WEBVTT 00:00:18.227 --> 00:00:20.563 Germany is seeing a shift to the right. 00:00:20.614 --> 00:00:23.207 People here are protesting against the far-right 00:00:23.207 --> 00:00:25.801 because they’re afraid that history could repeat itself 00:00:26.067 --> 00:00:27.895 the worst part of German history: 00:00:27.895 --> 00:00:29.223 the Nazi era. 00:00:38.520 --> 00:00:39.832 After that, we said: 00:00:39.832 --> 00:00:41.184 never again. 00:00:41.184 --> 00:00:42.864 But could it happen again? 00:01:05.745 --> 00:01:07.105 I’m in Frankfurt. 00:01:07.194 --> 00:01:10.011 35,000 people have gathered to protest, 00:01:10.011 --> 00:01:13.331 following revelations of a secret meeting of far-right groups, 00:01:13.331 --> 00:01:16.753 including the Alternative for Germany party or AfD. 00:01:18.893 --> 00:01:21.093 I think people need to understand. 00:01:22.909 --> 00:01:25.740 Those who are now voting for the AfD, for example, 00:01:25.740 --> 00:01:28.002 either in protest or simply because 00:01:28.002 --> 00:01:29.459 other parties aren't strong enough 00:01:30.142 --> 00:01:31.251 they need to be aware 00:01:31.251 --> 00:01:33.654 that this was what motivated people in the past, too. 00:01:34.629 --> 00:01:35.381 They said: 00:01:35.381 --> 00:01:36.881 “We're not right-wing, but” 00:01:36.881 --> 00:01:38.115 and “this and that, BUT”. 00:01:38.611 --> 00:01:40.897 And the exact same phrases are being used now. 00:01:41.319 --> 00:01:43.389 People are saying and thinking the same things, 00:01:43.389 --> 00:01:45.045 and it will ultimately lead to the same result. 00:01:47.959 --> 00:01:51.272 I feel like we’re on the cusp of 1933. 00:01:51.873 --> 00:01:55.053 I study history a lot. And we're almost at that point. 00:01:58.381 --> 00:02:02.467 I think we’re at a similar moment, where society could turn. 00:02:02.518 --> 00:02:04.225 It’s very, very important to remember: 00:02:04.225 --> 00:02:07.809 We learned our lesson last time and it's time to wake up! 00:02:11.520 --> 00:02:14.154 Can we really compare today to then? 00:02:15.982 --> 00:02:18.882 To find out, I’m heading to the city of Weimar 00:02:18.932 --> 00:02:23.592 where Germany’s first democratic constitution was signed in 1919. 00:02:23.592 --> 00:02:25.076 In the years that followed, 00:02:25.076 --> 00:02:28.148 Adolf Hitler’s Nazi party became established too. 00:02:28.693 --> 00:02:32.772 His seizure of power in 1933 marked the end of the Weimar Republic 00:02:32.772 --> 00:02:34.554 and its democracy. 00:02:34.822 --> 00:02:37.968 Weimar is a place steeped in symbolism 00:02:37.968 --> 00:02:40.768 which Hitler exploited for his own message. 00:02:43.827 --> 00:02:49.319 As early as 1926, the Nazis held a major party conference in Weimar. 00:02:50.421 --> 00:02:54.155 Later, the Führer received a euphoric reception here. 00:02:55.679 --> 00:02:59.519 The Führer was greeted with cheers from the crowds in Weimar, 00:02:59.569 --> 00:03:01.335 the regional capital of Thuringia. 00:03:01.771 --> 00:03:05.530 His convoy drove via Adolf Hitler Square to the Haus Elephant Hotel. 00:03:13.223 --> 00:03:15.623 I’ve arranged to meet Franka Maubach. 00:03:15.673 --> 00:03:17.911 She’s a historian, and the Nazis 00:03:17.911 --> 00:03:19.356 or National Socialists 00:03:19.356 --> 00:03:23.207 are her specialist field, particularly here in Thuringia. 00:03:23.207 --> 00:03:26.007 I asked her if history could repeat itself. 00:03:26.864 --> 00:03:30.207 No, I don't believe that history repeats itself. 00:03:31.324 --> 00:03:33.528 I think these kinds of analogies are important 00:03:33.528 --> 00:03:36.092 because they can highlight the fact that our society, 00:03:36.092 --> 00:03:38.292 or our politics, may be in danger. 00:03:41.129 --> 00:03:43.871 They can reveal a potential threat to democracy. 00:03:46.129 --> 00:03:50.262 They show that democracy can also fail and that democracy can fail suddenly. 00:03:52.495 --> 00:03:55.926 But there are major differences between German society in 1933 00:03:55.926 --> 00:03:57.684 and now in 2024. 00:03:58.153 --> 00:04:01.059 And that means any analogy quickly reaches its limits. 