Overview
- Federal and state intelligence services told Süddeutsche Zeitung that since spring 2024 a variety of regional 'Active Clubs' have been set up in Germany and are now the focus of official monitoring.
- Agencies say the clubs present as fitness and camaraderie groups but use combat sports training and gradual indoctrination to draw young men into white‑supremacist ideas.
- Bavarian intelligence identified a plan by Patrick Schröder of the right‑wing party Die Heimat to build clubs nationwide, and the BfV reports knowledge of several persons linked to the scene.
- Open‑source channels list about 22 clubs on Telegram and similar platforms, but officials caution the true number of active groups is unclear and members often hide their identities in masked or pixelated videos.
- The concept traces to US neo‑Nazi organiser Robert Rundo, and security services warn the model shifts recruitment from online spaces into physical networks, increasing the risk of violence and making detection harder.