Neo-Nazism

Neo-Nazi movements are generally anti-Semitic, racist, and xenophobic. They often draw membership from 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.

Neo-Nazism in Germany In Germany immediately after World War II, Allied forces and the new German governments 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 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 itself especially in attempts to burn down the homes for people in search of asylum in Germany.

• Attacks on accommodation for refugees: Hoyerswerda (17. - 22. 9. 1991), Rostock-Lichtenhagen` (23. - 27. 8. 1992), Schwedt, Eberswalde, Eisenhüttenstadt, Elsterwerda (Oct 1991)
• Arson attack on the house of a Turkish family in Solingen (29.5.1993), two women and three girls murdered, seven people severely injured. Remark: Although the four changed persons were sued to 10-15 years, the judgement was controversial because not all doubts about their responsibility for the attempt could be cleared up. Three of these persons had connections to a collaborator of the German secret service "Verfassungschutz".
• Murder of three Turkish girls in an arson attack in Mölln (23. 1 l. 1992), nine more people injured.

("Arson attack" is a translation of the German word Brandanschlag, which implies throwing Molotov cocktails into houses (fire-bombing), and attempts to burn a house down.)

These events preceded demonstrations (Lichterketten) with hundreds of thousands of participants against right-extremist violence in many German cities.

The official German statistics for the year 1990 record 178 right-extremist motivated crimes of violence (Gewalttaten), in 1991 849 and in 1992 1,485, with a significant concentration in the eastern Bundesländer (1999: 2,19 crimes per 100,000 inhabitants in the eastern Bundesländer and 0,68 in the western ones). After 1992 the numbers went down. Because the strong public opinion and media coverage concerning Neo-Nazi ideologies is extremely negative, organized attempts of those groups get ended quickly by local responsibles when they reach a certain size.

At the moment (2002) a trial is under way before the Bundesverfassungsgericht, the highest court in Germany, about the prohibition of the NPD, considered a right-extremist party. In the course of the trial it was discovered that some high-ranking party members who should appear as witnesses worked as undercover agents for the secret services, the Verfassungsschutz[?]. The trial turned into a major political scandal, was first temporarily suspended and finally rejected by the court because of the unclear influence of agents in the actions and image of the NPD.

Nazi iconography remains to this day heavily restricted in Germany. As German law forbids the production of Nazi devotionalia, such items come mostly (illegally) from the USA and northern European countries. Current Neo-Nazi websites mostly depend on hosting in the USA and Canada.

Neo-Fascism in Italy

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Organisations that have been described as 'Neo-Fascist' and/or 'Neo-Nazi' include;

• Italian Social Movement (MSI)

Neo-Nazism in the USA In the USA the total freedom of speech allows political organisations to express Nazi, racist or anti-Semitic ideology. Several White supremacist groups share large parts of their ideology with Nazism.

Organisations that have been described as 'Neo-Fascist' and/or 'Neo-Nazi' include;

• The Ku Klux Klan
• American Nazi Party[?] - later the National Socialist White People's Party[?]
• National Alliance[?]/National Vanguard[?]
• Christian Identity
• World Church of the Creator

Neo-Nazism in the UK

The following British organizations can be classed as neo-Nazi:

• The British Movement[?]
• The British National Party
• Combat 18
• League of St. George[?]
• The National Front

Neo-Nazism in other countries In many European countries there are laws that prevent the expression of Nazi, racist or anti-Semitic ideology, thus no political party of significant importance will describe itself as neo-nazi.

Organisations that have been described as 'Neo-Fascist' and/or 'Neo-Nazi' include;

• Front National - France
• White Noise[?] - (promoters of nationalist skinhead/Oi bands such as Skrewdriver)
• Vlaams Blok - Belgium
• Liberal Democratic Party of Russia[?]

Links:

• Informationsportal Rassismus & Antisemitismus (http://www.burks.de/nazis), an overview of racist, Neo-Nazi and Antisemitic groups and websites (german)
• List of websites filtered by German and french Google (http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/filtering/google/results1)