00:04:04.325 --> 00:04:07.356 So what exactly happened in 1933? 00:04:07.965 --> 00:04:12.278 On January 30th, the Nazis paraded through the center of Berlin 00:04:12.278 --> 00:04:14.340 they had finally made it into government. 00:04:14.994 --> 00:04:18.840 Although the National Socialists got just 33 percent of the vote, 00:04:19.023 --> 00:04:20.903 Hitler was appointed Chancellor. 00:04:24.036 --> 00:04:26.598 The conservatives brought him into the cabinet, 00:04:26.738 --> 00:04:28.597 believing they could keep him in check. 00:04:29.181 --> 00:04:30.864 But Hitler had already made it 00:04:30.864 --> 00:04:33.379 quite clear what he would do once in power: 00:04:42.723 --> 00:04:45.072 In February 1933, 00:04:45.072 --> 00:04:47.822 a fire at the Reichstag parliament building allowed Hitler 00:04:47.822 --> 00:04:51.726 to get an emergency decree passed, suspending civil liberties. 00:04:52.195 --> 00:04:55.715 A campaign of intimidation, and a huge propaganda drive, 00:04:55.765 --> 00:04:58.593 helped the Nazis win the national election a month later. 00:04:59.008 --> 00:05:00.890 They then passed the “Enabling Act”, 00:05:00.890 --> 00:05:04.474 allowing Hitler to rule by decree, and bypass parliament. 00:05:14.333 --> 00:05:16.013 Hitler was a dictator. 00:05:16.326 --> 00:05:19.370 Within a few months, all other parties were disbanded. 00:05:20.018 --> 00:05:21.682 The Nazification of Germany 00:05:21.682 --> 00:05:23.963 or “Gleichschaltung” as Hitler called it 00:05:23.963 --> 00:05:24.768 had begun. 00:05:25.901 --> 00:05:28.721 He started planning ambitious building projects: 00:05:28.721 --> 00:05:32.503 like the Gauforum in Weimar, a huge complex, 00:05:32.503 --> 00:05:35.511 and headquarters of the Nazi Party in Thuringia. 00:05:35.803 --> 00:05:37.483 A demonstration of power 00:05:37.534 --> 00:05:39.214 that still stands today. 00:05:42.932 --> 00:05:47.883 In the Nazi era, this was the Gauforum, planned back in 1933. 00:05:50.674 --> 00:05:54.588 It was designed as a model site for National Socialism in Thuringia, 00:05:55.416 --> 00:05:57.564 which was regarded as a model region, 00:05:57.866 --> 00:06:00.333 or ‘Model Gau’ as the Nazis called it. 00:06:01.830 --> 00:06:03.963 What did it mean to be a ‘Model Gau’? 00:06:04.338 --> 00:06:09.603 The Nazis had already had great success in Thuringia before 1933. 00:06:11.674 --> 00:06:15.525 Thuringia was the first state to have a Nazi minister in the cabinet, 00:06:15.576 --> 00:06:18.369 after the election in December 1929. 00:06:22.385 --> 00:06:25.682 Wilhelm Frick, who later became Hitler’s Interior Minister 00:06:25.682 --> 00:06:26.963 at the national level, 00:06:26.963 --> 00:06:29.463 was first Interior Minister here in Thuringia, 00:06:29.678 --> 00:06:31.478 in a conservative coalition. 00:06:33.265 --> 00:06:35.914 He tried to get all left-wingers out of administrative positions, 00:06:35.914 --> 00:06:40.609 and stop communists from becoming mayors or teachers, for example. 00:06:44.023 --> 00:06:46.623 He also had the portfolio for education, 00:06:46.953 --> 00:06:48.552 where he tried to reshape the culture 00:06:48.552 --> 00:06:51.552 to bring about a kind of National Socialist transformation 00:06:51.552 --> 00:06:53.701 of society and politics. 00:06:57.648 --> 00:07:00.802 So what was the mood like among ordinary people? 00:07:00.802 --> 00:07:02.210 How could it come to this? 00:07:05.062 --> 00:07:07.771 I think many people had a real sense of crisis 00:07:07.822 --> 00:07:11.257 after the First World War and the economic crises that followed it. 00:07:14.867 --> 00:07:18.218 Germany suffered hyperinflation in the 1920s. 00:07:18.656 --> 00:07:22.273 And at the end of the 1920s, there was a major economic crisis, 00:07:22.273 --> 00:07:24.473 actually a global economic crisis. 00:07:27.726 --> 00:07:31.374 The political situation in Germany was very unstable, too. 00:07:34.773 --> 00:07:37.421 There was a general feeling among the population 00:07:37.421 --> 00:07:39.171 that they were sinking into chaos. 00:07:42.085 --> 00:07:44.952 And Jews, for example, were blamed for this, 00:07:45.124 --> 00:07:47.812 as were those on the left of the political spectrum. 