It wasn’t long ago that someone got in touch Kurt Hättasch speaks in the city council in Grimma, Saxony. Sometimes the young AfD parliamentary group leader gave a speech about a planned multi-purpose hall, sometimes he ran as deputy mayor, albeit unsuccessfully. But his legal political career came to an abrupt end on November 5, 2024.
At 6 a.m Special police forces arrived at his home in a village near Grimma and arrested him on suspicion of terrorism. Because the now 26-year-old identifies himself with seven other right-wing extremists as “Saxon separatists” is said to have prepared them for what they hoped would be “Day X”. They then wanted to use armed force to carry out “ethnic cleansing” and liquidate state representatives in the region.
When he was arrested, Hättasch came out of his house with a gun off. As a hunter, he owns several weapons. Because he ran towards the police with the rifle, an officer shot him, wounding Hättasch in the jaw. The AfD man was first taken to the hospital and then to prison. Since then he has been in the Leipzig JVA.
On Friday, Hättasch will appear in public again for the first time, in the high security room of the Dresden Higher Regional Court, when the trial against him and the seven people arrested, aged 22 to 26, will take place there. because of the accusation of forming a terrorist organization. Hättasch is also accused of attempted murder because of his appearance with a rifle during the arrest. Only the police officer’s shot could have stopped him from firing at the emergency services, according to the prosecution.
Deep rejection of democracy
According to the Federal Prosecutor’s Office, the “Saxon Separatists” were founded in February 2020 and the group had around 20 members. The members are united by “racist, anti-Semitic ideas,” a “deep rejection” of local democracy and the belief that Germany is on the verge of a “collapse.”
Although they did not actively work towards this collapse, they prepared for this point in time in order to then, according to the prosecution, conquer as large an area as possible in Saxony and establish a Nazi-like state. In training sessions in forests and on an abandoned airfield near Brandis, house-to-house combat was practiced, as was the use of weapons at shooting ranges. Night marches and forced marches were also organized. It is probably no coincidence that the group name is abbreviated to “SS”, like the “Schutzstaffel” of the Nazi regime.
The trial will attract a lot of attention not only because of the serious allegations, but also because of a significant interface: the AfD’s connection to violent right-wing extremists – and now possibly also terrorist ones. For the party this is with an eye on a discussed ban procedure extremely delicate. A former AfD member of the Bundestag is already on trial in Frankfurt am Main on terrorism charges: Birgit Malsack-Winkemann is accused of being part of the Reich Citizens’ Group around Henry XIII. to have been Prince Reuss.
The terrorist suspect was considered a young AfD talent
Kurt Hättasch was considered a young talent in the AfD and was well connected locally. The metal worker and history student played as a trumpeter in the orchestra in Grimma, was on the board of the hunting association, and taught apprentices at the Chamber of Crafts in the summer of 2024. Politically, Hättasch took a clear path early on: Years ago he painted over Antifa graffiti with like-minded people in Grimma – as the self-proclaimed “Association of German Painters”, abbreviated BDM – like the Nazi association “Association of German Girls”.
His wife, with whom he has a small child, is the daughter of the former Saxon comradeship leader Thomas Sattelberg. He also attended a seminar with her in 2022 Right-wing extremist Götz Kubitschek in Schnellroda. In June 2024, Hättasch also took part in one Midsummer celebrations in Strahwalde, Saxonytogether with ethnic groups and neo-Nazis.
And in Grimma he was planning his own project: he and a co-accused bought a two-story property at the train station, received a loan of 100,000 euros from the former Berlin Finance Senator Peter Kurth. The CDU man knew the two through fraternity contacts.
In the AfD, Hättasch became directly parliamentary group leader in the fall of 2024, having just been elected to the city council for the first time. He also sat on the district executive committee of his party and was treasurer of the state party youth, which at the time was still called Young Alternative.
To date no expulsion from the party
And Hättasch was not alone. The co-defendant in Dresden, Kevin R., a friend and orchestra colleague of Hättasch, was also an AfD member. Both worked for AfD state parliament member Alexander Wiesner. A third defendant, Hans-Georg P., also belonged to the AfD district association. The three and other suspects posed before their arrest in May 2022 with the Thuringian AfD leader Björn Höcke at a rally in Grimma.
After the arrests of the three party members, the AfD declared that it had “nothing in common with the “Saxon Separatists” in terms of content or organization. If the allegations are confirmed, an “immediate exclusion from the party” will take place.
The exclusion has not yet taken place. When asked by taz, a Saxon party spokesman said that it was a “pending procedure” on which no further comment was made. He also didn’t want to say anything about the upcoming trial in Dresden.
