Former Nazi SS member charged with killing Jewish labourers

A 90-year-old former member of the Nazi SS has been charged with 58 counts of murder over the killings of Jewish forced labourers in Austria, officials said today

The man is suspected of killing his victims near the village of Deutsch Schützen in 1945, a statement from a German state court said.

"On 29 March 1945, the accused and his accomplices brought at least 57 Jewish forced labourers in several groups to a nearby forest area, where they had to give up their valuables and kneel by a grave," the statement said. "The accused and other SS members then cruelly shot the Jewish forced labourers from behind."

The court described the suspect as a "retiree from Duisburg", but German media reports have named him as Adolf Storms, a former member of the 5th SS Panzer Division, known as Wiking. The suspect is accused of shooting another Jew who could no longer walk during a forced march from Deutsch Schützen to Hartberg on the day after the massacre. The remains of the victims of Deutsch Schützen were found in a mass grave by the Austrian Jewish association in 1995. A plaque now marks the site.

Prosecutors opened an investigation of Storms at the end of 2008 after being alerted to his presence by an Austrian university student who had been researching the killings.

The chief prosecutor, Andreas Brendel, said it was still ongoing. So far, three former members of the Hitler Youth, who were helping the SS to oversee the march, have provided witness statements in Austria. A fourth former Hitler Youth member, now living in Canada, will be interviewed this week, Brendel told the Associated Press.

"There are two who witnessed the shooting of the individual Jewish victim, but there are no people still alive who were part of the other shootings themselves," he said. He added that statements had been made during an Austrian trial of others involved which could be used as evidence against the suspect.

When German authorities raided the suspect's home last December, they said he had invoked his right not to make a statement. He had denied involvement in the shootings to others.

He was interned in a US prisoner of war camp following the war, but was released in 1946. In the chaotic aftermath of the conflict, it was not uncommon for possible war criminals to slip through the cracks. The Austrian press has reported the man changed the spelling of his name after the second world war – a possible explanation of why he went undetected for so long.

Guardian

English Nazi Slogans Are Legal, German Court Rules

This 2006 police photo shows propaganda
material seized from the banned Blood and Honour group

Using Nazi symbols and slogans is a punishable crime in Germany. But now neo-Nazis may have more leeway after a federal German court ruled that slogans are not illegal if they are translated into another language.

Is a Nazi slogan still a Nazi slogan if it is uttered in English instead of German? Not necessarily -- at least according to Germany's Federal Court of Justice. In a landmark decision Thursday, the Karlsruhe-based court ruled that using Nazi slogans translated into a language other than German would not, in general, be a punishable crime.

The ruling is linked to a case in which a neo-Nazi was prosecuted and fined €4,200 ($6,000) in 2005 for distributing clothing and merchandising bearing the slogan "Blood and Honour," written in English. With the ruling, the court overturned the verdict against the neo-Nazi, who was not named, but said it could still be possible to prosecute him under other laws relating to right-wing extremism.

Although "Blood and Honour," which is also the name of a banned far-right organization, alludes to the Hitler Youth motto "Blut und Ehre," the court ruled that translating the words represented a "fundamental change" in the slogan, meaning its use was no longer punishable under German law. The judges said that Nazi slogans were characterized not only by their actual meaning but also by the fact that they were in German.

Senior judge Jörg-Peter Becker said that the court "is aware that its decision gives neo-Nazis a degree of leeway to translate their chants and slogans." However, he added that legislation by itself is not enough to eliminate Nazi ideas from public discourse.

Giving the Hitler salute or using symbols or slogans associated with "unconstitutional" organizations such as the Nazi party is a serious crime in Germany, punishable by up to three years in prison. In 2008, police launched an investigation after a senior member of the far-right National Democratic Party (NPD) draped a banned swastika flag across a coffin at a funeral.

Spiegel

Mein youth kampf

BNP targets kids in weekend training sessions

The BNP is setting up a Britler Youth to indoctrinate children, we can reveal. Party chiefs are trawling internet chatrooms to lure kids as young as 13 to weekend camps where they will be taught shooting, self-defence and nationalist ideology. And some aged eight are being targeted by a new British National Party comic. It features a venom-spouting racist puppet called Billy Brit. who praises Enoch Powell's infamous Rivers Of Blood speech.

Last night a spokesman for anti-racist group Searchlight stormed: "This is sickening. Every parent should be warned that it could be your children these extremists are after."

Top of the far-right party's sinister new recruitment drive is their version of the Hitler Youth. Members start off as "junior patriots" at 13 and are given ID cards, a newsletter and a training book with lessons in "ethno nationalism". They are invited to the BNP's annual youth camp and two training camps where they have to keep records of their improvement in shooting, self defence, flag drills and ideology. They must carry out between four and eight hours of "political activism" a month.

"Patriots" must attend all three events to become leaders of the Young BNP.

The camps are held over weekends in the countryside. The last one was held in Derbyshire. Similar camps run by Germany's far-right group, the Youth Faithful To The Homeland, were recently outlawed for trying to indoctrinate kids with Nazi ideology.

But BNP leader Nick Griffin is determined to lure even younger children to his party's beliefs-with a puppet and a comic called The Comet aimed at children from the age of eight. The sinister "Billy Brit" is already featured on the BNP website where he reads his "educational poems". In one called Heroes he praises MP Enoch Powell for his infamous speech about immigration in 1968.

Racist Billy rants: "He gave a speech called Rivers Of Blood and never gave up the fight. Enoch Powell spoke for me. And Enoch Powell was white." Youngsters are sent signed photos of Billy.

