The aim of this study is to provide an overview—based on available public sources, primarily publications and counterterrorism reports by the German Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz, BfV), the Austrian Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Counterterrorism (Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz und Terrorismusbekämpfung, BVT), and the Swiss Federal Intelligence Service (Nachrichtendienst des Bundes, NDB), as well as related press reports—of the activities carried out in recent years by individuals and groups linked to major currents of local and transnational Islamist and jihadist movements operating in the German-speaking region, along with the state responses aimed at preventing or mitigating their impact.
Although the regional framework may initially seem unconventional, in practice there is considerable evidence suggesting that representatives and groups with Islamist and jihadist orientation within German-speaking countries maintain connections, engage in coordination, and in some cases operate across borders.
