The Hamburg State Office for the Protection of the Constitution (LfV) Highlights Threats of Extremism in Annual Report

The Hamburg State Office for the Protection of the Constitution (LfV) reports as the first constitutional protection authority in the Federal Republic in its most recent annual report under the heading “conspiracy ideological extremism”. These include “constitutional protection relevant delegitimizers of the state” as well as self-governors.

At the same time, there was a new record number of Reich citizens in the Hanseatic city last year. In 2022, 340 people were assigned to this milieu. In 2021 there were “only” 290. There were also more members of the Islamist scene last year (2022: 1,755 people; 2021: 1,650 people). Of the most recent 1,755 people, 490 were Salafists (including 225 jihadists). 82 percent of all Islamists identified by the LfV Hamburg are considered violent.

However, right-wing extremism continues to pose the greatest threat to the free and democratic basic order. There were recently 380 right-wing extremists in Hamburg. 130 of them are considered violent. Of the 1,130 left-wing extremists, 850 – and thus 75 percent – are considered violent. In addition, there are 300 members of the Scientology organization in Hamburg, where cyber defense and cyber espionage defense are becoming increasingly important through the LfV.

Hamburg’s Interior Senator Andy Grote (SPD) explained in this context: “Our democracy is threatened from many sides – there is currently no relaxation in sight. The turning point is also a turning point for our protection of the Constitution, which has to face new challenges. The authority has an indispensable function as an early warning system and the first line of defense of democracy.

And the head of the LfV Hamburg, Torsten Voß, said: “The phenomenon of delimitation is still a major threat to our democracy. All sorts of enemies of the constitution try to exploit socially relevant issues for their own purposes – always with the aim of moving into the mainstream of society and forming alliances with democratic initiatives. In this way, narratives hostile to democracy are to be gradually helped to gain broader acceptance.” He considers these attempts at dissolution “to be one of the greatest dangers for our democracy, since enemies of the constitution are trying in this way to determine entire discourses and gain influence.”