German police have raided properties belonging to two candidates for the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) as part of an investigation into links with a banned neo-Nazi organisation.
The searches on 27 August targeted 15 suspects across five German states: Saxony-Anhalt, Berlin, Brandenburg, Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia. No arrests were made, but investigators seized documents and other material.
Among the properties searched were those belonging to AfD candidates Simon Lansmann and Sebastian Koch, who are standing in next month’s Saxony-Anhalt state election.
Hitler Youth song
Both men attended a summer-solstice gathering at Lansmann’s property near Gardelegen in June. German media reports say people linked to Artgemeinschaft – Germanische Glaubens-Gemeinschaft wesensgemäßer Lebensgestaltung – were present.
Participants reportedly performed rituals involving animal horns and sang a Hitler Youth song.
Artgemeinschaft was banned by Germany’s interior ministry in 2023. The organisation promotes the superiority of the “Nordic-Germanic” race and combines neo-pagan beliefs with Nazi racial ideology.
Germany’s Federal Administrative Court upheld the ban in April this year, finding fundamental similarities between Artgemeinschaft’s worldview and Nazi ideology.
Breaches of ban
Lansmann has denied that the June gathering represented a continuation of Artgemeinschaft and said he rejected its ideology. Koch has also distanced himself from the organisation.
The raids were conducted as part of an investigation into suspected violations of Artgemeinschaft’s ban.
