Björn Höcke

An analysis of the rise of the European far-right, increasingly present in both politics and everyday life: an inquisitive journey through France, Germany and Belgium.

The AfD is clearly the strongest force on TikTok. Its official account has far more followers than those of the other major German parties combined. 14 to 19-year-olds are the main users of the social media platform TikTok, followed by those aged 20 and over. That is why the AfD is particularly popular with young voters there. How does the political party manage this? And what does this mean for the upcoming early federal election in February 2025? For the documentary, the team of authors researched undercover, created numerous fake accounts and delved deep into the bubble of AfD supporters. A dark world in which even official AfD party representatives flood TikTok with massive amounts of content and in which their right-wing extremist and anti-constitutional messages reach millions of young people. The AfD has understood how to use the time that young people statistically spend on TikTok per day for their indoctrination. And that could have fatal consequences.

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.

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.

An investigation into how far-right leaders in Germany have risen to the brink of power. Reporter Evan Williams examines the reasons behind the surge in support for their brand of hardline nationalist politics, and the roles of Russia and the U.S.

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.

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 November 2023, right-wing thought leaders, politicians from the AfD, CDU and Werteunion, as well as numerous entrepreneurs, met behind closed doors at the Landhaus Adlon in Potsdam. The topics discussed at the meeting were never intended to be made public. But weeks later, the media company Correctiv published the explosive contents of this conference, as investigative journalists were also present undercover. The revelations caused a stir and triggered the largest protest rallies against right-wing radicalism in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany, with more than three million people nationwide. Suddenly, Germans were discussing a word that hardly anyone had known until then: "remigration." Award-winning documentary filmmaker Volker Heise tells the story in a fact-rich, gripping, and unpretentious way, like a political thriller, bringing together the voices of those who were part of the meeting and those who exposed it to create an illuminating overall picture.

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.

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.

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?

In 2025, anti-Semitism is more widespread in Germany than at any time since the end of the Holocaust. Since October 7, 2023, the attack on Israel by Palestinian terrorists led by Hamas, the number of anti-Semitic crimes in Germany has doubled, and violence is increasing. This documentary follows Jews and asks how they are dealing with the rise of anti-Semitism. Three survivors of Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp speak out, expressing their horror at the resurgence of anti-Semitism 80 years later. Likewise, survivors of the most recent massacre are receiving a voice, such as Tal Shamony, who studies in Berlin, and experiencing only hostility instead of support. Jewish student Lahav Shapira, whose grandfathers died during both the Holocaust and the 1972 Munich Olympic massacre, was brutally beaten by pro-Palestinian activists at the Free University of Berlin, a hotbed of anti-Semitism, simply because he advocated for the release of Israeli hostages. Yet politicians remain inactive.

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.

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 support 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?

A third of Europeans live in economic insecurity: Zero hours contracts, the fear of redundancy and stagnating wages have brought more and more people into poverty and precariousness and provided fertile conditions for the political extremes. This documentary focuses on the new working poor, the precariat.