>> There is concern about the size and scope of extremism.

>> NARRATOR: Correspondent Evan William’s investigates the rise of Germany’s far-right.

>> People think you’re going to restrict the press.

You’re going to deport people.

>> (speaking German): >> NARRATOR: And the fight against it.

>> We consider right wing extremism the severest and most threatening danger that we have right now.

>> NARRATOR: Now on FRONTLINE, Germany’s Enemy Within.

>> They were very dangerous, they were very well prepared.

We're not talking about some amateur warriors.

We're talking about people that are really trained in using weapons.

>> EVAN WILLIAMS: In the fall of 2022, German intelligence chiefs were secretly monitoring a suspected far-right plot to overthrow the government.

>> (speaking German): >> WILLIAMS: The surveillance operation was focused on a wealthy German aristocrat, Heinrich Reuss, who was thought to be one of the ringleaders.

>> We were following him very closely to find the right moment before they could do what they were actually trying to execute, but having enough on our plate for criminal charges that we could press against them.

>> WILLIAMS: But according to German intelligence, Reuss kept putting off his plans at the last minute for a bizarre reason.

>> He had some spiritual leaders who were looking for the stars and the right connection to start their whole maneuvers.

Probably three, four times when they were almost becoming to get ready, they claimed, like, "Oh, the stars are not right today."

So we have to, you know, cool down and start again.

And we were just getting really nervous, because, you know, up and down, and you have to have all the countermeasures in place.

At the third or fourth time we were in action, we took them out.

>> (talking in background) >> German authorities have foiled an alleged plot that aimed to topple the government in Berlin by force.

>> 25 people, including a soldier and a judge, were detained after police... >> WILLIAMS: After months of surveillance, around 3,000 police officers and German special forces across 11 states carried out a series of coordinated dawn raids.

>> These arrests are a remarkable demonstration of how potent and dangerous far-right ideologies are all across the globe.

>> It sounds like a crazy story, but the point is, it was very real, and it was very dangerous.

And we took them out before they could do any harm.

But this is only one group who plans plots like this.

We had many others before.

>> Germany is in shock after an antisemitic attack on a synagogue... >> WILLIAMS: Over the past decade, Germany has faced a wave of far-right violence and plots against Jews, Muslims, immigrants, and politicians.

>> (speaking German): (applauding) >> WILLIAMS: At the same time, support has soared for the far-right party the AfD, Alternative für Deutschland.

>> (speaking German): >> WILLIAMS: I came here back in 2021 as the AfD was gaining ground in parts of Germany and fears about extremist violence were increasing.

(cheering and applauding) I returned in 2024 to speak to intelligence officials, victims of far-right violence, and the AfD politician Björn Höcke, who's on the brink of an historic election victory in Eastern Germany... >> (speaking German): >> WILLIAMS: ...and to investigate the AfD's vision for Germany amid accusations that the party has provoked violence.

>> If we want to live in democracy in ten, 15 years, we have to act now.

Um, there's no time to wait anymore.

♪ ♪ >> We have a principle in Germany which is called defensive democracy.

It comes out of the ideas and experiences that we had with Nazi dictatorship.

Remember, Hitler and his Nazi N.S.D.A.P.

were elected into power.

They didn't do a revolution.

People voted for the Nazis to take over the power.

>> WILLIAMS: Stephan Kramer is the domestic intelligence chief in the German state of Thuringia and is himself Jewish.

>> Okay, we have to get in there.

>> WILLIAMS: His agency was set up after World War II to monitor extremist threats to democracy.

Today, he's come to Northern Germany to meet city mayors and deliver a warning about the growing strength of the AfD... >> (speaking German): >> WILLIAMS: ...which is now the second-most popular political party in the country.

>> (speaking German): Everybody's very concerned that our defensive democracy is on the edge the New Right, the AfD, is explicitly acting against our principles of the Federal Constitution.

This is exactly a situation that we would have never thought would occur after what we've learned in '33 to '45.

And here we are.

(speaking German): We had a blood trail of right-wing extremist terrorism, and people killed-- terrible things-- but nevertheless, none of them was so dangerous to our constitution, to the fundamental pieces of our society, as they are right now.

Look, the Germans did not invent antisemitism, but they invented Auschwitz.

