Attila Hildmann: Jew hatred every minute. Homeless man in Germany dies from stab wounds – young people in custody

Attila Hildmann sends anti-Semitic hatred almost every minute through his Telegram channels. There he describes himself as ‘Hamas fan number 1’, celebrates attacks on Jews and raves that Germany is ‘occupied by Jews’. Other statements are so abhorrent that they should not be repeated here.

It is nothing new that the former vegan television chef and restaurateur is a right-wing extremist. He became radicalized during the corona pandemic and at some point left for Turkey. Since the terrorist Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, the amount of anti-Semitic hatred Hildmann spreads through his Telegram channels has increased significantly, says Josef Holnburger. He conducts research into conspiracy ideologies, is director of the Center for Monitoring, Analysis and Strategy (Cemas) and has been observing Hildmann for years.

Hildmann operates at least 30 channels on Telegram

According to Holnburger, Hildmann operates at least thirty channels on Telegram. He shares all his posts, videos and voice messages on all these channels. In this way he creates a ‘pseudo reach’ with a high number of views. Holnburger estimates his actual reach at about 5,000 to 8,000 accounts. Judging from the reactions to his messages, Hildmann mainly reaches young men with his content. “There is little resistance to the hate in the comments. And if he does, Hildmann will severely exclude him.”

Since 2020, the Berlin public prosecutor’s office has been investigating Hildmann, among other things, for incitement to hatred. In late 2020, he was able to escape to Turkey before an arrest warrant could be issued for him. Employees of the Public Prosecution Service had leaked information about the arrest warrant against Hildmann.

In April 2023 it was announced that Turkey would not extradite Hildmann to Germany. The investigations against Hildmann have therefore been temporarily stopped, said Sebastian Büchner, spokesperson for the Berlin Public Prosecutor’s Office, in response to a request from t-online. “As long as he is in Turkey, we have no control.” But the search still continues. As soon as Hildmann leaves Turkey, he is arrested.

Hildmann sells products at the NPD official’s store

But there are still connections from Hildmann to Berlin. He can also sell energy drinks, vegan bolognese, gummy bears or a sample pack with signature card through an online store. This is led by the well-known Berlin neo-Nazi Sebastian Schmidtke, vice-chairman of the party ‘Die Heimat’, as the NPD is now called.

According to the legal notice, the online store is headquartered at the same address as the NPD party headquarters or “Heimat”. Hildmann continuously distributes discount codes for the store through its channels. In addition to the vegan products, weapons such as crossbows, stun guns and batons are offered.

“These people are a danger”

Hildmann’s connection with the Berlin Nazi shop has been known for years. But the Berlin public prosecutor’s office sees no action against it. Public prosecutor spokesperson Büchner said there is no evidence of criminally relevant actions in this context. The right-wing extremist store manager Schmidtke did not want to comment on the business relationship with Hildmann when contacted by t-online.

Expert Holnburger calls for stricter action by the authorities against Hildmann. “Everyone who buys Hildmann’s products in this store helps finance his sedition.” According to him, the authorities should look closely at people who first share Hildmann’s messages and then order weapons from the Nazi store. “These people are a danger,” says Holnburger.

A spokesperson for the Interior Department of the Berlin Senate referred a t-online request to the justice department. As a result, the request has remained unanswered so far.

“It is important to continue to emphasize this”

Holnburger also demands that German authorities put more pressure on Telegram to remove Hildmann’s channels. By February 2022, the channels with the highest reach had already been removed, and in 2021 their reach was limited. At this time, Telegram does not appear to be taking any action against him. Der Spiegel recently reported that Telegram had blocked Hamas channels on orders from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. “If there is contact, why aren’t we working on removing the Hildmann channels?” says Holnburger. He believes that the German authorities have neglected this.

Overall, Telegram is not doing enough to combat hate on the platform. “Reporting inflammatory content almost never yields anything,” says Holnburger. Something will only happen if public pressure is great enough. “That’s why it’s important to keep pointing out what Hildmann is doing,” he says.