti-Semitic, xenophobic, Islamophobic and militarist ideologies. Sleeper cells that have been dormant and almost invisible for decades are suddenly appearing. Whoever heard of the “Reichsbürger” (presumed ideal citizens of the German “Reich”) until recently, a group that suddenly made headlines in 2010, and again in December 2022, who don’t accept modern Germany and its 1949 Constitution? Political parties like the “Deutsche Reichspartei”, the “NPD”, the “Deutsche Volksunion”, and “Die Republikaner” have made a name for themselves in the past. Most recently the “AfD” (Alternative for Germany) party has firmly established itself in the German parliament. The question has to be asked: what is so special about Germany? Chauvinism and militarism are not restricted to any one country. However, what aggravates the situation and represents fertile ground for the spread of neo-fascist ideology in Germany is that after the Second World War the denazification process in Germany was—admittedly—not very successful. This includes academics, historians, political scientists and the legal professions, not to mention persons who had been working in the administration. This paper aims to evaluate the recent rise in sleeper-cell awakenings in Germany in the global context. To what extent is Germany the center of world fascist and xenophobic movements? In addition, the paper also wants to show alternatives for creating a world free from want and war, hate and discrimination.