And this is, this is something that we should always keep in mind.

>> (speaking German): >> WILLIAMS: For almost 80 years, Germany has worked to overcome its Nazi history.

(crowd cheering and applauding) Since 2015, it's become a global leader in welcoming refugees, taking in more than a million people fleeing conflicts across the world.

>> (speaking German): (drums pounding) >> WILLIAMS: But the influx has had unintended consequences.

>> (speaking German): >> WILLIAMS: A rise in anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim sentiment.

>> (chanting in German): >> WILLIAMS: The AfD stoked those fears and won millions of new supporters.

(crowd chanting in German) And Germany was hit by a series of far-right terror attacks.

In the summer of 2019, pro-refugee politician Walter Lübcke was murdered by a neo-Nazi gunman.

>> What's believed to be Germany's first far-right political assassination since World War II.

>> WILLIAMS: And four months later, on the Jewish religious holiday of Yom Kippur, more bloodshed-- this time in the city of Halle.

>> A few people I knew were traveling from Berlin to Halle, a place I didn't even know exactly where it was, to celebrate Yom Kippur in a smaller community, and I was happy and curious.

>> WILLIAMS: Christina Feist, then a postgraduate student, was one of around 50 Jewish worshippers in Halle's synagogue that day.

>> We had actually started reading from the Torah.

A friend of mine was seated in front of me, and I remember hearing this, like, bang.

And for a split second, I remember this, I thought, "This is a terror attack, we should all get down."

(fires) >> WILLIAMS: A gunman was trying to shoot his way into the synagogue.

(fires) >> There was a video camera taping what was happening in the street, and I looked at the screen.

And that is actually, um... (voice trembling): That is what really gets me even today.

I saw a person, a human being, lying on the floor, outside.

And, I was, I was, like, "What's happening?

(sniffles): Is this person dead?"

(fires) >> WILLIAMS: The gunman failed to break through the locked door, but shot dead two people who happened to be nearby.

(fires) >> At least two people have been killed in a shooting near a synagogue in the East German city of Halle.

(fires) >> WILLIAMS: The attacker, a 27-year-old named Stephan Balliet, had planned to murder everyone in the synagogue.

At his trial, a prosecutor described his plan to massacre Jews as "one of the most despicable acts of antisemitism in Germany since World War II."

♪ ♪ >> There is concern about the size, shape, and scope of extremism in the country.

>> WILLIAMS: When I came to Germany shortly after the synagogue attack, I was told it was just the tip of an iceberg.

>> (speaking German): >> WILLIAMS: Martina Renner is a lawmaker and anti-fascism campaigner who sat on a committee in the German parliament looking into extremism.

>> (speaking German): ♪ ♪ >> WILLIAMS: Support for the far right is particularly strong in the state of Thuringia.

Formerly a part of communist East Germany, in recent years, it's become an AfD stronghold.

I came here back in 2021 to meet someone who was investigating online extremist networks.

Hi, Katharina?

Hello, it's Evan.

>> Hi!

>> WILLIAMS: How are you?

At the time, Katharina König-Preuss, a lawmaker in the Thuringia state parliament and a prominent anti-fascism activist, was secretly infiltrating and monitoring far-right social media groups.

Okay, thank you.

Talk me through, what, what are you seeing?

>> Um, "Black people, I'll take them as Brennholz."

>> WILLIAMS: "Black people, I'll take them as firewood."

>> Yeah, "I'll take them as firewood," and Hitler... >> WILLIAMS: With a picture of Hitler.

>> Yeah.

>> WILLIAMS: Ku Klux Klan.

>> Mm-hmm.

>> WILLIAMS: Heil Hitler.

>> Anne Frank.

>> WILLIAMS: Mm-hmm.

>> So it's written, "die, die Ofenfrische."

>> WILLIAMS: "Freshly baked from the oven," over a picture of Anne Frank.

>> Yeah.

>> WILLIAMS: Wow.

And you think there are thousands, possibly tens of thousands, of people sharing this material.

>> Yeah.

It started with Facebook, and now most of the groups are Telegram.

Some Whatsapp groups.

>> WILLIAMS: What sort of thing are they discussing?

>> (speaking German): I'd say in ten to 20 groups, they talk about the terroristic attacks that we had in Germany, in Halle, and Mr.

