The Brandenburg Office for the Protection of the Constitution has classified the so-called Anastasia movement as a suspected right-wing extremist case. This was stated by the head of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Jörg Müller, on Wednesday in the interior committee of the state parliament at the request of a left-wing deputy. Various settlement projects are assigned to the network. A larger project is located in the Grabow district of the municipality of Heiligengrabe (Ostprignitz-Ruppin district).
A return to nature
The movement refers to the novel character Anastasia by a contemporary Russian author. Its adherents have committed themselves to an esoteric return to nature, combined with a reactionary understanding of society, among other things. The followers found "family estates" and committed themselves to the principle of self-sufficiency.
The classification as a suspected case enables the Office for the Protection of the Constitution to use intelligence resources. This includes, among other things, observation and obtaining information about informants from the respective scene.
Five »family estates« in Brandenburg
"Parts of the Anastasia book series have elements relevant to the protection of the constitution that are incompatible with the free democratic basic order," said a spokesman for the Ministry of the Interior. Thus, the book series contains a partly nationalist, racist and anti-Semitic ideology.
The Brandenburg Office for the Protection of the Constitution currently attributes five "family estates" to the Anastasia movement. The potential number of people is in the low to mid double-digit range," the ministry spokesman explained. The group maintained connections in particular to Austria and Switzerland. The authority assessed the potential for violence as low.
According to the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, there is a possible danger posed by the group in the points of contact and the resulting recruitment potential "not only into the right-wing extremist spectrum," the spokesman explained. As examples, he cited the scene of the so-called Reichsbürger and self-administrators. In addition, the Anastasia books appeal to esoteric-ecological milieus, which is why the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution sees the danger that the ideology is suitable for "radicalizing people who have not previously been active in extremist associations."
There is already evidence of connections between the movement and actors of right-wing extremism, the Holocaust denial scene and the Reichsbürger and self-administrators, the spokesman for the Ministry of the Interior emphasized. "For example, there are concrete findings on overlaps with the Reich Citizens' Group 'Kingdom of Germany'."