The AfD has long had a different tone anyway. Björn Höcke reported at a party event in June 2025 that he had met Hättasch’s wife. It is a “decent family” that is “being treated badly”.. AfD member of the Bundestag Robert Teske, Höcke’s former office manager, wrote that he was “shocked” by how Hättasch’s life had been “destroyed.” His group colleague Matthias Helferich visited him in the Leipzig JVA. “Since he was a member of the AfD and JA at the time of the accusation, I was interested in his fate,” Helferich told the taz. He was unable to assess the allegations due to a lack of precise knowledge. However, the police’s actions seemed “at least disproportionate” to him.
Hättasch rejects allegations
Hättasch himself rejects the allegations against himself. After his arrest, he wrote in a “political statement” that he came from a “orderly and peaceful family” and that he was “right-wing and conservative.” He rejects “mass migration”, but is “open and helpful” towards “peaceful strangers”. Racism and anti-Semitism are “intellectual dead ends”. The AfD that he knows is not right-wing extremist. And: He only considers violence appropriate as self-defense. Otherwise he would “clearly reject” it.
In a “prison diary” that Hättasch published on a blog by Götz Kubitschek, he called the allegations against him “ridiculous, contradictory, nonsensical.” The fact that there was a terrorist group was “indefensible”. There is nothing against him. “The state is increasingly brazenly attacking its citizens.”
Hättasch also rejects the attempted murder upon his arrest. He thought Antifa had arrived and wanted to drive them away with a rifle.
However, the prosecution emphasizes that the police officers did identify themselves. The investigation into the police officer who shot Hättasch was discontinued a year ago: it was self-defense.
Suspected ringleader from a relevant family
The Federal Prosecutor’s Office refers to the group’s internal chats – and especially to the role of Jörg S., accused as the ringleader of the “separatists”. The 25-year-old from Brandis, 20 kilometers from Grimma, is said to have founded the group and led the group’s training and communication. He comes from a relevant family. The grandfather was a member of the FPÖ, the father is a convicted right-wing extremist who also used to organize paramilitary exercises. The defendants also include the younger brother Jörn S. Another younger brother is being investigated.
Jörg S. in particular is said to have promoted the radicalization of the group. In Telegram chats he is said to have spoken out against the “dirty West” and “gay shithole” Europe. Anything that weakens Western Europe and the “anti-white regimes” there is good. If “Jews were gone,” “problems would definitely be minimized.” And: “Only a complete revolution can change anything.” Jörg S. is said to have been active in an international online network of young neo-Nazis, the “National Socialist Brotherhood”, an offshoot of the “Atomic Weapons Division”.
Hättasch is said to have joined the group by August 2022 at the latest. His lawyers, there are five of them, left taz inquiries unanswered. In a press release, one person rejected the allegations: This and other proceedings were a fight between the “rulers of the Federal Republic of Germany” out of “pure fear of being disempowered”. An application for bias against the judges had already been submitted before the trial began.
The line of the defenders: It was Jörg S. who spoke radical tones in chats, but only out of “importance” – Hättasch knew nothing about it and only took part in “hikes”. Also Martin KohlmannJörg S.’s defense attorney and founder of the right-wing extremist party Free Saxony, only casually called the defendants a “hiking group with a penchant for survival training.”
The local AfD faction supports Hättasch
The local AfD faction continues to support Hättasch and has not yet excluded the 26-year-old from their faction. At City Council meetings he is noted as “excused.” The presumption of innocence applies, said parliamentary group member Uwe Krah to the taz. He was “horrified” at how Hättasch was being prejudged. He got to know him as a “very accurate person”.
Grimma left-wing politician Kerstin Köditz says she is “very surprised at how calmly the local AfD faction and the city council are dealing with the fact that a member of parliament is in prison on suspicion of terrorism”. In any case, she is surprised that none of this is an issue in Grimma. “There are allegations of right-wing terror and attempted murder here,” she told the taz.
Tobias Burdukat, who has been active as an anti-fascist social worker in Grimma for years, also says that the “Saxon separatists” are currently being ignored in Grimma. “For the majority, misanthropy is apparently simply not a bad thing.” “Many people don’t believe that the group allegedly wanted to conquer areas in Saxony using armed force and carry out “ethnic cleansing”.
Hättasch will probably be missing from the Grimma city council for a while. The trial against him and the other defendants has already been scheduled until the end of the year, and his pre-trial detention continues. Hättasch wrote in his “imprisonment diary” that he hoped for an acquittal so that he could “continue living normally” afterwards. The Dresden Higher Regional Court, on the other hand, does not consider the terror allegations to be unreasonable – and allowed the charges to be filed. And the Federal Court of Justice also recently confirmed the Federal Prosecutor’s Office’s allegations in its decisions. If this remains the case in the trial, Hättasch will probably be in prison for a long time.