'Saxon Separatists' arrested in neo-Nazi plot to seize power in Germany

Eight men held as prosecutors say far-right group had staged paramilitary training drills

Raids took place on Tuesday in Dresden, a hotbed of far-right agitation in Germany, and other parts in the east as well as in Poland and Austria. AP

Police in Germany arrested eight alleged right-wing extremists on Tuesday, suspected of plotting an armed neo-Nazi takeover and a campaign of ethnic cleansing in the country's east.

Prosecutors said a group calling itself the “Saxon Separatists” had staged paramilitary training drills to prepare for a “Day X” when it could seize power. Members are thought to have acquired fatigues, helmets and gas masks and prepared for urban warfare.

It is alleged they planned to take control of parts of the state of Saxony and other states in Germany's former East, a hotbed of far-right agitation since reunification in 1990. Prosecutors say they intended to form “governmental and societal structures inspired by National Socialism”.

Part of their plan was that “if necessary, unwanted groups of people are supposed to be removed from the area by means of ethnic cleansing”, prosecutors alleged. They described the group's ideology as “characterised by racist, anti-Semitic and partially apocalyptic ideas”.

The suspects were arrested in eastern Germany and in one case Poland, while properties were searched in Austria as part of raids involving more than 450 police officers. A federal judge issued arrest warrants for the men, identified as Kurt H, Karl K, Kevin M, Hans-Georg P, Kevin R, Jorg S, Jorn S and Norman T.

They face potential charges of belonging to a domestic terrorist organisation, with Jorg S believed to have been the ringleader of the group. Prosecutors said it was founded in November 2020 at the latest, with Jorn S, Karl K and Norman T also among four founding members.

'Violent change of government'

“Since its inception, the organisation made continuous preparations for the perceived inevitable and violent change of government,” a statement from the federal prosecutor's office said. “To this end, the members – including all of the arrested suspects – repeatedly completed paramilitary training in combat gear.

“Accordingly, they practised specifically urban warfare, firearms handling, nocturnal and loaded marching as well as patrolling. Moreover, the group procured military hardware, such as camouflage fatigues, combat helmets, gas masks and bullet-proof vests.”

Members of the group believe that Germany is nearing collapse and that its post-war democracy will implode on “Day X”, it is alleged. Although no date was identified, the group allegedly prepared to “gain control over certain areas in Saxony and potentially in other East German states – namely by force of arms”.

Saxony's capital Dresden was the birthplace of anti-Islam street movement Pegida and has often been the scene of far-right demonstrations, some linked to the Allied bombing of the city in 1945. A neo-Nazi cell called National Socialist Underground, which murdered 10 people in a 2000s killing spree, lived in Saxony.

The arrests mark the latest in a series of alleged far-right plots to overthrow the German state. In December 2022, an aristocrat known as Prince Heinrich XIII was arrested on suspicion of organising a plot led by the Reichsbuerger (Citizens of the Reich) movement to install an authoritarian government.

In a separate case, a retired lecturer nicknamed “terror granny” was one of five people charged with conspiring to kidnap a senior politician, Health Minister Karl Lauterbach. Interior Minister Nancy Faeser has described far-right extremism as the biggest threat to Germany's democratic order.

In August, the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party won a regional election in Thuringia, a first for the far right since 1945, and came a close second in Saxony. The party is under surveillance by intelligence services over suspicions of extremism, with senior figures repeatedly accused of invoking Nazi themes and terminology.