{"id":75020,"date":"2026-06-26T18:29:59","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T16:29:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/visualjournalism.de\/?post_type=magazin&p=75020"},"modified":"2026-10-09T11:53:15","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T09:53:15","slug":"i-was-a-hitler-caricature","status":"publish","type":"magazin","link":"https:\/\/visualjournalism.de\/en\/magazine\/masculinity\/i-was-a-hitler-caricature\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I was a Hitler caricature from a bad Hollywood film\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n
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\n\tMasculinity<\/a><\/div>\r\n

\r\n \u2018I was a Hitler caricature from a bad Hollywood film\u2019 <\/h2>\r\n\r\n
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He used to march through the streets in a leather coat, carrying the Reich war flag, giving hate speeches and dreaming of the great revolution. Today Axel Reitz works in extremism prevention. A portrait by Janek Stempel (photos)<\/a>, Henrike Meyer<\/a> and Melina Schaefer<\/a> (text)<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/div>\r\n \r\n

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Beige hat, beige<\/strong> suit, patterned tie<\/strong> \u2013 Axel Reitz dresses a little like a gentleman from the 1920s: elegant, classic and, at first glance, a touch old-fashioned. Look again and you notice a colourful badge above the dark red pocket square \u2013 a rainbow-coloured hand making the peace sign.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Axel Reitz was once one of the best-known figures on the German neo-Nazi scene \u2013 the \u2018Hitler of Cologne\u2019, as the media and his opponents called him. But his transformation into a right-wing extremist was neither simple nor straightforward; it was shaped by rebellion, the wrong role models and a deep longing for recognition. The feeling of being oppressed and not allowed to voice his opinion left a strong mark on him.  <\/p>\n\n\n \n\n

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The model pupil<\/h2>\n\n \n <\/div>\n\n \n\n\n\n\n

Axel Reitz was a good pupil, especially in subjects that involved a lot of talking, such as religious education, politics, social science and history. His favourite teacher \u2013 religious education and social studies \u2013 was very committed and tried to bring democracy to life for her pupils. So when he was 13, his class set up a youth parliament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For this, he was asked to collect the manifestos of all the minor parties in Germany that were not represented in the Bundestag. Night after night he sat at his little desk and wrote to around 90 parties. He made a collage from the replies \u2013 and got an A-star for it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But then, Reitz recalls, \u2018my teacher said: \u201cBefore we show it to your classmates, a few of the right-wing parties have to go.\u201d\u2019 He simply didn’t understand it at the time, he says. \u2018She just tore the manifestos out of the collage. That made me really angry and reminded me of my old man.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A domineering father<\/h2>\n\n \n <\/div>\n\n \n\n\n\n\n

Because when Axel Reitz thinks back to his childhood, he thinks of a father who was like a dictator to him. Voicing an opinion was not welcome. He quickly felt unheard \u2013 a feeling that burned itself deep into his identity.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018If my father said the sky was blood red, I could have brought in the whole of NASA to tell him, \u201cMr Reitz, the sky has been blue since the days of Copernicus,\u201d and my father would simply have said they didn’t have a clue, and if he said so, that’s how it was.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To Reitz, this felt like censorship, he says. He didn’t want to be suppressed any longer, let alone be talked out of looking into certain things. Not by his father, and not by his teacher. And so he ended up at a meeting of Germany’s oldest far-right party \u2013 the NPD. He told his parents he was meeting a few mates for pizza and PlayStation. \u2018Which, looking back, is what I should have done,\u2019 Axel Reitz says today.  <\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Frequent visits to the NPD<\/h2>\n\n \n <\/div>\n\n \n\n\n\n\n

The meeting discussed the legal requirements for information stands and standing in elections. For the 13-year-old Axel Reitz, it was boring, he says \u2013 a \u2018real yawn\u2019. He was about to leave when one of the leaders suddenly introduced him to the whole group. As a boy with backbone who wouldn’t be told what to think and wanted to make up his own mind. There was huge applause. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today he knows: \u2018That was exactly the key moment when I knew where I wanted to be. I wanted to rebel against what I felt was censorship and oppression.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From then on he developed a \u2018basic sympathy\u2019 and regularly went to meetings of NPD members. He listened to what they stood for and what views they held: there was no freedom of speech, Germany was controlled by the powers that had driven it into war and were still pulling the strings in politics and business. Axel Reitz came to believe that his new acquaintances were the only ones who had recognised this state of affairs and dared to speak about it. At home, too, he kept studying propaganda material and felt more and more vindicated.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I didn’t even notice<\/strong> how one-sided and hate-filled the whole thing was.<\/p>\n <\/blockquote>\r\n\r\n