There is also a website for Young Supporters with quizzes, games and events. It includes the BNP demand for an official White History month. They even have kids posing in BNP T-shirts on their merchandise site and are selling Enoch Powell T-shirts emblazoned with his face on the front alongside the Union Jack.

The Comet comic is sent out to kids between the ages of eight and 12. It says it is delivered to "all you eight to 12-year-olds out there who love your country, Great Britain. Yes that's Great as in Grrrrrrrreat!!! With the British National Party it can become great again."

It tells kids: "Your job is to find out the truth about what's going on in the world (and of all the political parties in this country, the only one you can count on to tell you the truth is the British National Party)."

The party is also targeting children's chatrooms on the internet as part of its campaign to lure youngsters. Anonymous BNP chiefs befriend unwitting users on sites like Bebo. They operate under the user name "Young Brit". The sinister strategy has led to a flood of complaints. One youngster on the site wrote in reply: "What a sad and pathetic life you lead." Another branded Young Brit a "perv."

The revelation comes after the News of the World exposed BNP plans to use internet blogs to spread damaging stories about rivals. Labour fears the BNP is stronger than ever and could win seven seats in June's Euro elections.

News of the World

Austrian far right leader dies in car accident

Former leader of Austria's Freedom Party, the late Jörg Haider

Austria's veteran far-right leader Jörg Haider was killed in a car accident this morning near his home town of Klagenfurt, police said.

Haider, who led the far-right into a coalition government from 2000-2006, made headlines across the world and drew international condemnation with his blunt anti-immigrant statements and for seeming to flirt with Nazi sympathies.

The 58-year-old governor of Austria's Carinthia province died after suffering major head and chest injuries when the government car he was driving went out of control and rolled down an embankment, police said. He was alone in the car. Police said they were investigating the cause of the crash.

"This is for us like the end of the world," said Haider's spokesman Stefan Petzner. He said Haider had been heading to a town near Klagenfurt in the mountainous southern province for a gathering of his family to mark his mother's 90th birthday.

Haider, a folksy character who struck a popular chord among many Austrians, headed one of two far-right parties that surged to a combined 30 percent of the vote in a parliamentary election last month, potentially redrawing Austria's political landscape. Active in politics since his teenage years in the affluent Alpine country, he became a full-time politician in 1977 for the far-right Freedom Party.

Haider caused an international backlash when he led the Freedom Party into a coalition government with the conservative People's Party in 2000, triggering widespread condemnation and temporary European Union sanctions against Austria. The deal fell apart, leading to an early election in 2002 in which the Freedom Party lost heavily, followed by a remake of the coalition.

After internecine struggles within the Freedom Party, Haider formed the breakaway Alliance for the Future of Austria in 2005. His new party became junior partner in the coalition government, while the Freedom Party left and went into opposition. But in a national election in 2006, the Alliance for the Future of Austria only just scraped past the 4 percent threshold to enter parliament.

Haider also made headlines with several verbal gaffes and by making foreign trips to see leaders such as Iraq's Saddam Hussein and Libya's Muammar Gaddafi. He once reproached Austria's government by citing the "proper labour policies" of Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany. On another occasion he referred to Nazi concentration camps in a parliamentary debate as "penal camps".

Born in Upper Austria, his father was a former member of Hitler's brown-shirted storm troopers. His mother was a teacher who had been a Hitler Youth leader.

Haider is survived by his wife and two daughters.

Independent

BNP running gun camps for kids

Sick BNP camp teaches youth wing recruits to shoot and make weapons

Other activities include rifle shooting, survival techniques and map reading.

Although the camps are supposedly for 13 to 18-year-olds, the website singles out a 12-year-old named Rachel for her expertise at rifle shooting. Those attending were given talks on "heritage and culture" and advice on how to "deal with Marxist teaching staff" or National Union of Teachers members. Another session included a talk to selected students on "nationalist politics".

The website says: "The youth wing can only get bigger and better, with older members already being fast-tracked into positions within the party. If a measure of our success is the young people involved did not want to go home at the end of the week, then we achieved it. Only the YBNP and big brother the BNP can secure a future for the indigenous children of this land."

Home Office minister Tony McNulty said it was disgraceful to teach children to use weapons at a time when the scourge of knife crime among the young was such a problem.

He added: "If this wasn't so serious it would be funny. I have never seen anything so irresponsible. Teaching young children to use knives and guns is reprehensible but it is what you expect from such a sick and twisted party."

Labour MP Jon Cruddas, who campaigns against the BNP, said: "It goes on about the breakdown of society and pretends to be the party of law and order. But at the same time it appears to be teaching kids how to use a knife."

A spokesman for the BNP refused to say where the camp was held or how many people attended. He also denied the party was acting irresponsibly, saying: "There is no problem with the responsible use of weapons. We have members who are ex-Armed Forces who are trained in this type of thing. Not everyone lives in the city. Some people live in the country where they need a knife for craftsmanship and games."

Echo of the Hitler Youth?

• The Hitler Youth was founded by Adolf Hitler in 1922. Its main aim was to recruit new members to the Nazi party.
• German teenage boys were sent to special camps to be indoctrinated in Nazi beliefs.
• There they did assault courses and were taught military strategy. They had to learn shooting, marching, bayonet drill, grenade throwing - and Nazi dogma.
• Recruits who excelled were rewarded with a dagger engraved with a swastika and the words Blood and Honour.
• In 1936, membership was made compulsory for all boys aged 15 to 18.
• Girls joined their own league to prepare them for motherhood.
• At its peak the Hitler Youth, a name suggested by the Hitler's deputy Rudolf Hess, had four million members - current Pope Benedict XVI was among them.
• The Hitler Youth shouldered the brunt of the fighting in the final defence of Berlin.

Mirror