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On April 5, 2022, German investigators staged dawn raids at the homes of 50 suspects in 11 states, marking one of the most significant crackdowns on far-right extremism in the country’s history.
Among the targeted individuals were members of the US-based Atomwaffen Division—a group linked to five murders in the U.S.—as well as the banned Combat 18 group, and far-right marital arts group Knockout 51.
Three of the men now in custody were detained in the eastern town of Eisenach, and are believed to be leading figures in Knockout 51, which prosecutors said “lures young, nationalist-minded men, indoctrinates them with right-wing extremist propaganda and trains them for street fighting”.