00:07:48.812 --> 00:07:52.171 They were accused of plunging the republic into even deeper chaos. 00:07:53.851 --> 00:07:56.624 So people were just hoping that the Nazis would bring 00:07:56.624 --> 00:07:59.568 about a return to a secure and orderly society. 00:08:04.914 --> 00:08:08.382 Instead, the Nazis unleashed a Second World War, 00:08:08.382 --> 00:08:11.326 in which more than 70 million people would die. 00:08:12.624 --> 00:08:16.812 And in the Holocaust, the Nazis set up a regime of systematic murder, 00:08:16.932 --> 00:08:19.199 killing more than six million Jews. 00:08:23.483 --> 00:08:27.326 Today, a monument in Berlin remembers the Jews murdered under Hitler. 00:08:27.674 --> 00:08:29.674 But not everyone approves of it 00:08:30.022 --> 00:08:32.513 like Germany's best-known far-right politician. 00:08:33.016 --> 00:08:36.771 The leader of the AfD party in Thuringia, Björn Höcke. 00:08:39.279 --> 00:08:40.959 We Germans, our people, 00:08:41.009 --> 00:08:43.396 are the only people in the world to have planted 00:08:43.396 --> 00:08:46.404 a monument of shame in the heart of its capital. 00:08:54.482 --> 00:08:57.215 We will take back our Germany, bit by bit. 00:09:02.302 --> 00:09:05.709 The AfD now has seats in nearly all the state parliaments 00:09:05.709 --> 00:09:07.326 AND the federal parliament. 00:09:07.584 --> 00:09:11.967 During elections in three eastern German states in September 2024, 00:09:11.967 --> 00:09:14.373 the party got around one third of the vote. 00:09:14.644 --> 00:09:18.356 Thuringia actually got its first AfD District Administrator 00:09:18.407 --> 00:09:19.756 more than a year earlier. 00:09:20.576 --> 00:09:23.592 The Sonneberg district has made history. 00:09:24.271 --> 00:09:27.248 The AfD is now a mainstream party here in the region, 00:09:27.248 --> 00:09:29.662 in Thuringia and in Germany as a whole. 00:09:32.974 --> 00:09:35.099 Sonneberg was a stronghold of the 00:09:35.099 --> 00:09:37.634 National Socialists in the early 1930s. 00:09:39.006 --> 00:09:41.232 So comparisons are bound to be made. 00:09:42.368 --> 00:09:44.287 And perhaps there could be something like 00:09:44.287 --> 00:09:46.322 a right-wing political culture that has remained 00:09:46.322 --> 00:09:48.002 more or less underground. 00:09:49.959 --> 00:09:52.740 But I think the analogy should not be overstated. 00:09:54.513 --> 00:09:58.302 Because I would say that the AfD's electoral wins are taking place 00:09:58.302 --> 00:09:59.381 in a different society. 00:10:00.145 --> 00:10:03.435 That’s reflected in the demonstrations against the far right 00:10:03.435 --> 00:10:04.771 in many cities in Thuringia: 00:10:07.701 --> 00:10:10.263 in Jena and Erfurt, but also in Weimar and other smaller cities. 00:10:11.150 --> 00:10:12.455 So this civil society 00:10:12.455 --> 00:10:14.952 that established itself after German reunification 00:10:14.952 --> 00:10:16.952 needs to be taken into account. 00:10:21.232 --> 00:10:23.810 One man who’s been observing political developments 00:10:23.810 --> 00:10:26.410 in Germany all his life is Gerhart Baum. 00:10:26.757 --> 00:10:30.273 He was born in 1932 and grew up under the Nazis. 00:10:30.890 --> 00:10:35.468 He was Germany’s Interior Minister in the late 1970s and early 80s, 00:10:35.468 --> 00:10:39.142 and had to deal with the left-wing terror group the Red Army Faction. 00:10:41.210 --> 00:10:44.492 How do you see the current shift to the right in Germany? 00:10:47.671 --> 00:10:49.117 Throughout my long life, 00:10:49.275 --> 00:10:51.765 I’ve never seen such a concentration of problems 00:10:51.765 --> 00:10:53.976 and threats as we have now. 00:10:55.531 --> 00:10:59.390 There have always been extremes, there have always been extremists. 00:11:00.070 --> 00:11:03.125 But there has never been such a concentration of racists. 00:11:04.101 --> 00:11:06.121 And that is the difference between people 00:11:06.121 --> 00:11:09.125 who hold extreme opinions and those who represent 00:11:09.125 --> 00:11:11.468 an aggressive form of racism. 00:11:14.492 --> 00:11:17.554 That is the hallmark of the far-right AfD party 00:11:17.554 --> 00:11:19.039 and others in this country. 