A sharp machete, an armored vest, a Koran, the black and white flag of the so-called terrorist militia "Islamic State": Dennis still owns "inventory" from his terrorist past. He also has a black sweater with radical right slogans. "I wanted to kill people, I really wanted to,", Denis told German public broadcaster ARD.
Being radicalized at 16
The 20-year-old is from southern Germany, his real name is something else. He was radicalized four years ago when he was 16 - initially falling into right-wing extremist circles, then joining jihadists. Now he is trying to break away from all this.
Dennis' radicalization begins online. On the Internet, he comes into contact with right-wing extremists from the United States, who influence him ideologically with their hatred of Jews and migrants.
"I was racist and anti-Semitic," he says. All this happened at a time when he "didn't have many friends". A little later, he lived together with a group of right-wing extremists in a northern German city. There, as he told ARD, he discussed with other neo-Nazis how to ambush "people of different color", beat them up and create a "Nazi neighborhood". At the same time, they also planned armed attacks against the imam of the city and against politicians from the green party.
"In Germany we did not plan to kill people. But if it had come to that, we would have perceived it as collateral damage," the young man told the German public-law media. What he and others wanted to achieve was mainly to get certain politicians to resign. The bombings failed because some of the group gave up, and also because of a lack of money, Denis claims.
From Neo-Nazi to Salafist
After a few more months, however, Denis became disillusioned with the right-wing extremist groups, as he says. And he radicalized again online - this time he turned to the Salafist scene. A connecting element of the Nazi circles and the Islamist scene turned out to be his hatred of the Jews.
"In less than two weeks, I already had German contacts in Syria." Dennis wanted to go there to die fighting for some Islamist militia - so he started training to use weapons. Then you also ordered the machete - thought he might need it. When asked if he wanted to carry out Islamist attacks in Germany as well, Dennis said that it had crossed his mind, but he didn't think he would be capable of it.
Federal Criminal Service Monitors Dangerous Juveniles
Denis is not an isolated case, as the danger from young terrorists is growing, writes ARD. In February 2023, a young man, then 16, was convicted of planning a right-wing extremist attack on his school. In December, an 18-year-old right-wing extremist from Potsdam was convicted of preparing an attack with improvised bombs.
The same series includes both the arrest by the police on Easter of four suspected Islamists aged 15 and 16 who were planning attacks in Germany, and the conviction of a 15-year-old youth who, for Islamist reasons, planned a truck attack on a Christmas market in Leverkusen.
ARD also recalls that after the cancellation of three Taylor Swift concerts in Vienna due to a terrorist threat, a 19-year-old and a 17-year-old Islamist were among those detained. In September, in Munich, an 18-year-old Austrian opened fire in front of the Israeli Consulate General.
The total number of dangerous youths that the Federal Criminal Service monitors is between 10 and 30, writes the German public-law media. At the same time, she cited data from Europol, according to which persons suspected of carrying out terrorist attacks are becoming younger and even often minors. A study by the University of Hamburg concluded that between 2001 and 2022, a fifth of the participants in Islamist terrorist attacks in Germany were minors.
Leaving the extremist scene
There are a number of projects in Germany that aim to influence extremists and help them get out of their radical groups, says ARD. One of them is called "Turning Point". To the German public-law media, his manager said that one of the reasons that increase the willingness to leave these environments are, for example, disappointments or betrayal by comrades.
The woman, whose name has not been released for security reasons, said she receives new inquiries by email almost daily. It was about leaving terrorist groups, ideological distancing from extremism, as well as social stabilization. Her team was ready to provide any assistance, and in certain cases a name change was also possible.
Dennis has also benefited from the help of "Turning Point". He reconsidered things after the birth of his first child, says the 20-year-old man. People from the team are still helping him today, ARD also informs. They helped him find a new home for himself and his family in another federal province. But to this day he feels the consequences of his radicalization. He suffers from nightmares about war, death and terrorism and says he needs psychological help.