With the experience of dropouts against right-wing extremism

Why do extremist groups fascinate some young people? How is an exit from radical circles possible? This is the subject of two short films presented by Minister of the Interior Herrmann. BR24 reports live at 4 pm.

By Hans-Joachim Vieweger There are impressive pictures, some of them hard to bear: A teenager, Tom, as part of a right-wing extremist group, beats up on another until he is almost dead. "I struck this head like a mentally disturbed person," he recalls. Tom initially got into the radical environment because he was being bullied and was looking for a connection. He loves the hard music – and especially the alcohol.

How are young people radicalising online? Br24 will talk about this live at 4 p.m. with Daniela Marckmann, head of the Bavarian Information Centre against Extremism, and Anna-Lena von Hodenberg from HateAid. The livestream can be found embedded above this article. Again and again he comes into conflict with the law, has to go to prison until he is so desperate that he would like to kill himself.

He notices that he doesn't have any real friends in the far-right scene. He struggles to get out of the scene, and Tom is still receiving psychiatric treatment today. True stories that stir things up They are true stories like Tom's, with which the Ministry of the Interior and the Bavarian Information Centre against Extremism want to clarify. In two short films, the stories of four adolescents or young men are shown who, for various reasons, have drifted off into the right-wing extremist scene, but later managed to get out.

Some of the dropouts report anonymously about their past, some scenes from their lives are re-enacted by actors. The students who see the films in a special screening at the University of Television and Film are shocked. Isabell from the 11th Class of a Munich high school says it's different to hear about extremism in the news than to get to know concrete stories of people – she is impressed by the films.

Hope for raising awareness of the environment of young people Daniela Marckmann, the head of the Bavarian Information Centre against Extremism, hopes that the social environment of young people in particular will be sensitized by the short films: If teachers in schools or people in clubs got a feel for what might go wrong with young people, much would already have been gained, says Marckmann. In some cases, the young people who wanted to leave were advised by their information centre. Herrmann: Concern about rapid radicalisation on the Internet For this reason, the films and the associated social media activities are to be disseminated especially through schools and youth meetings as well as through clubs and youth work, for example of churches, says Bavarian Minister of the Interior Joachim Herrmann (CSU). He is very concerned about the rapid radicalisation of children and adolescents via social media; such actions for prevention are all the more important.

Media scientists: Distribute content strategically However, radical content often dominates on the major social media platforms. This is pointed out by the media scientist Jonas Schützeneder from the University of the Bundeswehr in Munich. Therefore, it is not enough to produce good content for young people, but it is also strategically necessary to ensure a large distribution. Schützeneder speaks of "amplification effects" when certain offers are redistributed and liked by others on the network.

A procedure that radical groups have so far mastered better than the democratic centre, as Schützeneder complains. But he also welcomes the fact that, with the help of actions such as those to prevent right-wing extremism, attention is being drawn to a problem – and, with the attention, the willingness to take action and counter radical tendencies is also growing. As shown in the film: Tom, who is now a father, is confronted by his son with his own past – he was a Nazi, even killed someone, according to rumours. He talks to his son about all this and, above all, has one goal: He wants to protect his son from getting on the wrong track – after all, he has "a huge fear that you will become like I once was.“ That's the European perspective at BR24.

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24.09.2026 - 14:00