00:11:20.546 --> 00:11:24.156 The growth of the right-wing, and right-wing extremism, 00:11:24.984 --> 00:11:30.234 is by no means limited to the AfD, it’s present in wider society. 00:11:32.328 --> 00:11:34.994 It is also present in the middle classes. 00:11:38.281 --> 00:11:42.377 And this fundamental belief that “the people” need to be defended 00:11:42.919 --> 00:11:46.357 and some are presumptuous enough to define who the people are 00:11:47.365 --> 00:11:49.802 this is absolutely against the constitution. 00:11:50.529 --> 00:11:54.044 The constitution states that the dignity of EVERY human being 00:11:54.044 --> 00:11:56.244 that lives here must be protected. 00:11:56.794 --> 00:12:00.808 And anyone who negates that, like the AfD, is acting 00:12:00.808 --> 00:12:02.926 as the Constitutional Court has ruled 00:12:03.203 --> 00:12:04.403 like the Nazis. 00:12:07.644 --> 00:12:08.527 It’s quite clear: 00:12:08.527 --> 00:12:12.980 as National Socialists, we’ve been living under a ban since 1945. 00:12:12.980 --> 00:12:15.340 If we can't do anything in a straightforward way, 00:12:15.340 --> 00:12:17.051 at a normal parliamentary level 00:12:17.051 --> 00:12:18.441 because they won't let us 00:12:18.441 --> 00:12:20.441 then we have to take a roundabout way. 00:12:20.441 --> 00:12:22.793 This includes creating front organizations 00:12:22.793 --> 00:12:25.312 or using the democratic mechanisms available 00:12:25.312 --> 00:12:27.363 to become a political force in this country. 00:12:31.308 --> 00:12:34.113 This archive footage is from the 1980s. 00:12:34.598 --> 00:12:37.793 Here, neo-Nazis in the central German state of Hesse 00:12:37.793 --> 00:12:41.925 were quite open about their desire to turn back the clock to 1933, 00:12:42.230 --> 00:12:45.494 using democratic mechanisms just like the Nazis did. 00:12:56.249 --> 00:13:00.773 On election night in Frankfurt, at 3pm, shortly before the deadline, 00:13:00.773 --> 00:13:04.952 Michael Kühnen submitted the 186 signatures of support 00:13:04.952 --> 00:13:07.960 and certificates of eligibility needed to stand. 00:13:08.343 --> 00:13:11.062 Formally, at least, the “Nationale Sammlung” party, 00:13:11.062 --> 00:13:13.710 or NS, has met the criteria for running 00:13:13.710 --> 00:13:15.257 in the local elections in Frankfurt. 00:13:15.642 --> 00:13:16.523 Its list name: 00:13:16.523 --> 00:13:17.883 “Foreigners out”. 00:13:31.421 --> 00:13:34.077 Giving a Hitler salute is illegal in Germany. 00:13:34.077 --> 00:13:36.343 They called it a “Kühnen salute” instead 00:13:36.343 --> 00:13:40.567 Michael Kühnen was a leading neo-Nazi in West Germany in the 1980s. 00:13:41.726 --> 00:13:43.116 Comrades: 00:13:43.116 --> 00:13:45.351 So long as you don't allow yourselves be stopped, 00:13:45.351 --> 00:13:46.648 we’ll be unstoppable. 00:13:46.898 --> 00:13:49.304 And I’ll be unstoppable as long as you have faith in me. 00:13:49.304 --> 00:13:51.201 But in the end there’ll be a revolution, 00:13:51.201 --> 00:13:52.788 and it’ll be more radical than last time. 00:13:58.942 --> 00:14:02.567 In 1989, the small town of Langen, near Frankfurt, 00:14:02.567 --> 00:14:05.903 suddenly found itself at the center of the far-right movement. 00:14:08.442 --> 00:14:12.132 The neo-Nazis wanted Langen to become the first city in Germany 00:14:12.132 --> 00:14:14.265 without any non-German residents. 00:14:18.762 --> 00:14:22.427 Sascha Schmidt has researched the history of right-wing extremism 00:14:22.427 --> 00:14:24.052 here in southwestern Germany. 00:14:24.296 --> 00:14:26.286 What approach did they take here? 00:14:26.370 --> 00:14:29.106 Basically, they sought publicity. 00:14:29.716 --> 00:14:32.973 So they handed out leaflets, organized information stands and, 00:14:32.973 --> 00:14:35.731 above all, tried to raise doubts in people’s minds 00:14:35.731 --> 00:14:37.731 with their very racist tirades. 00:14:38.802 --> 00:14:42.559 Kühnen was very media savvy, a pro in that respect. 00:14:44.231 --> 00:14:48.775 And he knew very well that if he went public with his provocative ideas, 00:14:48.826 --> 00:14:50.759 he would get a media response. 