Rote Hilfe records massive increase in membership after debate about Elif Eralp

Since the beginning of the debate about the former membership of the Berlin left-wing politician Elif Eralp in the Rote Hilfe, the association has recorded unusually high numbers of members.

“We have had around 500 entries since we started reporting on Wednesday,” said federal board member Hartmut Brückner in Göttingen. "That's about 20 times as much as usual." The total number of members is currently just over 21,000.

Most recently it became known that Eralp, the left-wing candidate for the office of governing mayor in Berlin, was temporarily a member of the Red Aid. She left in 2025. According to the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the association has been growing for years and is considered the largest and one of the most important groups in German left-wing extremism.

Rote Hilfe sees itself as a “solidarity association for all leftists” who are being persecuted for political activities. The association supports those affected in whole or in part with the costs of legal proceedings, fines or expenses for political public relations. It is said that subsistence payments could also be made for prisoners and others who are exposed to “severe repression”.

In the midst of the debate about Eralp, the parliamentary group leader of the Left in the Bundestag, Sören Pellmann, demonstratively joined the Red Aid movement.