Lübcke.

They talk about if it's okay or not okay.

>> WILLIAMS: Do they say it's okay?

>> They say it's okay.

Especially Halle-- they said the... >> WILLIAMS: Where they attacked the synagogue.

>> Yeah, but it's, like, you know, when Halle happened, they started to discuss, and the most they discussed was why he just killed two people.

And it was something like, "If I would do that, I would kill more, I would kill hundreds."

They support it, and by supporting it, they, they give the signal to, to people in that groups, "Do it-- it's okay to do it."

♪ ♪ >> WILLIAMS: Four months after Halle, in February 2020, there was another far-right attack, this time in the city of Hanau.

>> (crowd reciting): Vili Viorel Paun.

>> Mercedes Kierpacz.

>> (repeats): Mercedes Kierpacz.

>> Hamza Kurtovic.

>> (repeats): Hamza Kurtovic.

>> Said Nesar Hashemi.

>> (crowd repeats): Said Nesar Hashemi.

>> Ferhat Unvar.

>> (repeats): Ferhat Unvar.

>> Kaloyan Velkov.

>> (speaking German): >> WILLIAMS: Armin Kurtovic's son Hamza was in the Arena Bar, the gunman's next target.

>> (speaking German): >> WILLIAMS: Nine people were shot dead, all of migrant background.

Six of them were Muslim.

The killer returned to his home, where he shot his mother, then himself.

>> If you don't believe the following, you better wake up, quick.

In your country exists so-called... >> WILLIAMS: In the weeks before the shootings, Tobias Rathjen posted a video of himself repeating wild conspiracy theories and an online manifesto.

He ranted against immigrants, saying Muslims should be "wiped out of Germany."

>> (speaking German): >> (speaking German): >> WILLIAMS: Armin told me he believed that the killer was motivated by hateful rhetoric from Germany's far-right politicians.

>> (speaking German): >> (speaking German): >> WILLIAMS: The killings in Hanau increased scrutiny on the anti-immigrant rhetoric of the AfD, which by then was the third-biggest bloc in the German parliament.

>> (speaking German): (applauding) >> WILLIAMS: The AfD officially condemned the Hanau and Halle attacks and rejected that the killers were motivated by their rhetoric.

But the party was already on the radar of Germany's domestic intelligence.

>> (speaking German): >> WILLIAMS: Thomas Haldenwang is director general of Germany's national domestic intelligence.

>> (speaking German): >> WILLIAMS: Three weeks after the Hanau attack, his agency formally classified a radical faction of the AfD known as the Wing as a right-wing extremist threat to democracy.

The Wing was placed under government surveillance along with its leader, Björn Höcke, who was also head of the party in Thuringia.

The AfD soon dissolved the Wing, but eventually, the entire party in Thuringia was classified as extremist.

>> (speaking German): ♪ ♪ >> WILLIAMS: Björn Höcke rarely speaks to the foreign media.

But in March this year, he agreed to an interview at an AfD event in Thuringia.

He has repeatedly rejected the charge that the AfD is extremist or that it stokes violence, and accused the intelligence services of trying to suppress legitimate opposition.

Okay?

(woman talking in background) >> (speaking German): >> WILLIAMS: Domestic intelligence is monitoring you and your party because they say you're an extremist threat to democracy.

>> (speaking German): (crowd cheers and applauds) >> WILLIAMS: The AfD wasn't always criticized as extremist.

(applauding) >> (speaking German): >> WILLIAMS: In its early days, it campaigned on a platform of conservative economic policy and opposition to the European Union.

>> The AfD basically started as, like, a Euro-critical party.

>> WILLIAMS: Ann-Katrin Müller covers the AfD for the investigative magazine "Der Spiegel."

>> Lots of people thought they were conservative in the beginning.

You couldn't see when you looked at them that they had right-wing extremist ideas, as well, implanted in it.

And over the last decade, that changed with the AfD.

If you listen to what the leading people of the party say, then it's clear where they want to go.

>> (speaking German): >> WILLIAMS: After the influx of refugees in 2015, the AfD began espousing anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim rhetoric-- and their popularity shot up.

>> (speaking German): (people applauding and shouting) >> WILLIAMS: On the national stage, co-leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla have consistently spoken out against immigrants, but are still viewed as the more moderate voices of the party.

