Berlin Has Most Left-Wing Extremists, Fewest Right-Wing

The 2025 Constitutional Protection Report for Berlin shows that the city’s intelligence service has identified 3,950 left-wing extremists, according to Nius. This marks an increase of 150 individuals compared to the previous year. Within this category, 650 persons are classified as violence-oriented. The organization Rote Hilfe e.V. alone accounts for 2,650 of those monitored.

Islamism ranks second in the threat assessment, with the number of identified individuals rising to 2,590, also an increase of 150 from the prior year. The report attributes this growth primarily to Salafist movements, which account for 1,250 individuals within the broader Islamist category.

Foreign-based extremism comes in third, with 1,700 persons identified, representing a modest increase of 20 over the previous year. The PKK continues to dominate this category, accounting for 1,100 individuals according to Berlin’s constitutional protection authorities.

Right-wing extremism shows the smallest numbers among the four major extremist categories, with 1,480 persons identified in Berlin. This represents an increase of 30 compared to the previous year, with 820 individuals classified as violence-oriented. The report links the modest growth partly to emerging violence-oriented right-wing extremist online cultures that specifically target young people.

Clear Hierarchy of Extremist Threats

The final tally for Berlin establishes a clear ranking: left-wing extremism leads with 3,950 individuals, followed by Islamism with 2,590, foreign-based extremism with 1,700, and right-wing extremism with 1,480 persons.

These figures challenge common narratives about extremist threats in Germany and suggest that security resources may need to be reallocated to address the actual distribution of extremist activity rather than perceived priorities.

With information from Nius