Martin Sellner | |
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 Sellner in 2016 | |
| Born | Martin Michael Sellner (1989-01-08)8 January 1989 (age 36) Vienna, Austria |
| Alma mater | University of Vienna |
| Occupation | Far-right activist |
| Organisation | Identitäre Bewegung Österreich |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 1 |
Martin Michael Sellner[1] (born 8 January 1989) is an Austrianfar-rightextremist[2][3][4][5] political activist, and leader of theIdentitarian Movement of Austria, which he co-founded in 2012.[6] He is considered to be a key figure in theNeue Rechte (New Right in German-speaking countries).[7][8] Some also deem him to be part of thealt-right movement.[9][10][11]
In March 2018, he was denied entry to, and deported from, the United Kingdom.[12][13][14] A year later, he was denied entry to the United States because of a connection to theChristchurch shooter.[15] In March 2024, the city of Potsdam tried to ban Sellner from entering Germany for 3 years, because of his speech on "remigration" at the2023 Potsdam far-right meeting; that ban was revoked by a German court in late May 2024. Sellner has also promoted theGreat Replacement conspiracy theory.
Sellner was born in 1989 and raised outside ofVienna in the town ofBaden[16] by his father, ahomeopath, and his mother, an English teacher.[17] He became involved in nationalist politics as a teenager, being part of Austria'sneo-Nazi scene.[18] An early mentor of his wasGottfried Küssel, a well-known neo-Nazi figure.[18]
In 2006, at the age of 17, Sellner admitted to placingswastika stickers with another person on asynagogue inBaden bei Wien, Lower Austria.[19] Apart from the swastika stickers, others had the inscription "Legalise it" and the letters AJ (for "Aryan Youth"). The accomplice later stated in an interrogation that they had "wanted to do something" when they heard about the conviction of the British Holocaust denierDavid Irving. Sellner did 100 hours of community service in a diversion at the Jewish cemetery in Baden, leading to the public prosecutor's office renouncing a criminal trial.[20][21]
In 2008, at the age of 19, he helped a leading Austrian neo-Nazi group hinder liberal demonstrations and made pilgrimages to memorial services forWehrmacht soldiers.[22] Sellner has said that, until 2011, he was a neo-Nazi.[23]
 | This sectionis missing information about the years 2008-2016, begin and end of studies, source of income. Please expand the section to include this information. Further details may exist on thetalk page.(April 2024) |
In 2012, he co-founded theIdentitarian Movement of Austria, also referred to as "Generation Identity" in Austria, after discovering the FrenchBloc Identitaire on the internet. Sellner copied their aesthetics, the black-yellow logo and the central term of "saving European identity". Contacts in right-wingfraternities enabled him to convince sponsors of his new, right-wing radical youth group.[23]He dropped out of law school,[23] and by 2016 was studyingphilosophy inVienna.[24] By 2017 he had a bachelor in philosophy, anddie Zeit referred to him as graphic designer.[23] He said that he had broken withneo-Nazism, and that the rising popularity of Nazism was a failure of society.[22]
In April 2016, he disrupted a theatre performance ofElfriede Jelinek's piece,Die Schutzbefohlenen (theatre performance with migrants seeking asylum),[18][25] along with around 30 members of his organisation, spilling fake blood.[26] The blood was intended to symbolize the "blood ofBataclan andBrussels".[27]
In 2017, Sellner spoke at aPegida rally inDresden.[28][29]
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In February 2017, Sellner was involved in a fight in aVienna U-Bahn station where he usedpepper spray on people he described as far-left activists. Since this incident, he has been banned from carrying weapons.[30]
In early 2018 he had received a donation of $1,500 from theAustralian-born terroristBrenton Tarrant of the March 2019Christchurch mosque shootings inChristchurch,New Zealand.