>> (speaking German): >> WILLIAMS: It's Björn Höcke who is widely regarded as the AfD's most influential figure.

>> Björn Höcke is extraordinary within the AfD because he is really a quite old- fashioned right-wing extremist.

He's not just a radical.

He's not just opposed to immigration.

He is really one who favors rewriting German history.

(audience applauding) >> (speaking German): >> WILLIAMS: Höcke is a former history teacher who for years has been pushing the boundaries of political speech.

In 2017, he criticized Berlin's Holocaust Memorial, arguing that Germany should reverse the way it remembered its past.

>> (speaking German): (audience clapping in rhythm, chanting) >> He talked about the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin as a sign of shame in the heart of the nation.

He's obsessed with history.

>> WILLIAMS: Kai Arzheimer, a political extremism expert, has studied Höcke's rhetoric about German history.

>> He is engaged in whitewashing what the Nazis did, basically.

Remembrance culture is the idea that the crimes of the Nazis must never be forgotten and that we should educate future generations in the knowledge that Germany, in the past, has committed those atrocities to safeguard our future.

Basically, that's the idea.

But what Höcke wants is this 100-degree reversal.

>> WILLIAMS: Höcke's statements about the Holocaust Memorial were widely criticized, including by some members of his own party.

Amid calls for him to be expelled from the AfD, he stated that he had made a "mistake" and that he'd learned "many lessons."

But he continued to court controversy.

In 2021, Höcke gave a speech which included a slogan used by the Nazis: "Everything for Germany."

>> (speaking German): >> (chanting in German) >> WILLIAMS: Under German law, the phrase is illegal, and Höcke was charged with knowingly using a Nazi slogan.

He later called the Nazi era "horrific," but claimed he wasn't aware of the slogan's history.

>> (speaking German): >> WILLIAMS: Then he did it again.

>> (speaking German): >> (crowd joins): (cheering and applauding) >> He went to Gera in front of a public audience and he made everybody scream, "All for Germany."

After he already knew that he was on criminal charges for this.

Look, any misunderstandings?

Oh, he didn't know what that means?

Let me remind you, he is a history teacher, a certified history teacher, and he knows damned well what this phrase means.

>> WILLIAMS: You've been charged with issuing a Nazi comment, "Everything for Germany."

Uh, you've been charged with a, with a criminal offense, because that's a crime.

>> (speaking German) >> It's a, it's a Nazi saying.

>> (speaking German): >> WILLIAMS: Shortly after our interview, Höcke was found guilty and fined more than $30,000.

>> Germany says it has foiled a far-right plot to overthrow the government.

>> More than 3,000 officers took part in an early morning raid.

>> WILLIAMS: When news broke in late 2022 of the alleged plot to overthrow the government, fears about the AfD's links to extremism intensified.

>> Now, this is a very fringe movement, potentially a very violent movement.

>> (speaking German) >> WILLIAMS: Within hours of the arrests, details began to emerge about the alleged plotters.

Heinrich XIII, prince of Reuss, an aristocrat from Thuringia... (man talking in background) >> WILLIAMS: ...who the authorities say was a ringleader-- had a history of promoting antisemitic conspiracy theories.

>> The representatives of the Rothschild Dynasty are proud of the fact that they financed the French Revolution and countless other acts of aggression such as wars around the globe.

>> WILLIAMS: Reuss and the other suspects were alleged to belong to a disparate movement with thousands of followers known as the Reichsbürger, citizens of the Reich... >> I plead in favor of a sovereign Germany... >> WILLIAMS: ...who refuse to recognize the modern German state.

(man speaking German) >> WILLIAMS: Many Reichsbürger are regarded as harmless.

But domestic intelligence officials say some of them are far-right extremists, including the alleged plotters.

>> (speaking German): (applauding) >> WILLIAMS: According to intelligence officials, AfD politician Birgit Malsack-Winkemann was at the center of the conspiracy.

>> (speaking German): (some members applauding, others shouting) >> She had been a member of the Bundestag.

And in the party, she was, um, quite well connected.

>> (speaking German): (audience applauding) >> She had meetings and public events with Alice Weidel, for example, the party leader.