00:14:51.380 --> 00:14:55.173 And otherwise they repeatedly tried to cause unrest on the streets. 00:14:58.868 --> 00:15:01.735 How successful was Kühnen with his approach? 00:15:02.556 --> 00:15:06.664 In terms of the publicity he was able to achieve, very. 00:15:07.593 --> 00:15:10.326 He never succeeded with his election lists 00:15:10.377 --> 00:15:12.461 he stood here in the local elections once 00:15:12.461 --> 00:15:15.218 with his Nationale Sammlung under the slogan 00:15:15.269 --> 00:15:18.047 ‘Implement the will of the people, foreigners out’. 00:15:18.627 --> 00:15:19.679 That never worked. 00:15:20.117 --> 00:15:21.797 But that wasn’t his goal. 00:15:22.179 --> 00:15:24.492 He wasn’t expecting to make it into parliament 00:15:24.492 --> 00:15:25.875 with the small numbers they had. 00:15:25.875 --> 00:15:28.633 They basically used the elections or election campaigns 00:15:28.633 --> 00:15:29.531 to gain publicity. 00:15:29.531 --> 00:15:31.289 And in that they were successful. 00:15:32.742 --> 00:15:36.125 So they weren’t trying to field the next mayor of Langen. 00:15:36.125 --> 00:15:39.054 The goal was just to get as much attention as possible? 00:15:40.437 --> 00:15:41.437 Exactly. 00:15:41.487 --> 00:15:43.167 They were hardline Nazis. 00:15:43.217 --> 00:15:45.703 They weren’t interested in parliamentary democracy. 00:15:45.703 --> 00:15:48.101 They ultimately wanted to abolish parliament. 00:15:48.286 --> 00:15:51.414 The aim of this group was always to rebuild the Nazi party. 00:15:52.734 --> 00:15:56.062 And they saw themselves as the new SA storm troopers. 00:15:57.070 --> 00:16:00.846 They openly denied the Holocaust and were extremely violent. 00:16:05.133 --> 00:16:08.828 After German reunification, they also moved into East Germany. 00:16:09.087 --> 00:16:12.992 Hundreds of supporters of Germany's foremost neo-Nazi 00:16:12.992 --> 00:16:16.578 Michael Kühnen marched through Dresden at the end of October. 00:16:16.882 --> 00:16:20.531 He still mobilizes the most followers, despite spending years 00:16:20.531 --> 00:16:23.726 in prison and in spite of infighting within his movement. 00:16:23.726 --> 00:16:27.246 Reunification has given him and his followers new ideas. 00:16:30.539 --> 00:16:31.554 Unfortunately, 00:16:31.554 --> 00:16:34.875 reunification did not bring the unity we hoped for 00:16:37.336 --> 00:16:41.432 a revolution that sweeps the occupying powers out of our country. 00:16:43.867 --> 00:16:47.062 A revolution that sweeps the foreigners out of our country. 00:16:47.629 --> 00:16:49.570 We want to take to the streets again 00:16:49.570 --> 00:16:53.453 and we will take to the streets again until Germany is truly German. 00:16:57.086 --> 00:17:00.414 This sounds like the AfD's remigration plans 00:17:00.414 --> 00:17:03.314 although Michael Kühnen never used that term. 00:17:03.781 --> 00:17:07.490 I’m driving to Guben, a small eastern town on the Polish border. 00:17:07.863 --> 00:17:12.419 Here too, right-wing extremism flourished in the 1990s. 00:17:12.871 --> 00:17:15.707 I’m meeting with a woman who experienced it first-hand. 00:17:16.314 --> 00:17:19.472 Karen was regularly harassed by neo-Nazis. 00:17:19.472 --> 00:17:21.612 She still feels the need to protect herself 00:17:21.612 --> 00:17:23.545 and wants to remain anonymous. 00:17:23.972 --> 00:17:27.090 Guben was a very, very right-wing town. 00:17:27.090 --> 00:17:31.285 It started after reunification and continued for a long time. 00:17:31.574 --> 00:17:34.340 The town was in a big muddle, a kind of vacuum. 00:17:34.568 --> 00:17:38.019 There used to be a lot of industry here and a lot of jobs. 00:17:38.266 --> 00:17:42.285 But all the businesses went bankrupt within a short space of time. 00:17:42.476 --> 00:17:45.371 Everything closed down, and people were unemployed. 00:17:45.371 --> 00:17:47.438 It was a very gloomy atmosphere. 00:17:48.894 --> 00:17:50.386 There was a discontent, 00:17:50.386 --> 00:17:54.074 a sense that people could no longer find their way in this new country. 00:17:54.509 --> 00:17:58.042 But at the same time, there was this sense that the foreigners 00:17:58.042 --> 00:18:01.660 were getting everything financed for them, and didn't have to worry. 