\r\n\r\n \"\"\r\n Axel Reitz<\/span>\r\n <\/figcaption>\r\n \r\n <\/figure>\r\n <\/div>\r\n\r\n\n\n\n
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Convinced he was on the right side<\/h2>\n\n \n <\/div>\n\n \n\n\n\n\n

In the roughly 15 years of his far-right activism, Axel Reitz spoke at countless neo-Nazi events, organised demonstrations and travelled across Germany and Europe to network with like-minded people \u2013 always in search of more influence and importance. At the same time, he paid a high price: after coming out as a convinced National Socialist, he lost the support of his family, was thrown out by his parents, eventually dropped out of school and lived in isolation for a long time.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A growing sense of loneliness was as much a part of his life as prison sentences for incitement to hatred and other offences. The everyday life of an ideologically driven offender \u2013 but also the breeding ground for later doubts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With extremism, and especially right-wing extremism, Reitz says, \u2018you have a magnificent black-and-white picture\u2019. There are no shades of grey, no different perspectives, only good and evil, light and dark. You are convinced, he says, that you are always on the right side yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your own group appears morally superior: \u2018They’re all noble, great characters, thoroughly decent.\u2019 Everyone else, by contrast, is seen as depraved, naive or manipulated \u2013 you can’t have anything to do with them. But at some point, he says, reality catches up with you. You realise that your own scene is by no means made up only of \u2018great people\u2019. <\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Until the world view crumbles<\/h2>\n\n \n <\/div>\n\n \n\n\n\n\n

Over the years, cracks appear in Reitz’s world view. He has bad experiences within the far-right scene and more and more positive experiences and good conversations with people outside it. He notices that the great revolution he was promised hasn’t come and that Germany hasn’t collapsed. \u2018The scene dreams of the old slogan \u201cOne people, one Reich, one F\u00fchrer\u201d \u2013 but the reality within the scene is \u201cNo people, no Reich, but a thousand F\u00fchrers\u201d,\u2019 he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For fifteen years, Axel Reitz defines himself solely through his activity on the far-right scene. Then he falls into a deep hole. Depression. He makes up excuses when he is invited to speak. He no longer knows who he is and wonders whether it has all been for nothing. A personal low point \u2013 until, suddenly, a police special operations unit is at his door and arrests him for supporting criminal structures. Reitz is remanded in custody and thinks a great deal about his life. He decides to cooperate with the police \u2013 an absolute no-go on the scene. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is a decision there is no going back on. All or nothing. It is a door behind which a new chapter lies \u2013 perhaps even a new life.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Looking for kindred spirits<\/h2>\n\n \n <\/div>\n\n \n\n\n\n\n

At first, Axel Reitz has nothing left but the hatred and hostility of his supposed friends from the scene. He needs to talk to people who can understand how he feels, who have been through something similar and can give him advice. He seeks out other people who have left the scene and meets Andreas Mohler \u2013 a former NPD official who had lost his job as a teacher because of his far-right activities. Mohler persuades him to seek help from an exit programme.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Change is possible<\/strong> if you’re prepared to set out on the journey.<\/p>\n <\/blockquote>\r\n\r\n

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It was one of the best decisions of his life, he says, because the people there were highly competent and helped him enormously. \u2018They worked through the whole thing with me intensively and deconstructed my entire world view \u2013 and still stood by me and held out a hand. That gave me back my faith.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reitz realises that the people he spent fifteen years with, stood side by side with, fought alongside and shared everything with, now despise him. They agitate against him, call him a traitor and chant for his execution \u2013 while the people he agitated against and fought are now holding out a hand and offering him help.  <\/p>\n\n\n \n\n

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Today he leads a fulfilling life.<\/strong> He doesn’t miss the leather-coat days one bit. He takes responsibility for his past and sees it as his task to show others that change is possible. \u2018Screwing up is part of life \u2013 but don’t think that afterwards you’ll be left on your own and can’t come back.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His commitment and a sense of responsibility led him to tell his story \u2013 in schools, in anti-violence training sessions, to people who want to hear his message and to those who reject it. He wants to warn others so that they don’t make the same mistakes. His goal is to lead a normal life \u2013 free of hatred and prejudice \u2013 and to give others courage:  \u2018Change is possible if you’re prepared to set out on the journey,\u2019 Reitz says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Related to this story<\/h2>\n\n \n <\/div>\n\n \n\n\n\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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\r\n\r\n Traces<\/span>\r\n

\r\n From outlaw to spiritual healer <\/h3>\r\n\r\n
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Alexander Golandsky was a criminal biker and cocaine dealer. Then he changed his life radically.<\/p>\r\n <\/div>\r\n\r\n <\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n \r\n

\r\n \"Portrait\r\n <\/figure>\r\n\r\n \r\n \r\n <\/a>\r\n\r\n <\/article>\r\n\r\n \r\n
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\r\n\r\n Traces<\/span>\r\n

