lich – Right-wing Extremist Instagram Account Linked to Students Prompts School Response
A right-wing extremist Instagram account originating in Lich, Hesse, sparked a swift response from the Dietrich Bonhoeffer school after being linked to its students. The account’s exposure led to both legal and preventative measures,including involvement from state security and a pedagogical specialist office for right-wing extremism,”red line,” based in Marburg.
The incidents were processed legally and preventatively, with state security investigating the account operators and their parents. Simultaneously, ”red line” worked within the affected classes. Headmaster Blasini emphasized the importance of fruitful prevention, noting the school regularly offers workshops, including those with individuals who have left the right-wing scene, to ninth and tenth graders, consistently receiving a positive response.
The core group involved was limited to four tenth-grade students who have sence left the school. Blasini reported receiving praise from both the police’s preventative and state security divisions for the school’s aggressive handling of the situation, which was subsequently evaluated by the Hessian State Office for the Protection of the Constitution. ”We no longer have any problems,” Blasini stated. “It was a unique incident and we were rigorous from the start.”
According to a report from the Hessian State Office for the Protection of the Constitution, platforms like the Instagram account contribute to the spread of right-wing ideology by providing low-threshold access, especially for young people, to extremist content via social media. The report notes that young people, “partly still underneath [the age of criminal responsibility],” are increasingly exposed to right-wing extremist ideology through these channels.