00:18:01.763 --> 00:18:04.663 So people made this totally warped connection. 00:18:08.440 --> 00:18:11.107 And it was somehow cool to be right-wing. 00:18:11.925 --> 00:18:15.460 There were a lot of young people who jumped on that bandwagon. 00:18:15.460 --> 00:18:19.796 They were skinheads, wore combat boots and bomber jackets. 00:18:19.796 --> 00:18:22.859 And their hobby on the weekend was to ambush us leftists, 00:18:23.133 --> 00:18:24.702 to beat us up and chase us. 00:18:24.702 --> 00:18:26.836 And they targeted immigrants too. 00:18:33.273 --> 00:18:35.117 In August 1992, 00:18:35.117 --> 00:18:38.093 right-wing activists in the eastern city of Rostock 00:18:38.093 --> 00:18:39.773 lashed out at migrants. 00:18:41.761 --> 00:18:46.337 On Mecklenburger Allee, hundreds of neo-Nazis, skinheads 00:18:46.337 --> 00:18:48.751 and other rioters attacked the central reception center 00:18:48.751 --> 00:18:50.705 for asylum seekers in the state. 00:18:50.868 --> 00:18:54.900 They shouted abuse, beat people up, and threw Molotov cocktails. 00:18:57.564 --> 00:19:00.251 It's just me and my compatriots here in the house, 00:19:00.366 --> 00:19:02.046 we’re at our wits end. 00:19:04.720 --> 00:19:07.320 The spectators applauding are the worst. 00:19:09.291 --> 00:19:12.345 They incite or encourage the extremists even more... 00:19:14.181 --> 00:19:16.783 And they give them protection when the police move in. 00:19:27.189 --> 00:19:31.666 On November 23rd, the murderous hatred targeted 00:19:31.666 --> 00:19:34.861 those who until now were thought to be fully integrated here. 00:19:35.155 --> 00:19:38.345 Migrants who had lived and worked in Germany for decades. 00:19:38.345 --> 00:19:41.173 Two neo-Nazis set fire to homes in Mölln, 00:19:41.173 --> 00:19:43.603 killing two Turkish children and one woman. 00:19:43.603 --> 00:19:44.751 By the end of the year, 00:19:44.751 --> 00:19:47.212 right-wing extremists had murdered 17 people. 00:19:47.212 --> 00:19:50.472 Never before in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany 00:19:50.472 --> 00:19:52.353 has terror claimed so many lives. 00:19:58.251 --> 00:19:59.931 Many were deeply shocked. 00:20:01.470 --> 00:20:05.246 Protesters formed chains of lights in cities across Germany, 00:20:05.296 --> 00:20:08.163 to take a stand against far-right terrorism. 00:20:10.611 --> 00:20:14.072 In Munich, more than 400,000 people took to the streets 00:20:14.072 --> 00:20:15.603 on December 6th, 1992. 00:20:15.603 --> 00:20:17.123 Yet that same night, 00:20:20.630 --> 00:20:25.884 the government agreed to tighten Germany’s laws on asylum. 00:20:31.337 --> 00:20:32.457 Back to Guben. 00:20:33.220 --> 00:20:37.824 25 years ago, right-wing xenophobia claimed a life here, too. 00:20:39.713 --> 00:20:43.425 A small group gathers at the scene of the crime every year. 00:20:53.175 --> 00:20:55.879 Without remembrance, we cannot learn from history. 00:20:55.879 --> 00:20:57.418 That is why we’re here today 00:20:57.418 --> 00:20:59.707 of course to remember the murder that happened 00:20:59.707 --> 00:21:01.307 and I call it murder. 00:21:01.980 --> 00:21:04.590 And also to warn that it must never happen again. 00:21:06.004 --> 00:21:08.254 Police in Brandenburg are investigating 00:21:08.254 --> 00:21:09.746 a group of right-wing youths 00:21:09.746 --> 00:21:13.730 who are being blamed for the death of an Algerian asylum seeker in Guben. 00:21:16.019 --> 00:21:18.553 The case made headlines across Germany. 00:21:18.604 --> 00:21:23.685 Algerian asylum seeker Farid Guendoul was chased down by eleven youths. 00:21:24.271 --> 00:21:26.841 He broke through the glass door of a house to escape, 00:21:26.841 --> 00:21:29.041 injured himself and bled to death. 00:21:34.161 --> 00:21:37.052 The youths were known to be right-wing extremists 00:21:37.052 --> 00:21:39.185 and were not afraid to show it in court. 00:21:39.841 --> 00:21:43.745 They came in their trademark bomber jackets, and combat boots. 