BERLIN, Sept. 27 (Xinhua) -- Germany has banned Artgemeinschaft, a right-wing extremist group, and all its sub-organizations, accused of spreading Nazi ideology, the Ministry of the Interior (BMI) said on Wednesday.

Early Wednesday morning local time, police forces searched 26 apartments of 39 members of the group as well as its premises in 12 German federal states after more than a year of preparations, the ministry said.

"With the Artgemeinschaft, we ban a sectarian, deeply racist and anti-Semitic group," Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said in a statement. "This is another hard blow against right-wing extremism and against the intellectual arsonists who continue to spread Nazi ideologies to this day."

The group, which had 150 members, had "tried to raise new enemies of the constitution with its disgusting indoctrination of children and young people," Faeser said.

Last week, Germany already banned the internationally active neo-Nazi group Hammerskins, which was founded in the United States, including the group's regional chapters and the sub-organization Crew 38, whose purpose and activities were "violating criminal law," according to the BMI.

Right-wing extremism is gaining ground in Germany. According to a survey published last week by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES), 8 percent of the population now share a far-right worldview, up from around 2 percent to 3 percent in previous years.

"Parts of the middle of society are distancing themselves from democracy or have lost confidence in functioning institutions," FES Chairman Martin Schulz said. "Populism and anti-democratic and ethno-nationalist positions are on the rise."

According to the country's latest Annual Report on the Protection of the Constitution, the number of extremist crimes in Germany reached an all-time high in 2022. More than 35,400 crimes with an extremist motivation were reported last year.