Page 37 - Cyber Terrorism and Extremism as Threat to Critical Infrastructure Protection

DENIS ČALETA, SARA PERKOVIĆ: EXTREMISM AND RADICALIZATION IN THE EUROPEAN ENVIRONMENT – SECURITY CHALLENGES
OF RETURN FOREIGN FIGHTERS

It is clear that Germany has firmly decided to prosecute its returning foreign fighters, but Ger-
many has concentrated more on deradicalization and preventing the radicalization of fighters
in the first place than only on punishing them. When talking about German ways, we must
remember that this is the country that had the problem of Nazism. In the present paper the
story of Nazism is particularly interesting, because all the German programmes of rehabilita-
tion of foreign fighters are based on the rehabilitation of Nazis after World War II. Put simply,
the Germans have had problems with the far-right wing, or neo Nazis, who they also had to
rehabilitate, and this has given them enough experience to not enter this situation unprepared.
Germany realized at the time of rehabilitating the neo Nazis that it is necessary to use every-
thing so that the fighters can be rehabilitated and the people restored to society. Re-socializa-
tion and de-radicalization are very important parts of the system in Germany. Even though the
programmes are not standardized, Germany has a good social system in which there are many
trained people who can help in deradicalization.

How important this is to Germany is shown by the data that “according to the investigation so
far, the German government has spent $440,440 on the de-radicalization programme” (Svir-
sky, 2016, p 4).

The first German deradicalization programme, EXIT, has been active since 2000, and was
founded by former police detective Bernard Wagner, together with ex neo-Nazi leader Ingo
Hasselbach, to encourage people to leave neo-Nazi organizations. The Society for Democratic
Culture is responsible for the EXIT programme; it is a civil society organization and a net-
work of non-government organizations in Germany, which works on the promotion of demo-
cratic values and human rights against violence and extremism. The society does not have any
political or religious standpoints, and its work is both theoretical and practical, while its focus
is on all aspects of extremism. The goal of the EXIT programme is to give individual support
to people who want to leave extremism, giving them specific help and support to start a new
life. This programme assists not only the extremists themselves, but also to their families, of-
ficials and other people who have found themselves in close contact with extremism. EXIT
is a partner of the German Federal Office for Immigration and Refugee Jobs, and the work of
this programme has been recognized by the German government and the European Commis-
sion/European Social Fund.

The EXIT programme functions on the principle of offering new perspectives and new view-
points of the world. The basic principle is that the individual must cut all ties with their former
contacts in the world which they want to leave. However, EXIT does not give any assistance
in finance or in court processes. It does not look for individuals to help, but people go to them;
this is because the individual must have the desire to step away from radicalism. Some people
think this is wrong attitude. “The research found that most Salafis do not want to be deradi-
calized and because the deradicalization programmes rely on cooperation they have limited
impact” (Svirsky, 2016, e-source).

Building on the EXIT programme is al-Hayat, one of the most important programmes of de-
radicalization in Germany. Established in 2011, it was the first programme whose goal was the
deradicalization of radical Islamists. Al-Hayat uses the methods, approaches, knowledge and
experience of EXIT to work against Islamic radicalism. It concentrates on the family, friends,
employers and all the other people who surround the radicalized person, as well as the radi-
calized individual themselves. “The German al-Hayat programme includes an assessment of

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