Moritz
Moritz was born at the time of the fall of the Berlin Wall in a district of East Berlin, where there would be a strong rise of right-wing extremism in the period following Germany's reunification. His parents divorced in his early childhood and his brother, several years older than himself, is self-employed from an early age. Moritz “radicalises himself for the first and last time”, as he himself puts it, at age 15 at the beginning of his vocational training in Dresden. At this time he is actively involved in a right-wing extremist group. It is a phase of mental fragility for Moritz characterised by periods of depression and he participaes “in some very unpleasant scenes” involving alcohol, aggression and physical violence – which he regrets deeply today. One of these entailed a court case for malicious injury, which could have endangered his entry into working life.
On the other hand, Moritz experiences his years of vocational training and extremist activities as euphorically liberating, giving him important impulses for his personal development. He especially appreciates the casual encounters with various subcultures and nationalities in the right-wing scene and is fascinated by torchlight processions, marching lock-step and celebrating events of national mourning, as well as freedom of speech and passionate debate – unknown to him before – all of which stood out positively against his experiences at school. Moritz, who is very interested in History, perceived his teachers to be largely dogmatically left-wing or indifferent: “There was a strong lack of someone who would listen to one” adding that the teachers completely lacked a “protective educational attitude”. As an “eccentric” Moritz also barely managed to develop friendships with his classmates. For him, the years of apprenticeship were all the more important, even though these years were also incredibly exhausting, so that one “had to stand one's ground like a soldier at the front in the midst of enemy fire … and was not allowed snap.” However, a “fixed group” of friends - “which I never had before” - helped him to successfully master these challenges.
Moritz's elder brother joined the right-wing neonazi movement in his district at an early age and continues to be linked to the scene today. The influence of the charismatic, sometimes arrogant brother, who often spoke with cutting intellect, on Moritz was mostly unintentional and indirect. This however intensified Moritz's fascination all the more. He was especially impressed by the brother's entry into a right-leaning student fraternity, which sometimes resulted in direct assistance for his career. Moritz experienced his mother's efforts to convince him that his political orientation was wrong as ineffective, annoying and burdensome. It was not possible to talk to the father about these topics as he seemed deeply connected to SED ruled GDR – or at least seemed to have arranged himself well with it. Stimulating conversation was only possible with the grandfather who had experienced war and escape. The relationship with the father was difficult in general, because “one was never good enough” and he was “never there when one needed him”. However, Moritz enjoyed listening to his father's stories of the NVA and felt deep respect for the “tooth-clenching” discipline of life at the time.
In his mid-twenties today, Moritz is reformed. Nevertheless, he would not consider himself as having gone through an “about turn”. Even today everything that is socialist or social-democratic runs against his personal sense of responsibility and discipline – and he still can obsess over such issues. However, Moritz has broken with his years of extremism and aggression. He ascribes this to his broadened horizons through work experience abroad, including in an Arab country, as well as the onset of disappointment and boredom with the extremist scene. Encounters with the police and judiciary were crucial, as was the steadfast support of his mother, without whom he “would have landed in the gutter”. Furthermore, Moritz's interest in history and literature of “Free-Corps” period (Ernst Jünger and others) as well as a fondness for Black Metal music, which he terms as “rather ambivalent”, led to him not “allow oneself to be made into a political whore” by any side. Moritz feels relief and liberation “that I am rid of these racial ideas … and a world of enemy images” and has a distinct sense of humour. At the time of the interview Moritz is content with his career and lives with his girlfriend, who was close to the Antifa in Saxony, and looks forward to starting his own family.