German court hands jail sentences to young members of neo-Nazi ‘Last Wave of Defense’

A German court hands prison sentences of up to five years to seven members or supporters of a far-right militant group called the “Last Wave of Defense.”

The men, all in their teens or early 20s, were convicted of crimes including membership in a terrorist organization, attempted murder and arson for plotting attacks on refugees and left-wing activists.

The presiding judge in Hamburg says the adolescents and young men had absorbed far-right ideology and sought to “create chaos.”

Some of them had carried out initial attacks, including setting fire to a cultural center in the eastern German town of Altdoebern in October 2024 and hurling fireworks into a refugee shelter in the town of Schmoelln in January 2025, also scrawling Nazi symbols at the crime scene.

It was “only by chance” that no one inside was injured in those attacks, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said the extremists had chosen the name because they cast themselves as “the last line of defense for the ‘German nation.'”

The case has fueled debate over the increasing radicalization of youths and a resurgence of neo-Nazi activity in Germany, often accelerated through social media.