Formation and history

2011

Following the self-exposure of the "National Socialist Underground" (German: Nationalsozialistischer Untergrund), or "NSU", in 2011, the social discourse on the causes and manifestations of organized right-wing extremism in Germany intensified. On a meta-level, this also raised fundamental questions about the manifestations and spread of right-wing extremist attitudes in the population as well as processes of social disintegration. The origin of the group of perpetrators and their supporters in Thuringia confronted the local academic institutions with the task of contributing to these debates findings and theoretical insights from research on right-wing extremism. This mainly posed a challenge to Friedrich Schiller University, where important contributions to the topic had been made in various disciplinary contexts since the early 1990s - particularly in political science, psychology, educational science and sociology. These include the Thüringen-Monitor de, published annually since 2001, research on processes of group discrimination and work on right-wing extremism in Jena's youth milieus.

The research field was thus relatively densely covered, but at the same time fragmented and loosely connected. The information needs of the public and political decision-makers could therefore not be fully satisfied. The effectiveness of the development and implementation of intervention and prevention programs against right-wing extremism also remained limited. The Rector of Friedrich Schiller University, Professor Dr. Klaus Dicke, took this as an opportunity to take the initiative to establish a "Competence Center for Right-Wing Extremism" at the beginning of 2011. It was founded in order to connect research activities in the field of right-wing extremism research and related fields and make them visible to the public. The idea was that the Competence Center for Right-Wing Extremism (KomRex) would act as a central coordination office and contact for scientific expertises as well as political actors. With financial support from the Thuringian Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, KomRex began its work in 2013. In the following years, the KomRex was able to present nationally and internationally recognized research and activities in the field of right-wing extremism research.

Today

After the founding phase, the KomRex presented a development plan at the end of 2015, the political consultation for which was completed in 2016. As a result, the KomRex now receives increased funding, allowing it to expand the content and structure of its main areas of activity. The research area on social integration was added and the KomRex moved into the premises at Humboldtstraße 11 in 2017. Here, employees are currently researching on various doctoral projects and working on transfer of knowledge between research and practice. Due to the expansion in content, the official title of the institute has also been changed, while retaining the short name KomRex.

Here you will find our areas of work, we warmly welcome you to the

„Center of Rechtsextremismusforschung de, Demokratiebildung de und gesellschaftliche Integration de“