While the media stokes panic about leftists, Antifa stops the next Nazi attack.
Volksverpetzer
A planned attack on a shelter for refugees is thwarted, while public debate focuses primarily on perceived threats from the left. How quickly do far-right networks emerge, who stops them—and why does the growing right-wing violence remain largely overlooked?
While politicians and the media are going crazy over the victory of the Die Linke party in Berlin because of alleged left-wing extremism and now also the supposedly 'violent' Gen Z protests , far-right terrorist networks are planning attacks almost constantly, largely unnoticed. While the media lets us be distracted by right-wing enemy images, there is no outcry over the ever-increasing far-right violence. You probably didn't even hear about it: Just a few days ago, a far-right attack was prevented at the very last second. Incidentally, not by the police, but by an antifascist group, as Exif revealed.
Right-wing attack foiled at the very last second
On Friday evening, October 30, 2026, a 15-year-old from Wahlstedt, a small town in Schleswig-Holstein, buys gasoline at a gas station. This is how the antifascist research group Exif, which has access to the chat history, describes it. Not much, just a small canister. At around 7 p.m., he intends to leave his parents' house with the full gasoline canister. His destination: accommodation for refugees in Winsen (Luhe). Days earlier, he had written in a chat group what he hoped to achieve with the act: "that at least one person dies, right. Otherwise I don't think it's worth it at all." [sic]
He doesn't get far. According to the antifascist research group Exif, he is stopped by a group of antifascists right outside his own front door. They explain to him that they know his plan and that he must remain there until the police arrive. He stays put. The police later confirm that he was found in front of the house with the gasoline canister. He is now in pretrial detention. Among other things, the public prosecutor's office accuses him of preparing a terrorist offense. It ended well once again, but these acts are not isolated incidents.
Violent right-wing networks emerge within a few days
The 15-year-old was a member of the WhatsApp group “Terror 18” (18 is code for the first and eighth letters of the alphabet, “A” and “H” – the initials of Adolf Hitler). According to Exif, it was founded at the beginning of September and grew to 43 members within a few days, spread across half of Germany. Admission requirements included a commitment to violence. Members were also required to submit video evidence of their deeds. Up to 1,000 messages were exchanged in the group every day. At Exif you can find some transcripts of particularly extreme voice messages. But be warned: Trigger warning! In this WhatsApp group, he planned the act together with a 19-year-old from Winsen, who lives just a few streets away from the accommodation.
The 19-year-old is said to have thrown a stone through a window of the accommodation several days earlier. The NDR has obtained a video of it. The public prosecutor's office is also investigating the 19-year-old.
And Terror 18 is not the only group of its kind. Such far-right networks form quickly: In the case of Terror 18, less than eight weeks passed between its founding and the planned attack. Many disintegrate just as quickly, but then new ones are founded, sometimes with the same people. Their number is not decreasing. This is because adult neo-Nazis often stand behind the young people, deliberately recruiting them in order to radicalize them further. These networks do not emerge by chance. They are deliberately built.
Germany has a different enemy image
Nevertheless, there was no nationwide debate. Because, according to the media, Germany currently has a much bigger problem: the threat from the left. Or, to put it in the words of Alexander Dobrindt: "We can see that left-wing extremism has returned in greater force." What he means by that is actually unclear. Out of nowhere, Union parliamentary group leader Thorsten Frei called the Berlin Left, following its election victory, “an glaring danger to our security". And before the Gen Z protests, Baden-Württemberg's Interior Minister Manuel Hagel wanted to “strike back with the full force of the rule of law” against an allegedly “violent mob [...] before anything had even happened. And it didn't really happen then either. While the first demonstrably far-right government in Saxony-Anhalt since 1945 is looming.
Most terrorism comes from the right
Right-wing attacks, on the other hand, do not receive this attention. When incendiary devices were thrown at accommodation in Berlin-Hellersdorf in the summer, where 385 people live, there was no outcry. The fact is that Germany continues to have a massive extremism problem. But it is primarily a right-wing one. In 2025, according to the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the number of people involved in far-right extremism rose significantly again, by around 17 percent.
And it was already extremely high before that! The number of violent far-right extremists has also risen to 15,600. No wonder, because of a total of 85,837 politically motivated violent crimes – more than ever! – right-wing perpetrators account for HALF of them, while left-wing perpetrators account for only just under 16 percent. Politically right-motivated violent offenses rose by another seven percent in 2025, to almost 1,600. Of course, left-wing extremist violence is also a problem (as is the problem of antisemitism in the Die Linke party), but the right-wing side plays in an entirely different league. And the media debate does not reflect reality.
Ironically, Alexander Dobrindt, who warned in the same breath of the “growing threat” from the left, said when presenting the figures: “By far the most offenses, however, were committed by right-wing and far-right perpetrators, which once again shows that the greatest current threat comes from far-right extremism.” Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig called far-right extremism “the greatest threat Germany faces from within.” The government actually knows this.
Right-wing violence kills
The real difference, however, is not found in the crime statistics, but in the death statistics. The Amadeu Antonio Foundation counts at least 224 victims of right-wing violence since reunification. The federal government officially recognizes only a fraction of them: 87 completed homicides in the area of right-wing politically motivated crime from 1990 to 2023. The OEZ attack in Munich, in which nine people died, was only classified as far-right three years later. The NSU murdered people for years, Walter Lübcke was shot dead on his terrace, and people died in Halle and Hanau because far-right extremists wanted to kill them.
And it doesn't stop: In 2025 alone, six attempted homicides in the area of right-wing politically motivated crime had already been reported to the Federal Criminal Police Office, including attempted murders in St. Wendel, Neuwied, Ilmenau and Friedberg. For 2025, the independent victim support centers documented 3,167 right-wing, racist and antisemitic attacks affecting 4,298 people and resulting in two deaths. In the record year 2024, there were nine victims. That amounts to twelve people every day who are attacked because of their origin, sexuality or political views. More than half of the attacks are racially motivated. Attacks on political opponents rose by 22 percent to 663.
And the accommodation centers where the 15-year-old from Wahlstedt wanted to go? They are constantly attacked. In 2024, the federal government counted 255 politically motivated offenses against refugee accommodation centers, almost five per week, the highest figure since 2017. In the fourth quarter of 2025 alone, 33 more were added, nine of them violent offenses, plus 204 offenses against refugees outside their accommodation centers, with 25 people injured, including one child. These are not isolated incidents. This is everyday life.
Antifa regularly prevents worse
It is all the more ironic that the attack in Winsen was prevented by precisely those often demonized “leftists,” or even by “Antifa.” This is not a coincidence. Historian Richard Rohrmoser has researched the history of Antifa academically. According to him, antifascist alliances often function as an early warning system and manage to thwart far-right crimes thanks to local research and exposure. In some respects, they even close gaps that official intelligence services simply leave open. We have just seen it.
Focusing the debate so disproportionately on real or supposed left-wing extremism not only distorts reality, it is also extremely dangerous. Because right-wing terrorism is real and massive, and far too little is already reported about it. Every distorted headline that disproportionately exaggerates threats from the left displaces a headline about real neo-Nazis planning attacks. People who inflict violence and kill others. Anyone who distorts the threats in this way ensures that the real danger disappears from view. And it comes less from the left than predominantly from the right. And it has a parliamentary arm in the AfD that threatens to seize power.