GERMAN investigators carried out raids across the country today as Berlin banned a far-right group it called “cult-like, deeply racist and anti-Semitic” that sought to indoctrinate children with Nazi ideology.

Police stormed 26 apartments owned by 39 members of the Artgemeinschaft network in 12 states including Bavaria, Baden-Wuerttemberg and Brandenburg.

The association had about 150 members and was linked to several far-right groups, said the Interior Ministry.

It used the cover of a “pseudo-religious Germanic belief in God to spread their worldview which violates human dignity”, said the ministry.

Using Nazi-era literature, the association sought to convert the young to adopt its race theories.

It also ran an online bookstore that sought to radicalise and attract non-members.

“This is a further blow against right-wing extremism and against the intellectual agitators who still spread Nazi ideologies today,” said Interior Minister Nancy Faeser.

“This far-right group tried to raise new enemies of the constitution through the disgusting indoctrination of children and youth,” she said.

Germany has banned a series of right-wing extremist groups in recent months.

Last week, it outlawed the local chapter of the United States-based Hammerskins neo-Nazi group known for its white supremacist rock concerts.

There were some 38,800 people in the right-wing extremist spectrum in Germany last year, said a report presented by the BfV federal domestic intelligence agency in June – up from 33,900 in 2021.

The number considered potentially violent also rose from 13,500 to 14,000. – AFP, September 27, 2023.