So, uh, yeah, the AfD was right in the middle of the Reichsbürger plot.

>> WILLIAMS: Prosecutors allege that Winkemann was to become justice minister for Prince Reuss's new government and had helped prepare the plan for storming the German parliament.

>> (in German): (people talking in background) >> WILLIAMS: More than 20 suspects face trial on charges of terrorism and treason.

All of them have denied the charges.

Prince Reuss's lawyer conceded he had met with other suspects and discussed politics, but denied he was a ringleader of a planned coup.

Birgit Malsack-Winkemann admitted to prosecutors being a part of the group and guiding some members through the Reichstag, but denied it had terrorist plans.

>> (speaking German): >> WILLIAMS: The AfD's co-leaders condemned the plot and promised to expel Winkemann from the party if she was found guilty.

But they also criticized the authorities for over-reacting.

>> (speaking German): >> The party leaders went in front of cameras and were pretending that it's just old people who were, who wouldn't be able to do anything.

So it was kind of laughable.

>> (speaking German) >> It's not a funny thing.

It's not even a funny story, because, uh, they were very dangerous.

They were very well prepared.

Of course, they wouldn't have overtaken Germany, overthrown the government, the federal government and everybody, but it would have been probably a very bloody attack on our governmental institutions.

(drums beating, whistles blowing) >> WILLIAMS: The Reichsbürger plot did nothing to dent the AfD's popularity.

(cheering and applauding) >> WILLIAMS: In 2023, they won a series of local election victories, polling over 30% in Thuringia.

>> Support for the Alternative for Germany is higher than ever before in their ten-year history.

>> The AfD is currently polling at around 19% nationally.

The party expects substantial gains in state elections next year... >> WILLIAMS: They'd been capitalizing on widespread concern about a new influx of refugees, this time from Ukraine, as well as inflation, the cost of living, and the government's expensive green energy policies.

>> (speaking German): >> WILLIAMS: And alarm about the AfD's rising power was about to take on a new urgency.

>> In the eastern state of Thuringia, one voter in three now backs the AfD.

>> WILLIAMS: So, the evidence.

>> The evidence is here.

>> WILLIAMS: That fall, journalists from investigative news site Correctiv were tipped off about a secret far-right meeting to be held in this hotel outside the city of Potsdam.

>> So here's the hotel.

>> WILLIAMS: Right, right.

>> This is the shot from there.

>> WILLIAMS: Good.

And that was a useful angle?

>> Yes, very much so.

This is how we got all the pictures.

>> WILLIAMS: Correctiv journalist Jean Peters helped lead an undercover investigation along with activists from Greenpeace.

Shortly before the meeting, he checked into the hotel pretending to be a regular guest.

>> I was the only guest, as far as I know, apart from the others from the meeting.

And they were a bit surprised.

"Why is he here?"

We had cameras from outside, two cars.

Me inside, I had a watch with a camera inside.

So, this is the, the, actually, the guy who is leading the party in, in Sachsen-Anhalt, this is Ulrich Siegmund.

>> WILLIAMS: AfD.

>> Yeah, AfD.

>> WILLIAMS: So this is important evidence that these people did actually attend the meeting.

>> Yeah.

And there I saw some letters on a table with names on it, so I knew I need this, I need the names.

So I was, like, turning around, was saying hello, shaking hands with a guy from the conference and, like, "No, I'm just a guest."

Turned around again, took my phone, and filmed these letters.

>> WILLIAMS: Peters and his team collected the names of around two dozen people.

They included businessmen and known far-right extremists, as well as conservative politicians and senior members of the AfD.

Must have been pretty nerve-wracking.

>> Yeah, this was my adrenalin moment.

Um, all, all this.

This is, we look into this place, right?

>> WILLIAMS: According to accounts gathered by the Correctiv team, the attendees went on to discuss a plan for the mass deportation of immigrants, even those with German citizenship.

>> It was literally a master plan.

The deportation, as I would say-- they call it "remigration"-- of millions of people, including people with a German passport.

♪ ♪ >> WILLIAMS: The meeting's main speaker was Austrian far-right activist Martin Sellner.

>> (speaking German): >> WILLIAMS: According to Correctiv, he proposed that Germany expel millions of immigrants to a so-called model city in North Africa.

He called it remigration.

