BERLIN — It started with an investigation into a suspected terrorist plot by an army soldier aimed at top government officials. But it quickly uncovered a larger problem.

Military police searching through barracks turned up Nazi-era military memorabilia that revealed a much broader presence of far-right extremists in the German Army’s ranks, something commanders are now accused of having long ignored.

They are currently investigating 275 cases involving accusations of racism or far-right extremism stretching back six years, according to the Defense Ministry. The number represents a small minority in a force of nearly 180,000. But nearly 70 percent of cases have emerged in the last year and a half, pointing to an accelerating problem that German military authorities are only now scrambling to address.