by Robert Williams
German authorities, in fact, appear to have been hyper-focused on eliminating what they seem to see as political threats to their power instead of catching terrorists from the "left."
It seems almost unbelievable that the German state, which intensely surveils citizens' every word on the internet, does not have the faintest clue who might be behind these terrorist attacks.
These are the same authorities, after all, who send law enforcement to raid the homes of ordinary citizens for posting satirical comments about leading politicians, and for supposedly "inciting hatred."
German authorities, in fact, appear to have been hyper-focused on eliminating what they seem to see as political threats to their power instead of catching terrorists from the "left."
Even the BfV's former president, Hans-Georg Maassen, is under surveillance by the agency for being a "right-wing extremist." He lost that job in 2018 after expressing concern about the obvious Islamist threat from then Chancellor Angela Merkel's policy of flooding Germany with Muslim migrants and for, ironically, refusing to put the AfD under surveillance. He said, "I am not a tool of the governing parties, nor is it the BfV's job to undermine their political competitors."
Perhaps if the German government had been more concerned with fighting terrorism and less with fighting legitimate political opposition, it might have been able to locate the actual terrorists?
In the early morning hours of January 3, 2026, a reportedly leftist radical network, "Volcano Group" (Vulkangruppe), committed an arson attack against the power grid in Berlin, Germany, causing an electricity blackout that left 45,000 households and 2,000 businesses – approximately 100,000 people – without heat and light during freezing winter temperatures for up to five days. It was reportedly the longest blackout in Germany since World War II.
The radicals in Volcano Group claimed responsibility for the attack. In a statement, they said that the network had aimed to "cut the juice to the ruling class" and claimed that the attack was about action to protect the climate from fossil fuels, artificial intelligence and a "greed for energy."
Among those "ruling class" people who suffered the consequences of this terrorist attack were four hospitals, 74 care homes, and 20 schools. It has been more than a month since the attack, yet the authorities have arrested no one, seem bewildered, and are apparently so desperate that they have finally offered a million-euro reward to anyone with information that leads to the arrest of the attackers.
Volcano Group, far from being new, has, since 2011, perpetrated several other terrorist attacks "on critical points of public infrastructure," according to Germany's domestic intelligence service (Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz, or BfV).
"In Berlin and Brandenburg, arson attacks have been committed at irregular intervals on... public infrastructure since 2011. After the crimes, anonymous authors who describe themselves as 'Volcano groups' publish letters of responsibility on relevant internet platforms. The attacks often have a noticeable impact on the population. For example, there have already been several power and telecommunications failures as well as disruptions to public transport. It can be assumed that there is a network behind the 'Volcano groups'... Ideologically, [they] can be assigned to the violence-oriented anarchist spectrum."
Despite these attacks occurring in Germany at intervals for more than a decade, including one against the Tesla factory in Brandenburg, curiously, no one has ever been arrested. It seems almost unbelievable that the German state, which intensely surveils citizens' every word on the internet, does not have the faintest clue who might be behind these terrorist attacks.
These are the same authorities, after all, who send law enforcement to raid the homes of ordinary citizens for posting satirical comments about leading politicians, and for supposedly "inciting hatred." Approximately every six months, most recently on June 25, 2025, German police, under the coordination of the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), carried out its "12th Day of Action to Combat Criminal Hate Postings". On this exalted occasion, it carried out a total of 46 searches, 66 interrogations, and 26 other measures nationwide, targeting suspected authors of "online hate speech and incitement."
Authorities, however, are unable to find or arrest a single perpetrator from the Volcano Group, which conducts actual terrorism?
In an interview for broadcaster ZDF, German Minister of the Interior Alexander Dobrindt said:
"We see very clearly that attempts are being made here to carry out attacks against infrastructure, against our economy, against the population, against society, which are ultimately intended to massively harm people and could even cost them their lives."
ZDF summarized Dobrindt's belief that far-left extremism in recent years has not been taken sufficiently seriously in Germany:
"In recent years, left-wing extremism has not received much attention and has no longer been seen as the threat of our time. There has also been 'a high degree of trivialization.' For example, the chairman of the Left Party said that left-wing crimes serve the common good."
That is quite an understatement. German authorities, in fact, appear to have been hyper-focused on eliminating what they seem to see as political threats to their power instead of catching terrorists from the "left." In May 2025, Germany's domestic intelligence agency classified Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) -- the party with the second-largest number of seats in parliament -- as a "confirmed right-wing extremist organization" after an "intense and comprehensive" examination, which included authoring a staggering 1,100-page report. Imagine if that same sort of dedication had been expended on arresting terrorists from Volcano Group.
As US Secretary of State Marco Rubio bluntly said at the time, this classification of AfD gave the BfV intelligence agency "new powers to surveil the opposition. That's not democracy - it's tyranny in disguise."
Since the classification, the AfD has been under expanded surveillance by authorities. This new snooping potentially includes the use of wiretaps, monitoring electronic correspondence and communications, and undercover informants to spy on party officials and anyone else connected with the AfD.
Even the BfV's former president, Hans-Georg Maassen, is under surveillance by the agency for being a "right-wing extremist." He lost that job in 2018 after expressing concern about the obvious Islamist threat from then Chancellor Angela Merkel's policy of flooding Germany with Muslim migrants and for, ironically, refusing to put the AfD under surveillance. He said, "I am not a tool of the governing parties, nor is it the BfV's job to undermine their political competitors."
Perhaps if the German government had been more concerned with fighting terrorism and less with fighting legitimate political opposition, it might have been able to locate the actual terrorists?
Robert Williams is based in the United States.
Source:https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/22281/germany-terrorists-volcano-group
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