Neo-fascism

Neo-Nazism refers to any social or political movement founded on the ideology and symbolism of Nazism. Neo-Nazi movements are generally anti-Semitic, racist, and xenophobic. Their supporters are frequently low-income young men who blame their or their society's problems on immigrants and a presumed Jewish conspiracy. Many, possibly most Neo-Nazi groups espouse violence, and for this reason they are a source of concern to law enforcement. Many Neo-Nazi groups also espouse Holocaust denial, Holocaust revisionism or disbelief in the genocides committed under the Nazi regime.

In Germany immediately after World War II, Allied forces and the new German government attempted to prevent the creation of new Nazi movements through a process known as denazification. With this and the total defeat of the Nazi regime, there was little overt neo-Nazi activity in Europe until the 1960s.

In the 1990s, after the German reunification, Neo-Nazi groups succeeded in gaining more followers, mostly among teenagers in Eastern Germany. The activities of these groups resulted in several violent attacks on foreigners and creating a hostile atmosphere for foreigners in some towns. The violence manifested especially in attempts to burn down the homes for people in search of asylum in Germany.

• Attacks on accomodations for refugees: Hoyerswerda (17. - 22. 9. 1991), Rostock-Lichtenhagen` (23. - 27. 8. 1992), Schwedt, Eberswalde, Eisenhüttenstadt, Elsterwerda (Oct 1991)
• Burningattack on house of a turkish family in Solingen (29.5.1993), two women and three girls murdered, seven people severely injured.
• Murder of three turkish girls in an burningattack in Mölln (23. 1 l. 1992), nine more people injured.

(Burningattack is a direct translation of the German word "Brandanschlag", please replace it by the proper English word for the fact of throwing molotow cocktails into houses and attempts to burn a house down.)

These events were followed by demonstrations (Lichterketten) with hundred thousands of participants against right-extremist violence in many German cities.

The official german statistics record for the year 1990 178 right-extremist motivated crimes (Gewalttaten), in 1991 849 and in 1992 1 485 with significant concentration in the Eastern countries (1999 2,19 crimes per 100 000 inhabitants in the eastern countries and 0,68 in western). After 1992 the numbers went down.

At the moment (2002) a process is pending at the Bundesverfassungsgericht, the highest court in Germany, about the prohibition of the NPD, a considered right-extremist party. In the course of the process it was discovered that some high ranking party members who should appear as witnesses worked as undercover agents for the secret service, the Bundesnachrichtendienst. The process turned into a major political scandal and was temporarily suspended by the court.

Nazi iconography remains to this day heavily restricted in Germany. As the production of Nazi devotionalia is forbidden by German law, such items are traded mostly illegally from the USA and northern European countries. Neo-Nazi websites are mostly hosted in the USA and Canada today.

Links:

• Informationsportal Rassismus & Antisemitismus, an overview of racist, Neo-Nazi and Antisemitic groups and websites (german)
• List of websites filtered by German and french Google