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The Call of Anastasia

Presenter

Johannes Dell

TX Date

1st May 2025

Producer

Mike Lanchin

Editor

Kristine Pommert

Quotes

"Very clearly and enjoyably told."

Gwenan Roberts, commissioning editor, BBC World Service

Members of the New Age Anastasia movement espouse strong family values, farm small plots of land and try to educate their own children outside the state school system.

Originating in Russia, the quasi-religious group has now spread to Germany, where there are more than a dozen Anastasia rural settlements. But are they more than just a harmless fringe group?

Reporter Johannes Dell returns to his native Germany to discover what the group stands for. He speaks to a former Anastasia member and to a German journalist who spent two years tracking the group.

A government intelligence officer tells him why three German states have designated the group as extremist. As Johannes finds out, beyond their eco-friendly exterior, Anastasia members display sinister traits of racism, antisemitism and far-right ideologies.

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