The Artgemeinschaft was founded in 1951 by former Nazi Wilhelm Kusserow. It was a registered association since 1957 and was based in Berlin. From 1989 until his death in 2009, the group was led by the neo-Nazi lawyer Jürgen Rieger. His successor was Axel Schunk from
Stockstadt in Bavaria. Artgemeinschaft mixed far-right ideology with
Nordic and
Teutonic religions such as
Ásatrú, but also elements of
atheism. In the 1960s some
theosophic and so-called
ariosophic aspects were added. The group was
xenophobic and
antisemitic. Important in their beliefs are theses by
Schopenhauer,
Nietzsche,
Eduard von Hartmann and
Feuerbach in order to attack Christian morality and to replace it with a pagan one. According to Fromm, belief in Gods is not important for the Artgemeinschaft. In September 2023, the
police searched the homes of 39 members in twelve federal states. The authorities confiscated the association's assets. According to the
Federal Ministry of the Interior, the right-wing extremist group is "against the idea of international understanding" and "against the constitutional order". Interior Minister
Nancy Faeser (SPD) has banned the association. The association's magazine, the
völkisch Nordische Zeitung ("Nordic Newspaper"), is also affected by the ban. The Ministry of the Interior also banned the
Familienwerk ("Family Association"), which is affiliated with the
Artgemeinschaft. According to the statutes of the "Familienwerk", the association is intended to protect "the interests of young people and their families, with particular consideration of families with many children". ==Members==