Hoffmann und Campe

Angelique Geray | Undercover unter Nazis | Hoffmann und Campe | 256 pages | 18 EUR

Undercover unter Nazis – Als Frau im Herz der rechtsextremen Szene (Undercover among Nazis – A woman at the heart of the far-right scene) was published by Hoffmann und Campe in the spring of this year. The second page of the book, on which publishers provide all the usual information about the book – a page that readers tend to skim over – contains a note from the author Angelique Geray, unexpected and somewhat hidden at the top. She issues a warning. Among other things, it says: "This book contains content that is racist, anti-Semitic and deeply misanthropic. Reading it can be disturbing, hurtful or distressing."

The warning is justified. This book gets under your skin. As a reader, you constantly wonder whether the risk the author is taking (and which certainly still exists) is not too great. She is putting her life on the line, even if initially she is probably not fully aware of this. But she doesn't just want to observe from outside, detached, coldly analysing. In her view, you can only really understand people when you meet them, listen to them, spend time with them. And it's hard not to agree with her. However - and this is a warning seen in many films and videos now - I would not recommend imitating Angelique Geray's educational work. In her case, she was not completely alone, as the television channels RTL and Stern TV supported her in her work.

Through her fundamental outlook, the author always retains her own humanity. This pervades the entire text and is deeply sympathetic. She doesn't simply recount her experiences, however, but consistently supports them with the findings of sociological studies. As a reader, you therefore learn twice. Science and reality create a successful partnership. She repeatedly makes the point that people who want to leave Nazi groups should be given a second chance.

This is no longer as commonplace as it used to be, when someone who was allegedly involved in a life-threatening arson attack on a police officer during a demonstration could later become one of the best foreign ministers in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany. My generation still benefited from the fact that "youthful indiscretions" could be forgiven. In Undercover unter Nazis, you learn how young those who move in right-wing extremist circles often are. And the young are easily seduced. The leaders of far-right groups know this. And they also know how easy it is to reach people through social media.

Angelique Geray abandons her game of cat-and-mouse in 2025 when it comes to preventing an attack on the lives of others. In chapter one, she describes how she establishes her cover identity and also discusses the pivotal moment that changes everything. She accompanies someone to the Czech Republic to buy weapons and learns that an attack is to be carried out in the town of Senftenberg in the federal state of Brandenburg. The precise details are not revealed until the fourth chapter. For eight months, she pretended to be part of the "Letzte Verteidigungswelle" (Last Wave of Defence) group. Her first step into the scene begins in Berlin when she becomes a member of the "Junge Nationalisten" (Young Nationalists) organisation. The deputy leader of the Berlin group is 15 or 16 years old and the other members are generally no older.

In the course of her research, she not only has contact with the two groups mentioned above, but also takes part in training meetings, conspiratorial events, rock concerts, women's meetings and training weekends, and even dates right-wing extremist men. She returns to this point often: the people she meets are lonely. They are looking for connection. They want to be part of something big. They are looking for stability and meaning at the same time. The world is too complicated for them. They can tolerate a world in which clear distinctions are made, in which there are no shades of grey, only black and white (literally!). This requires scapegoats – and they can always be found, you just have to want to. "It's always someone else's fault" Angelique Geray once wrote. The majority of the people she meets have experienced injuries, humiliations or misfortunes in their lives that they have not been able to cope with.

In this review, I have deliberately not gone into detail about my experience as a reader. I didn't find the text as difficult as the warning suggested, but I was deeply moved by it. I've been following this topic for decades and all this time, a particular sentence by the German poet and playwright Bertold Brecht, the final sentence of a play about the rise of Adolf Hitler, has stuck with me: "The womb from which this crawled is still fertile." Angelique Geray's conclusion and last sentence in relation to encounters with right-wing radicalism, which can now be encountered at any time in everyday life, is: "What is truly needed is courage."

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