>> It's a bluntly racist idea.

So there's the real Germans, those who have, uh, in their blood and in their, you know, they call it culture nowadays.

And there's those who should go back to the countries where they will be happier, because, you know, they're not real Germans, so they will never be, you know, assimilated, uh, like, here.

>> WILLIAMS: Martin Sellner would later confirm he had presented the idea of remigration at the meeting, but denied he spoke of deporting German citizens.

Four AfD members listened to his presentation, including Roland Hartwig, an adviser to the party's national co-leader Alice Weidel.

>> They were talking about a commission that would, once in power, be very quick in all these things.

They talked about money flowing to realize this plan.

They talked about a influence agency who could get the people to be ready.

So you could feel they are thinking beyond, and they are ready to get power.

>> Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets across Germany.

>> The outrage follows reports that members of the Alternative for Germany party had a meeting with far-right extremists to discuss plans for mass deportation of migrants... >> ...basically forcibly reverse the flow of the undesirable Germans.

>> (leaders chanting): Say it loud!

Say it clear!

>> (crowd chanting): Refugees are welcome here!

>> WILLIAMS: Correctiv's investigation about the Potsdam meeting sent shockwaves through German society.

>> (speaking German): >> WILLIAMS: The revelations sparked mass protests against the AfD... >> (speaking German): >> WILLIAMS: ...in cities across Germany over several weeks.

>> The Potsdam revelations really brought the positions of the AfD in sharp relief for many people.

And it was really an extraordinary story for Germans.

Of course, that was not just about anonymous refugees.

This brought home the point that this was, at the end of the day, about friends, neighbors, family, people like you and me who happen to have a parent, a grandparent who came from Turkey or from Africa or whatever.

>> (speaking German): >> So that was something really reminiscent of what the Nazis did, singling out German citizens because they did not fit into the stereotype of the tall, blonde, ethnically German guy whose family hadn't moved in 500 years.

And that created outrage on a large scale.

>> PROTESTERS (singing in German): >> The demonstrations really, really shook the AfD, because the narrative of the AfD was always, in the last couple of years, that they are the party for the people, that they bring out the people to the streets.

Now suddenly, the demonstrations against the AfD were much bigger, much, much bigger.

>> WILLIAMS: Under pressure, the AfD said it had no organizational or financial links to the Potsdam meeting, and that the plan to forcibly deport German citizens was not party policy.

Alice Weidel dismissed the adviser who had attended.

But she also attacked the reporters who'd broken the story.

>> (speaking German): ♪ ♪ >> WILLIAMS: It was shortly after the Potsdam revelations that I visited the AfD heartland of Thuringia to interview Björn Höcke.

>> (speaking German): >> WILLIAMS: Despite the backlash, the AfD was still leading in the polls, meaning Höcke could soon become prime minister of the state.

>> (speaking German): >> WILLIAMS: If the AfD wins power in the September elections, it could gain control on the state level of the police and domestic intelligence, and funding for refugee support and public media.

At a campaign event in the town of Leinefelde, Höcke was the main attraction.

(cheering and applauding) One of his first targets was the Correctiv investigation.

(applauding) >> (speaking German): (audience applauding, exclaiming) >> WILLIAMS: He then turned to the issue of remigration.

>> (speaking German): (applauding and cheering) >> WILLIAMS: Höcke denies that if the AfD came to power, it would forcibly deport people of immigrant background who already have German citizenship.

But he says that under the AfD, immigrants who have not assimilated into German society would be "encouraged" to leave.

>> (speaking German): (people talking in background) >> WILLIAMS: To some, Höcke's rhetoric about minorities recalls Germany's darkest days.

>> He uses stereotypes, he uses this racism, he uses this Nazi talk, uh, he uses his revisionist ideas, and all together, all these statements are basically against the very principles of our federal constitution.

(both speaking German) >> WILLIAMS: But Höcke's supporters in Thuringia rejected the charge that his rhetoric echoes the Nazis.

>> (speaking German): >> WILLIAMS: Some people say that the AfD is connected to the far right.

They are connected to neo-Nazis.

>> Ja?

>> WILLIAMS: Are you worried that, by supporting the AfD, you are bringing Nazism back?

