anti-fascist Thomas J., also referred to as “Nanuk”, was arrested by investigators from the Saxony State Criminal Police Office in Berlin on Monday 21 October, reported German media. Following his arrest, he was brought before a judge in Karlsruhe and has been in custody since then. In addition, two houses were searched in Berlin-Kreuzberg and Berlin-Mitte.

State authorities are currently searching for several anti-fascists in hiding. These are said to be connected to the “Antifa Ost” case – in which a group of anti-fascists have been sentenced to prison terms for attacks on Nazis since 2019. Nanuk is also alleged to have participated in the 2019 attack on the Federal Court of Justice in Leipzig.

Initially, investigations regarding the Leipzig attack focused on Section 129a (membership in a terrorist organization), which allows for expanded investigative powers such as secretly searching chat histories on smartphones or bugging apartments, as already happened in the Antifa Ost case. However, this case was closed in June and individual charges of arson and property damage referred to the public prosecutor’s office.

Coming shortly after the deportation to Hungary of anti-fascist Maja T, this investigation reflects a new dimension of repression targeting individuals involved in anti-fascist movements. Also connected to the Budapest case is the arrest of anti-fascist Hanna in Nuremberg this May. In her case, the Federal Prosecutor’s Office is now trying to fabricate a charge of attempted murder because she is said to have participated in attacks on fascists during a counter-demonstration on the occasion of the annual “Day of Honor” in Budapest.

In the wake of Nanuk’s arrest, anti-fascist groups have organised solidarity demonstrations in several German cities. The solidarity group of the Antifa Ost trial stated that state authorities were trying to “use the horseshoe theory to equate our comrades with the Nazis who were attacked”. The solidarity group sent “strength to all those who successfully evade the authorities, to all those behind bars and those outside who continue to fight for the ideas that the state tries to suppress.”