The need for advice regarding right-wing extremist and racist incidents in Hesse remains great. Although the Hesse advisory network registered 302 new cases last year, slightly fewer than the previous year (322), the cases have become more complex, are sometimes continued for years and require more resources, said the head of the Hesse Democracy Center, Reiner Becker, to the German Press Agency. So you have to assume stagnation at a high level.
Advice is becoming more complex and sometimes takes years
This is reflected in the data from the 2025 annual report by the fact that 62 consulting cases from the previous year were continued. The network's employees work as needed.
You are asked for support, for example, when associations want advice on how to deal with discriminatory statements made by individual members, when people experience right-wing extremist or racist incidents in public or in private, when parents are concerned about the child's social media activities, or when local politicians or administrative employees need advice about incidents in cities and communities.
They are particularly often asked for help by schools when, for example, swastika graffiti appears, right-wing slogans are shouted in class chats in the schoolyard or students are threatened, anti-Semitic or racist insults and insults. Cases of violence also occur in school environments, as Becker says.
As a rule, a number of things have already been tried before those affected turn to the advice network. “Nobody calls right away.” The advisory network is also repeatedly confronted with incidents in connection with trips to memorial sites.
Social development creates breeding ground
From the political scientist's point of view, the breeding ground for this is not only polarization but also growing fragmentation and "destructiveness" in society. “That spills over into the classroom,” said Becker. “Schools are not islands.” What is changing in society does not stop at the school gate.
With a total of 20 percent of counseling cases last year, general education schools once again made up the largest area of application for counselors, followed by local social areas with 19 percent and local politics and social institutions with 8 percent each.
The social changes have recently been reflected in the results of the three recent state elections in Saxony-Anhalt, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Berlin, says Becker. He sees the established parties in an existential crisis.
They would have a hard time in a world in which “certain models of success that created prosperity no longer work. “Keyword: the automotive industry, the keyword: export,” said Becker, “all of that is changing in a short period of time.” There are no easy answers to this, and at the same time people want to feel that their concerns are taken seriously and addressed seriously.
Students bring “their world” with them to school
The fact that the developments are particularly evident in schools is also due to the important role that educational institutions play in the socialization of young people. While other actors such as churches become less important, schools remain the pivotal point in the lives of children and young people.
“They are forced to come in and out, but they also bring their whole world with them to school. That is always the challenge for this system,” said Becker. The increasing complexity of consulting cases is also due to the actors involved, some of whom have different perspectives and interests.
92 criminal complaints following incidents in schools
The Hessian Ministry of Culture registered 159 right-wing extremist, anti-Semitic and racist incidents in schools last year (previous year: 151 cases). According to the advisory network, 92 of them were reported.
From Becker's point of view, the renewed increase shows the great pressure to act, but can also be read differently: schools are taking a closer look. Teachers, school administrators, school social workers and parents no longer wanted to dismiss incidents as mere provocation or “youthful sin,” said the political scientist. “They are looking for support because they take on responsibility. This is not a sign of weakness, but of democratic vigilance.”
Hesse's Minister of Education Armin Schwarz (CDU) had already declared in April that incidents at schools would be responded to consistently. “We have to stand up for our values and democracy every day, unconditionally.”
Organized right-wing extremism attracts younger people
The ministry also refers to numerous offers for values and democracy education for schoolchildren in order to prevent extremist incidents from occurring. This includes, for example, the cooperation project “Network Pilots for Anti-Semitism/Extremism Prevention” run by the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of the Interior, which trains teachers, school management and school social workers in the area of “preventing right-wing extremism”.
The “Red Line - Help to get out before you get started” program is also intended to prevent young people with initially diffuse right-wing orientation from crossing the “red line” into organized right-wing extremism. This takes the form of support for the young people themselves, but also through advice from parents, youth welfare workers and other specialists.
Here too, the work has become more demanding, said Becker. There is also a clear trend according to the annual report: “Inquiries continue to increase – and young people are getting younger and younger.”