>> (speaking German): >> (speaking German): >> WILLIAMS: Höcke told me that if he wins power in Thuringia, he intends to radically reform the state's domestic intelligence agency which continues to monitor him and his party.

>> (speaking German): >> Mr.

Höcke's said very clearly, if he becomes prime minister or in charge in Thuringia after the next state elections in September-- possible-- first thing he's doing, he's going to fire me.

The question would be, what, how is my domestic intelligence then working when probably the next head of the domestic intelligence in Thuringia is a right-wing extremist, announced and put into place by the very prime minister, Björn Höcke, or his government?

He says very openly, he wants to take away this specific task of defensive democracy, which was created to, to fight against those enemies from inside democracy against democracy.

And I mean, that says it all.

>> WILLIAMS: When I first met Katharina König-Preuss back in 2021, she was investigating far-right networks operating in the shadows online.

In 2024, she says the threat is out in the open, and she's focused on fighting back against the AfD in Thuringia.

>> (speaking German): >> WILLIAMS: Today she's organizing a march in support of a new refugee shelter.

>> (chanting): Say it loud, say it clear!

Refugees are welcome here!

>> (speaking German): (crowd chanting, talking in background) For people with, uh, other skin color, you see, that, uh, have migration background, in some parts of Thuringia, it's no more safe for them.

And they, they told me that people spit up, uh, in front of them, and not just one time.

That happens two, three, seven, ten times.

Um, that the bus doesn't stop when there are just migrants at the bus station.

Little kids, like eight, nine years old from Syria, it's a racist hate what they face.

>> (singing in German): >> I'm scared what will happen if we don't stop it.

Lots of them came to Germany to be in a safe place.

They are no more safe in Germany.

They're not safe now.

And if it goes on, I don't know what will happen to them.

(song continues) >> (singing in German): >> If we want to live in democracy in ten, 15 years, we have to act now.

Um, there's no time to wait anymore.

And if we let them, um, if we let them just a bit of power in the governments, or local or in Berlin, in Germany, they'll use it.

And they'll use it against their enemies.

First, maybe just by cutting financial support for refugees or for democratic, um, projects, whatever.

But second, third, what's going on?

What will happen?

And that's why we have to stop them now.

They'll, they use democracy to destroy democracy.

And we have to realize that.

>> Major victories by far-right politicians across Europe.

>> WILLIAMS: In summer 2024, far-right parties across Europe, including the AfD, made major gains in EU elections.

>> Basically, European voters have pulled the parliament to the farthest right it's ever been.

(whistles blowing, crowd cheering) >> (speaking German): >> WILLIAMS: If Höcke and the AfD win power in Thuringia, it would be the first time a far-right party has controlled a German state since the Nazis.

For Stephan Kramer, that would be the final straw.

>> If the AfD gets into a governmental responsibility, if they are the ones being in charge, I'm leaving the country.

And I'm not saying that easily.

I've been living all my life in Germany.

I'm raised in Germany.

I'm a reserve officer in Germany.

I'm fighting for this democracy.

This is my home.

But once this first step takes place, that's my red line.

>> WILLIAMS: Why not just move to another part of Germany if they're in Thuringia?

>> Because I'm saying if it starts in one state, it will go on in others.

We Germans seem to have a cultural problem with reading, understanding, and listening what dictators are saying, writing, and doing.

When Hitler wrote "Mein Kampf," people said, "Ah, come on."

For God's sake, read, listen, understand!

Take it for real what they say, because most of the time, they do what they say.

>> WILLIAMS: You continue to have these associations with the far right, and that's what people are worried about.

They think you're going to restrict the press, you're going to deport people.

People believe this is what's going to happen if you run the country.

>> (speaking German): (car chimes softly) >> WILLIAMS: It's now more than four years since Armin Kurtovic's son Hamza was shot dead by a far-right gunman in the city of Hanau.

Last year, he was able to see the police investigative report.

It showed that the day before the shootings, the killer had been watching videos of a far-right event where Björn Höcke was speaking.

>> (speaking German): ♪ ♪ Captioned by Media Access Group at WGBH access.wgbh.org >> For more on this and other "FRONTLINE" programs, visit our website at pbs.org/frontline.

♪ ♪ FRONTLINE's "Germany's Enemy Within" is available on Amazon Prime Video.

♪ ♪