Right-wing extremism
The Office for the Protection of the Constitution advises right-wing extremists to help
The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution. photo
© Oliver Berg/dpa
The Office for the Protection of the Constitution wants to make it easier for right-wing extremists who are tired of the scene to leave. From now on, those affected can also contact the messaging service via messenger.
With the help of the dropout program of the Federal Office for According to the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, relatively few right-wing extremists have so far separated from the scene. Since this year, however, the domestic secret service has also been actively making members of the right-wing extremist milieu aware of the help that the “WendePoint” program offers. What is new is that potential dropouts can contact the messaging service not only by email or telephone, but also via the messenger service Signal.
In a response from the federal government to a request from the Left Party, it is said that from January 1, 2018 to September 28, 2023, “a low double-digit number” of people left the right-wing extremist scene through the program. Since the program was reorganized this year, right-wing extremists who show signs of a willingness to leave can now be actively addressed and informed about the opportunities the program offers. However, since this has not been practiced for long, no quantitative statement can be made about the effect of this measure.
Individual exit plan
The support services that the program offers include, among other things, the “development of an individual exit plan taking safety-relevant aspects into account” as well as the arrangement of external offers of help, for example for addiction problems or the desire for professional qualification.
In individual cases it happens that those potentially wanting to quit are in custody at the time of their first contact or are facing criminal proceedings, according to the Federal Government’s response, which is available to the German Press Agency. However, there is no statistical data on how often this is the case.
“The federal government’s response makes it clear that doubts about the efficiency and functioning of the so-called exit offer from the Office for the Protection of the Constitution are justified,” said the chairwoman of the left-wing faction in the Interior Committee, Martina Renner. Ongoing investigations, a prison situation, relapses into the Nazi scene or the costs are not even recorded in individual cases. “It is not surprising that the Office for the Protection of the Constitution is not aware of the failure of the exit consultation in individual cases,” says Renner.