NEW EDITION OF ANTI-EXTREMISM COMIC BOOK "ANDI 3" EXPECTED

UNCLAS DUSSELDORF 000029 SIPDIS DEPT ALSO FOR EUR/FO AND EUR/PPD E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV KISL PTER KPAO GM SUBJECT: NEW EDITION OF ANTI-EXTREMISM COMIC BOOK "ANDI 3" EXPECTED SOON REF: 07 DUESSELDORF 32 ¶1. (U) Continuing their series of comic books designed to combat extremism amongst German youth in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW),the state's Office for the Protection of the Constitution (OPC) is expecting to release a third volume of the Andi series, Andi 3 (see reftel),by the end of the year. The series has been very successful, a source at the OPC told Poloff, with Andi 2, the comic book designed to combat Islamic extremism, scheduled to become part of the regular curriculum for some schools this fall. The OPC in coordination with the NRW Ministry of Education has designed new teacher supplements for Andi 2. ¶2. (U) The new volume will follow another of the regular cast of characters as he encounters left-wing extremism and violence between left-wing and right-wing extremists. By discussing left-wing extremism, the series will now have a companion piece for Andi 1, which was about right-wing extremism. According to our source at the OPC, Andi 1 has been the most popular edition so far with 380,000 copies printed. The OPC has printed 200,000 copies of Andi 2. ¶3. (U) The comic series has also been adopted outside of NRW in Hamburg and Lower Saxony. Hamburg schools currently use both volumes now in print, while Lower Saxony is expected to start distributing the books to students in this coming school year. Our source at the OPC expressed appreciation that other states were starting to use the comics to combat extremism and noted that the production of the books was relatively inexpensive. Each comic cost 20,000 Euros to make initially and then 20,000 Euros per 100,000 copies printed. ¶4. (U) This message was coordinated with Embassy Berlin. GROSSMAN