Right-wing extremist attacks on youth club in Lauchhammer – state security investigates!

Right-wing extremist attacks on youth club in Lauchhammer – state security investigates!

Early on Sunday morning, November 3rd, 2025, the youth club in Lauchhammer, in the Oberspreewald-Lausitz district, was the target of a violent attack. Unknown people caused considerable destruction, which, according to initial estimates, caused a total damage of around 1,000 euros. The attack, which involved the destruction of a mailbox, the cutting of cables and the breaking of a window, raises suspicions of a political motive. The state security agency has taken over the investigation and is examining a possible right-wing extremist background, as n-tv.de reports.

The graffiti left behind at the crime scene, especially the letters “JN”, point to the Young Nationalists, a youth organization of the right-wing extremist party “Die Heimat”. The affected club Bunt-Rock said on social media that the attacks on their club building and the adjacent left-wing SüdClub were serious signs of an increasing willingness to use violence among right-wing extremists.

Repeated attacks on youth facilities

This incident is not the first of its kind in the region. There have already been documented attacks on other youth facilities in southern Brandenburg. For example, an alternative project in Cottbus was attacked with pyrotechnics. These attacks mark a worrying development in an environment that has been characterized by an increase in right-wing extremist crimes for years. According to BKA statistics, the number of these offenses rose by a remarkable 48 percent in 2024 compared to the previous year.

There are signs of growing acceptance of right-wing extremist views, especially among young people. In the last federal election, around ten million people voted for the AfD, which was classified as “safely right-wing extremist”. Among 18 to 24-year-olds, the vote share was an alarming 21 percent. The German Children and Youth Foundation (DKJS) warns of a “shift to the right” in this age group, especially in East Germany, where young people are increasingly looking for orientation and identity and can fall prey to extremist ideologies.

Radicalization through social media

Social media plays a significant role in the radicalization of young people. They offer space for networking and disseminating right-wing extremist content. This development not only leads to the normalization of right-wing extremist symbols in schools and everyday life, but also to the intimidation of many of those affected who feel increasingly unsafe in public spaces. The encouragement of part of the population behind right-wing violence ensures that such attacks, like the recent one on the youth club in Lauchhammer, will not be an isolated incident.

The demands on society are clear: more police and harsher punishments alone will not stop the violence. There is a need to strengthen countercultures and specifically promote democratic youth cultures. Prevention programs must be installed in the long term and continuously supported in order to counter the right-wing extremist trend, which has increased particularly in eastern Germany, as studies and reports, including those from deutschlandfunkkultur.de, show.