00:21:48.513 --> 00:21:51.352 But they got off with warnings and light sentences 00:21:51.352 --> 00:21:52.872 under juvenile law. 00:21:53.435 --> 00:21:55.732 Some only got suspended sentences. 00:22:02.310 --> 00:22:05.052 We always use this commemoration to highlight 00:22:05.052 --> 00:22:07.013 the current activities of neo-Nazis. 00:22:08.263 --> 00:22:10.802 And the racist discourses that are gaining strength 00:22:10.802 --> 00:22:12.669 in the center of our society. 00:22:15.045 --> 00:22:17.716 And there are still blank spots on Germany's map, 00:22:17.987 --> 00:22:21.123 where there have been no anti-Nazi demonstrations. 00:22:22.255 --> 00:22:23.922 Either because the kind of people who would want 00:22:23.922 --> 00:22:27.762 to organize them have left, or because people are too afraid. 00:22:29.537 --> 00:22:32.037 That would certainly fit with the answers we got 00:22:32.037 --> 00:22:34.685 from tradespeople when we asked them to support the demo. 00:22:35.592 --> 00:22:37.272 Let me quote some to you: 00:22:37.826 --> 00:22:39.182 I support your cause. 00:22:39.182 --> 00:22:41.107 I think what you're doing is good, 00:22:41.107 --> 00:22:42.990 but I'm afraid that my store will be burnt down. 00:22:43.220 --> 00:22:46.052 Or I'm afraid that someone will come and smash my windows. 00:22:46.832 --> 00:22:49.472 People no longer dare to stand up publicly 00:22:49.472 --> 00:22:51.209 for the values that should be universal. 00:22:53.724 --> 00:22:55.791 The mayor of Guben is also here. 00:22:59.412 --> 00:23:01.921 Is democracy working here in Guben, 00:23:01.921 --> 00:23:05.185 if people who speak up fear for their own wellbeing? 00:23:06.857 --> 00:23:09.351 I don't believe any member of the city council here 00:23:09.351 --> 00:23:10.974 would be afraid to express their opinion. 00:23:10.974 --> 00:23:12.974 It may be different among tradespeople. 00:23:12.974 --> 00:23:14.740 They’re worried about their clientele. 00:23:14.740 --> 00:23:18.102 If 20 to 30% actually vote for the AfD, those are 00:23:18.102 --> 00:23:19.568 of course potential customers. 00:23:20.451 --> 00:23:22.537 So I can understand business people 00:23:22.537 --> 00:23:25.599 who say I'm going to stay out of politics to a certain extent. 00:23:30.498 --> 00:23:33.224 Guben has 20,000 inhabitants. 00:23:33.224 --> 00:23:37.448 300 people attended the demonstration against right-wing extremism. 00:23:38.670 --> 00:23:41.570 That must feel very different to demonstrating 00:23:41.620 --> 00:23:43.927 in a big city with tens of thousands of people. 00:23:44.614 --> 00:23:46.214 Karen was also there. 00:23:47.603 --> 00:23:50.439 Last week at the demo that we organized, 00:23:50.490 --> 00:23:54.351 there were about 15 to 20 Nazis present who, in my opinion, 00:23:54.351 --> 00:23:56.551 are willing to resort to violence. 00:23:57.904 --> 00:24:01.937 They wanted to disrupt the demo, and I think their aim was to break it up, 00:24:02.258 --> 00:24:05.429 to go in there and intimidate people and separate them. 00:24:10.945 --> 00:24:13.750 Karen saw some familiar faces. 00:24:19.266 --> 00:24:21.466 They’re normal members of society. 00:24:21.883 --> 00:24:25.297 One of the people who was there is a lay judge at the district court, 00:24:25.348 --> 00:24:27.016 another is a dental assistant. 00:24:27.518 --> 00:24:29.938 These are people you can meet at any time. 00:24:30.301 --> 00:24:34.031 Guben is a small town, so you're bound to run into each other here. 00:24:36.813 --> 00:24:38.493 What’s that like for you? 00:24:41.813 --> 00:24:45.523 It means that when I go shopping, for example, 00:24:45.523 --> 00:24:47.539 or when I'm in a public place, 00:24:47.539 --> 00:24:50.652 I'm always looking for indicators that might tell me 00:24:50.652 --> 00:24:53.552 if this person could potentially be a threat; 00:24:54.703 --> 00:24:57.414 I’m wondering what their political convictions are. 00:24:57.913 --> 00:25:01.125 But it's no longer as easy as it was in the nineties. 00:25:01.901 --> 00:25:03.734 In the nineties it was very easy. 00:25:04.021 --> 00:25:08.227 But today's Nazis no longer wear combat boots with white laces. 00:25:08.227 --> 00:25:10.102 They are much better disguised. 