Björn Höcke

Left-wing politician Sahra Wagenknecht’s working day is marked by applause and admiration but also doubts and intrigues. This film follows her and her team: from the 2017 election campaign to her withdrawal from political leadership in 2019.

The AfD, founded in 2013, is a right-wing party that has become increasingly radicalized in recent years. To illustrate this, only those who enthusiastically joined the party in its early years are heard. They describe what they looked for and found in the party, but also how and why they left, disillusioned and frightened by the AfD's developments. How did they experience the party's radicalization process? How did friends and family react? When and why did they decide to turn their back on the party? How difficult was the exit process? The documentary provides an illuminating inside view of this party, which has been driving the established parties and the political establishment ahead of it for over ten years, gives viewers a unique look into the AfD's chronicle and world of thought and is at the same time a film about the mechanisms of political radicalization.

Since the massacre by the terrorist organization Hamas on October 7, 2023, it has been clear that anti-Semitism is also a massive problem in Germany. The media reports on anti-Semitic incidents almost every day. Jews no longer feel safe and are often victims of discrimination and hatred. More than 75 years after the liberation of Auschwitz, Jewish life in Germany is still often exposed to anti-Semitic hostility. Schools, kindergartens and synagogues must be guarded. In the wake of pro-Palestinian demonstrations on German streets, aggressive anti-Semitic agitation by angry Islamist mobs is increasingly occurring. Politics is failing to act on its promise. But the breeding ground for this is older. The documentary attempts to show that, based on age-old hatred, stereotypes and prejudices, anti-Semitism from the right-wing, from left-progressive circles and the middle of society is omnipresent in Germany.

Right-wing extremist acts of violence are increasing in Germany. The documentary traces how extremists have developed plans of overthrow and have carried out terrorist plots as well as assaults on Jews or migrants and also how far-right extremists infiltrated security services, which are actually there to protect the population and the state from such attacks. This raises the question of what the German authorities are doing to confront the growing problem and what options they have for action to counter the rising right-wing extremism in Germany. FRONTLINE journalist Evan Williams goes on a journey through Germany, meets the people involved and investigates these burning questions.

After the end of the GDR, thrashings, threats and hunts were part of everyday life. In the years after the reunification of the early 1990s, hatred, racism and violence against foreigners and supporters of leftist ideology broken out in Eastern Germany. Most of those involved was young people. In many cities and towns, the streets and squares belonged to the right-wing scene, organized in neo-Nazi comradeships. Bomber jackets, combat boots and the Hitler salute showed the intimidated rest where they were. The baseball bat was a popular weapon. There were riots, attacks on asylum seekers' homes, mass brawls and hunt downs to those who look or think differently. It doesn't took long and the first deaths were to be mourned. The majority of the Eastern German population looked the other way or even applauded the deeds. A bad omen for the political development of later years. In six film segments, a team of authors take a look at the time reflected in interviews with contemporary witnesses.

Structurally weak and sparsely populated regions of Germany, especially in the north, such as Mecklenburg Switzerland, attract a very special form of ideologically extreme right-wing colonists. Nationalist settlers. The documentary goes on exploration, analyzes their historical roots and describes their influence in today's burgeoning right-wing scene.

In the 2024 elections in the eastern German states of Saxony and Thuringia, the right-wing extremist party AfD and the socio-culturally right-wing but socio-economically left-wing party BSW performed strongly. A similar result is predicted for Brandenburg. What will the enormous voter support for AfD and BSW mean for the economy, society, culture and local politics in eastern Germany in the future? Will the east of the country become increasingly ungovernable due to the decline of the established parties and the electoral successes of AfD and BSW, will the social mood change or can new compromises be found? In search of answers, the filmmakers accompanied people from Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg for several months, who presented their personal perspectives and life situations and gave insight into their worries, fears, wishes and expectations.

En Europe, l'extrême droite s'installe progressivement dans le paysage politique. Mais derrière une façade de plus en plus lisse se cache une idéologie demeurée fondamentalement raciste et violente. Une enquête implacable au sein d'un écosystème de la haine.

Russian Germans are one of the largest migrant groups with voting rights in Germany, but people outside the community often don't know much about them. Except prejudices: Russian Germans would vote for the AfD and understand Putin's war of aggression. But what really moves the community, how do people see themselves and other Russian Germans, what does family mean, what does religion mean - and what is really the level of sympathy for the AfD that the community is said to have?

Enthusiasm resounds at election campaign events with the right-wing extremist German AfD politician Björn Höcke. Some claim that he is his own biggest fan. Former colleagues believe that the chairman of the AfD Thuringia lives in the belief that something great is destined for him. On September 1, 2024, Björn Höcke won the state election in Thuringia for the first time, where he wants to become Prime Minister. Previously, Björn Höcke was twice fined for using a slogan from the Third Reich. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution classifies the AfD Thuringia regional association he leads as proven right-wing extremist. In a book, he made his radical restructuring plans for Germany public. But who is Björn Höcke actually? Where does his attitude, his view of Germany, his worldview come from? Which ideological masterminds are behind the figurehead Höcke? Is he being controlled or is he controlling the AfD? And: What can we expect from him in the future?