Artgemeinschaft Germanic Faith Community Artgemeinschaft Germanische Glaubens-Gemeinschaft | |
|---|---|
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| Abbreviation | AG GGG |
| Leader | Jürgen Rieger (1989–2009) |
| Founder | Wilhelm Kusserow |
| Founded | 1951 |
| Banned | September 2023 |
| Newspaper | Nordische Zeitung |
| Ideology | Neo-Nazism Neo-fascism Esoteric Nazism |
| Political position | Far-right |
| Religion | Germanic Neopaganism |
| Website | |
| web | |
TheArtgemeinschaft Germanic Faith Community (German:Artgemeinschaft Germanische Glaubens-Gemeinschaft;abbreviatedAG GGG) was a GermanNeopagan[1] andneo-Nazi[2] organization[3] founded in 1951 by Wilhelm Kusserow, a former member of theSS. In 1983, it merged with theNordungen (founded in 1924). From 1989 to 2009, it was headed byJürgen Rieger.[4] In September 2023, the Federal Ministry of the Interior banned the Association.
The group had the legal status of a German registered association (eingetragener Verein) headquartered inBerlin. At the time of the ban AG, GGG had 300 supporters and 40 core members.
The Artgemeinschaft was founded in 1951 by former Nazi Wilhelm Kusserow. It was a registered association since 1957 and was based in Berlin. From 1989 until his death in 2009, the group was led by the neo-Nazi lawyer Jürgen Rieger. His successor was Axel Schunk fromStockstadt in Bavaria.[5]
Artgemeinschaft mixed far-right ideology withNordic andTeutonic religions such asÁsatrú, but also elements ofatheism.[6] In the 1960s sometheosophic and so-calledariosophic aspects were added.
The group wasxenophobic andantisemitic.[6] A belief of the party isArtgemeinschaft (loosely translated as "racial community"), a basic tenet of which is theArtglaube ("racial belief").
In contrast to other pagan organisations, neitherGuido von List norLanz von Liebenfels plays any role.[7]
Important in their beliefs are theses bySchopenhauer,Nietzsche,Eduard von Hartmann andFeuerbach in order to attack Christian morality and to replace it with a pagan one. According to Fromm, belief in Gods is not important for the Artgemeinschaft.[7]
One symbol used by Artgemeinschaft is aneagle catching aChristian fish, known as "Adler fängt Fisch" or "Adler fängt Ichthys", which symbolises the rejection of Christianity. It was registered as a trademark for the group in 2003, leading to neo-Nazis in Germany using the symbol afterwards. In 2012, this influenced the decision to reject a new coat of arms for the district ofMecklenburgische Seenplatte.
"Struggle is part of life" is a belief of AG GGG and written in the group's "confession of species" in which the guiding principles are laid down. The "struggle" is "naturally necessary for all becoming, being and passing away", it says. "Every single one of us and our entire species are in this struggle". Instead of the term "race" in the "species community" (Artgemeinschaft) the term "species" (Art) is used.[8]
In September 2023, thepolice searched the homes of 39 members in twelve federal states. The authorities confiscated the association's assets. According to theFederal Ministry of the Interior, the right-wing extremist group is "against the idea of international understanding" and "against the constitutional order". Interior MinisterNancy Faeser (SPD) has banned the association. The association's magazine, thevölkischNordische Zeitung[9] ("Nordic Newspaper"), is also affected by the ban.[8]
The Ministry of the Interior also banned theFamilienwerk ("Family Association"), which is affiliated with theArtgemeinschaft. According to the statutes of the "Familienwerk", the association is intended to protect "the interests of young people and their families, with particular consideration of families with many children".[8]
TheArtgemeinschaft is one of the toughest structures in the extreme right-wing. It doesn't shut itself off from right-wing terrorism at all. TheArtgemeinschaft runs under the label of nature-religiousness and ancestral commemoration. But theArtgemeinschaft is actually one of the most conspiratorial – and I would say – most dangerous structures that we have in Germany.[10]
Membership was regulated according to racial criteria; only "northern born" people may become members. The members belong to different currents of thefar-right, from militantneo-fascists to representatives of theNeue Rechte (New Right).[11] The French theoretician of the New Right Pierre Krebs is member of Artgemeinschaft as well as the right-wing author Claus Nordbruch. Stephan Ernst, the murderer of politicianWalter Lübcke was a member of Artgemeinschaft until 2011.[10]
TheOffice for the Protection of the Constitution of Lower Saxony named Artgemeinschaft in connection to right-wing settlement movements inLower Saxony andMecklenburg Vorpommern.[12]