00:25:13.031 --> 00:25:14.883 And they are building up structures, 00:25:14.883 --> 00:25:18.180 their own think tanks, networks and channels. 00:25:18.180 --> 00:25:21.211 Have they already arrived in the middle of German society? 00:25:21.385 --> 00:25:25.086 Is there a genuine risk of the country repeating its Nazi past? 00:25:26.156 --> 00:25:28.828 I’m back in Thuringia to meet Stephan Kramer, 00:25:28.981 --> 00:25:31.313 the head of the regional intelligence service. 00:25:31.828 --> 00:25:34.406 He should be able to tell me if I need to be worried. 00:25:37.273 --> 00:25:41.625 What is the greatest threat to our society in terms of the far right? 00:25:41.910 --> 00:25:46.195 We have an entrenched right-wing extremist movement. 00:25:47.102 --> 00:25:50.102 Not only in Thuringia, but in the whole of Germany. 00:25:51.202 --> 00:25:54.102 The bad thing, or the dangerous thing about it 00:25:54.152 --> 00:25:56.547 and what makes it different from previous years, 00:25:56.547 --> 00:25:59.609 is that the right-wing extremists are now working together 00:25:59.609 --> 00:26:01.289 in a coordinated manner. 00:26:02.273 --> 00:26:04.242 And over the past several years, 00:26:04.390 --> 00:26:08.469 this movement has started conquering more and more areas of society, 00:26:08.728 --> 00:26:12.894 culminating in the fact that the AfD is now not only represented 00:26:12.894 --> 00:26:17.054 in nearly all state parliaments as well as the federal parliament, 00:26:17.578 --> 00:26:21.226 they’re also getting respectable parliamentary majorities. 00:26:24.201 --> 00:26:29.116 In recent years, the far right has managed to create a climate of fear, 00:26:29.116 --> 00:26:31.514 to the point of conducting purges, 00:26:31.514 --> 00:26:34.725 some of which are already being carried out in mayors' offices 00:26:34.725 --> 00:26:35.967 and district councils. 00:26:37.970 --> 00:26:41.299 So only those who fall in line are rewarded, so to speak. 00:26:42.963 --> 00:26:46.963 Basically, we now have a situation where the party, 00:26:46.963 --> 00:26:49.892 supported in some cases by a third of the electorate, 00:26:50.223 --> 00:26:52.642 already has such a majority in parliament 00:26:52.642 --> 00:26:55.564 that they end up taking on government responsibility 00:26:55.706 --> 00:26:58.174 or at least helping to shape the government agenda. 00:26:59.206 --> 00:27:01.916 And when they exercise their parliamentary rights, 00:27:01.916 --> 00:27:05.291 for example by sitting on the Parliamentary Control Commission 00:27:05.604 --> 00:27:09.174 for the intelligence services, they then have oversight 00:27:09.174 --> 00:27:12.658 and control over those who, as part of a stable democracy, 00:27:12.872 --> 00:27:16.705 are supposed to fight precisely these enemies of the constitution. 00:27:17.383 --> 00:27:19.063 So it comes full circle. 00:27:19.455 --> 00:27:21.733 And I don’t believe that’s what the mothers and fathers 00:27:21.733 --> 00:27:23.800 of our constitution had in mind. 00:27:25.178 --> 00:27:27.483 Could history repeat itself? 00:27:29.264 --> 00:27:34.233 Look, we have seen in many places that history can repeat itself. 00:27:34.233 --> 00:27:37.389 Is the Federal Republic of Germany a Weimar Republic today? 00:27:37.389 --> 00:27:38.975 No, not yet. 00:27:39.585 --> 00:27:42.788 But are the events that we are currently experiencing 00:27:42.788 --> 00:27:45.827 including the strengthening of enemies of the constitution, 00:27:46.401 --> 00:27:48.268 who are already in parliament 00:27:48.365 --> 00:27:50.803 and can get their hands on the levers of power 00:27:51.001 --> 00:27:54.905 is this comparable to the status of the Nazis in the Weimar Republic 00:27:54.905 --> 00:27:57.444 and then under National Socialism itself? 00:27:57.846 --> 00:27:59.221 I would say quite clearly: 00:27:59.221 --> 00:28:00.561 yes, it’s comparable. 00:28:00.561 --> 00:28:01.842 And that should makes us think. 00:28:07.475 --> 00:28:09.077 At the start of my research, 00:28:09.077 --> 00:28:13.507 I thought these comparisons to 1933 might be a bit far-fetched. 00:28:13.507 --> 00:28:17.897 But now I realize it’s a scenario that is not implausible.