Germany Major raid on right-wing extremist publishing house in three states
Right-wing propaganda and suspected incitement to hatred - there have been raids against the far-right publishing house "Der Schelm" in several parts of Germany as well as in Poland and Spain.
11.03.2026, 15:16
11.03.2026, 15:17
SDA
Among other things, the publisher is said to distribute publications with anti-Semitic and inciting content. These include publications that deny the Holocaust, reported the public prosecutor's office in Karlsruhe and the State Criminal Police Office (LKA) of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (rbb) first reported on the operation.
According to the report, eight suspects are being investigated, in particular on suspicion of - jointly committed - incitement to hatred in at least 488 cases. The authorities are focusing on a 61-year-old man who is currently believed to be in Russia. No one has been arrested, according to an LKA spokeswoman. The publisher did not respond to a request for comment.
Nazi material seized
According to the statement, a total of ten homes and business premises in five German states and a total of four premises in Spain and Poland were searched. Nazi devotional objects, propaganda material, printed matter, electronic data carriers and other evidence were seized. The German federal states in question are Baden-Württemberg, Brandenburg, Saxony, Bavaria and North Rhine-Westphalia.
Disseminating inflammatory writings
According to RBB, the suspects include two print shop owners, a graphic designer, an IT specialist and the owner of a business center. According to the report, the investigators searched a print shop in Poland and a warehouse as well as private and company premises in Spain.
The case concerns a publishing house with an online mail order service that has been distributing around 100 reprints of anti-Semitic books and writings from the Nazi era as well as racist and Holocaust-denying publications, the distribution of which is banned in Germany, for at least ten years.
Targeted by the judiciary before
This is not the first time that "Der Schelm" has been targeted by law enforcement authorities. In spring 2024, for example, the Dresden Higher Regional Court sentenced three of the publisher's employees to prison and suspended sentences for distributing right-wing extremist hate publications. It classified the publishing house as a criminal organization.
A former Leipzig politician from the far-right party NPD (now called Die Heimat) received two years and six months in prison. The case was brought by the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office, Germany's highest prosecuting authority.
According to the verdict, a separately prosecuted suspect - a "convinced right-wing extremist and anti-Semite" - had founded the publishing house in 2014. His intention was "to publish National Socialist, anti-Semitic and right-wing extremist literature, to spread his ideological convictions in this way and at the same time to achieve extensive financial gain".
As a result of the investigations by the Federal Public Prosecutor General and several convictions of those involved in the business, the mail order business, which had been booming until then, had initially declined significantly, the LKA and the public prosecutor's office went on to say. Later, there were indications that those responsible at the publishing house had created new printing and distribution channels. This has now led to the searches.