\r\n Irmela Mensah-Schramm: fighting Nazi slogans with a scraper and a heart <\/h3>\r\n\r\n
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For decades one woman has been scraping messages of hate out of public spaces \u2013 she has removed more than 140,000 of them. The attacks go on.<\/p>\r\n <\/div>\r\n\r\n <\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n \r\n

\r\n \"\"\r\n\r\n <\/figure>\r\n\r\n \r\n \r\n <\/a>\r\n\r\n <\/article>\r\n\r\n \r\n
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\r\n\r\n Masculinity<\/span>\r\n

\r\n Old boys, old conflicts? <\/h3>\r\n\r\n
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Every year, the Coburger Convent draws thousands of fraternity members to Coburg. While some celebrate tradition, others criticise its all-male structures, its torchlight processions and the way it deals with its own history.<\/p>\r\n <\/div>\r\n\r\n <\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n \r\n

\r\n \"\"\r\n\r\n <\/figure>\r\n\r\n \r\n \r\n <\/a>\r\n\r\n <\/article>\r\n\r\n \r\n <\/div>\r\n\r\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Recommended by the editors<\/h2>\n\n \n <\/div>\n\n \n\n\n\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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\r\n\r\n Water<\/span>\r\n

\r\n Mineral water marketing: how water turns into gold <\/h3>\r\n\r\n
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With bold promises and designer bottles, companies turn a basic foodstuff into a luxury good. An investigation.<\/p>\r\n <\/div>\r\n\r\n <\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n \r\n

\r\n \"A\r\n <\/figure>\r\n\r\n \r\n \r\n <\/a>\r\n\r\n <\/article>\r\n\r\n \r\n
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\r\n\r\n Final projects<\/span>\r\n

\r\n Behind the scenes of healthcare. <\/h3>\r\n\r\n
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Patricia K\u00fchfuss documents the staff shortage at German hospitals<\/p>\r\n <\/div>\r\n\r\n <\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n \r\n

\r\n \"\"\r\n\r\n <\/figure>\r\n\r\n \r\n \r\n <\/a>\r\n\r\n <\/article>\r\n\r\n \r\n
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\r\n\r\n Traces<\/span>\r\n

\r\n The neighbour nobody knew <\/h3>\r\n\r\n
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A stranger\u2019s bicycle in the cellar, a faded letterbox \u2013 and between them the life of a man who is suddenly gone. Who was he?<\/p>\r\n <\/div>\r\n\r\n <\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n \r\n

\r\n \"The\r\n <\/figure>\r\n\r\n \r\n \r\n <\/a>\r\n\r\n <\/article>\r\n\r\n \r\n <\/div>\r\n\r\n\n\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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\r\n\r\n What holds us together<\/span>\r\n

\r\n Reality TV: life in front of the cameras <\/h3>\r\n\r\n
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Millions watch as strangers fall in love, fight and fail. But how much reality is there really in it?<\/p>\r\n <\/div>\r\n\r\n <\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n \r\n

\r\n \"A\r\n <\/figure>\r\n\r\n \r\n \r\n <\/a>\r\n\r\n <\/article>\r\n\r\n \r\n
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\r\n\r\n What holds us together<\/span>\r\n

\r\n \u2018Even citizenship no longer seems like a safeguard\u2019 <\/h3>\r\n\r\n
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How people targeted by right-wing hatred see their future in Germany \u2013 and whether staying still feels safe.<\/p>\r\n <\/div>\r\n\r\n <\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n \r\n

\r\n \"Portrait\r\n <\/figure>\r\n\r\n \r\n \r\n <\/a>\r\n\r\n <\/article>\r\n\r\n \r\n
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\r\n\r\n Silence<\/span>\r\n

\r\n Between silence and storm surge: a hermit on the Hallig <\/h3>\r\n\r\n
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Nick, 48, from Berlin has swapped his old life for solitude off the coast of North Frisia. A visit.<\/p>\r\n <\/div>\r\n\r\n <\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n \r\n

\r\n \"\"\r\n\r\n <\/figure>\r\n\r\n \r\n \r\n <\/a>\r\n\r\n <\/article>\r\n\r\n \r\n <\/div>\r\n\r\n\n\n\n
\n TO THE MAGAZINE HOMEPAGE<\/a>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":73936,"template":"","tags":[379,331,342],"magazinkategorie":[377],"class_list":["post-75020","magazin","type-magazin","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-maennlichkeit-en","tag-photo-series-en","tag-right-wing-extremism-en","magazinkategorie-masculinity"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\u2018I was a Hitler caricature from a bad Hollywood film\u2019 – visualjournalism.de<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"He used to march through the streets in a leather coat, carrying the Reich war flag, giving hate speeches and dreaming of the great revolution. 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