In March 2018, Sellner andBrittany Pettibone, at that time his girlfriend, were denied entry to the United Kingdom atLuton Airport on the grounds that their presence in the United Kingdom was not conducive to the public good.[31] Sellner intended to deliver an address atSpeakers' Corner inHyde Park, London.[32] They were denied entry, detained for two days and deported.[31][33]
In March 2019,Austrian police searched his home; unusually, they waited 12 minutes for him to open the door. Sellner apparently had been warned and managed to delete all emails with Christchurch shooter Tarrant 40 minutes before the raid.[34][35] His computer, mobile phone, all data storage devices and cash cards were confiscated on suspicion that he was a member of a terrorist organization.[36][37][38] Sellner denied any involvement in the attacks.[39]
Also in March 2019, U.S. authorities canceled his permit to travel without a visa to the United States according to Sellner, thus preventing him from visiting Pettibone, now his wife.[40] In 2019, the Republican Committee of Pettibone's home county ofKootenai County, Idaho, called on the American federal government to allow Sellner to travel to the United States.[41] The move caused considerable controversy within the Republican Party and the State of Idaho.[42] Sellner has said he wants to be allowed into the country so he and his fiancée could marry and live together inPost Falls, Idaho, rather than his native Austria;[43] following this, their marriage was instead held in Austria later that year.[44]
In June 2019, Austrian police expanded their searches of Sellner's property in connection with the March 2019 Christchurch shootings by Brenton Tarrant. According to media reports, Sellner commented that his electronic devices had been seized because police had a "strong suspicion of [Sellner] forming a terrorist organisation with Brenton Tarrant". A search warrant, which Sellner produced in a video on his YouTube channel, justified the search on the basis of Tarrant's "The Manifesto of The Great Replacement" and the suspicion of Sellner having collaborated with him.[45] On 13 December 2019, a judge ruled that the searches were unlawful. Investigators had wrongly suspected Sellner of forming a terrorist organisation. According to the public prosecutor's office inGraz, inspection of Sellner's bank account was illegal for a lack ofreasonable suspicion.[46]
In June 2019, Sellner was permanently excluded from entering the UK on security grounds in a letter sent to him by theHome Office. A year earlier, Sellner had attempted to enter the UK viaStansted airport, but had been stopped by the authorities. The Home Secretary,Sajid Javid, feared that Sellner might try to enter the UK again to train the local branch of Generation Identity and carry out public stunts that would promote "anti-Islamic and anti-immigration narratives".[47]
In 2023, Sellner proposed a plan to "remigrate" millions of people from Germany to North Africa at the2023 Potsdam far-right meeting. The meeting also hosted members of theAlternative for Germany (AfD) party and theChristian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) party, leading to debate on banning the AfD.[48]
On 29 January 2024, Sellner entered Germany from Austria in a leased car. The police interrogated Sellner for nearly an hour before releasing him.[49] On 19 March 2024, Sellner was banned from entering Germany for three years. According to German public media, Sellner had stated on his Twitter account that he would be "pushed back and punished" if he tried to enter Germany during the ban. The ban came after it was reported that Sellner had given a speech on "remigration" to politicians from theAfD and theCDU in Potsdam on 25 November 2023.[50][51] A court in Potsdam revoked the ban in late May 2024 on Sellner's application, declaring the original ban unlawful.[52]
On 16 March 2024, Sellner was arrested inSwitzerland while he was giving a speech at an event organized by the Swiss organizationJunge Tat [de] inTegerfelden.[53]
After an interrogation, Sellner was released on the condition that he leave the country immediately, which he did.[53] According to media reports, a senior police officer in Zurich had warned Sellner in a telephone call the day before that the intended event "must not take place".[54]
As of 2017 Sellner has been regarded as a member of thealt-right movement.[9][10][11] In 2017,Wolfgang Ullrich [de] suggested that there are connections between Sellner's worldview and the theories of the philosopherMartin Heidegger and the political theoristCarl Schmitt.[55]
ITV's 2017documentary film investigationUndercover – The New British Far-Right claimed the existence of undercover footage of Sellner discussing contacts betweenGeneration Identity andwhite supremacist groups in theUnited States, but stated that these contacts must be hidden due topublic relations considerations. The documentary stated that Sellner said that Jews were a problem in the 1920s and made references to the "Jewish question". Sellner also said that the domination of the American alt-right by the "Jewish question" is a "complete strategical and theoretical failure". It stated that he said he was anantisemite in his youth, and that his friends made offensive comments about theHolocaust.[56] It also stated that he had promoted theGreat Replacement conspiracy theory. Sellner responded by calling the documentary a "hit piece", and that the statements were taken out of context. In a statement released by Generation Identity and Sellner, they stated that the group wants to preserve European "ethno-cultural identity" and stated that the group has no hidden agendas.[56][57]
Sellner states that he grew up in a middle-class area and family. According to an interview of his from a 2017 documentary, Sellner's parents are understanding and supportive of his career, although they would have preferred him pursuing his studies in law and are concerned about possible politically-motivated attacks on him.[23][58]
In August of 2019, Sellner marriedBrittany Pettibone, an Americanalt-rightvlogger and conspiracy theorist.[18][59][44] The couple had their first child, a son, in 2021.[60]
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