Around 120 guests accepted the joint invitation from the Salzgitter / Peine / Wolfenbüttel police station, the city of Salzgitter and the Prevention Council against Violence and Crime to the Kulturscheune. "This shows how important the topic of prevention is," emphasized city councillor Dr. Dirk Härdrich in his welcoming address. Michael Pientka, Chief of Police of the Braunschweig Police Headquarters, was delighted with the Salzgitter network and praised it: "Extremism is on the move, whether it's left-wing or right-wing extremism, Islamism or Salafism. It is good that you have set out in Salzgitter to tackle the issue of extremism together as experts."

The Extremism Prevention Network was founded in October 2018. The network's first main topic area to date has been Islamist extremism.

The aim of the event in the Kulturscheune was to provide information about the network's services and to gain new partners at the same time.

Before presenting the network's work, Michael Kaspar from the Lower Saxony Office for the Protection of the Constitution gave a keynote speech on the topic of "Youth culture in Islamism. His conclusion was that there is a danger in Germany that children and young people will grow up in parallel societies. This can only be prevented if as many players as possible, such as youth welfare offices, schools and clubs, work together preventively.

This is precisely the aim of the Salzgitter Extremism Prevention Network. Claudia Kramer, from the prevention team at the police station, said: "We want to pool our potential in order to identify challenges and develop targeted solutions. We want to inform, advise and help everyone who contacts us individually. No one is left alone!"

In a discussion led by moderator Andreas Reichelt (Deputy Head of Education, City of Salzgitter), Olaf Kleint (Deputy Head of Social Services and Senior Citizens, City of Salzgitter), Martina Malak (Child Protection Advisor, City of Salzgitter), Petra Siems (Prevention Council against Violence and Crime in Salzgitter e.V.) and Anke Even (Prevention Team, Salzgitter/Peine/Wolfenbüttel Police Inspectorate) presented examples of the network's advisory service.

Ms. Siems from the Prevention Council is the first point of contact for all questions and concerns and thus provides referral advice. This means that she clarifies in conversation which institution can best advise and help in a specific case. You can contact her by telephone (05341-9415220) or by e-mailpraevention-extremismuspraeventionsrat-salzgitterde. Calls and e-mails are not forwarded for data protection reasons. In any case, those seeking help will receive information on where they can turn to, even in cases of absence.

At the end of the event, Volker Warnecke, Head of the Police Inspectorate, gave an outlook on the future work of the network and also drew a first interim conclusion. He said: "I am proud of Salzgitter - we are getting to grips with things and that is good for our city. In future, we in the network will also be looking more closely at the area of right-wing extremism. I would like to invite you to join our network."

In the discussion that followed, the guests showed great interest in the topic of preventing extremism.