The Office of Constitution Protection of Germany: the Experience of 70 years

The article is dedicated to analysis and efficiency evaluation of the Office of Constitution protection – a key law-enforcement body in Germany, which prevents political extremism, spionage and anti-state activities. In 2020 the Office celebrated its 70th anniversary. The present article describes structure, main tasks and functions of the Office, as well as the most known failures in its operations, related to the Red Army Fraction and «National-socialist underground». The article also provides an analysis of current state of political extremism in Germany and other threads to the «struggling democracy».