Hiding in plain sight: Germany's Neo-Nazis ditch skinhead look

Far-right groups are hoping to win votes by blending in with mainstream society – but they are still clinging to the hate crimes.

The summer fete was well under way in the normally sleepy village of Lübtheen in the Mecklenburg region of eastern Germany. Locals tending stalls outside low red brick houses offered home-baked bread and smoke-cured sausage. They hardly noticed the group of well-groomed young men in orangeT-shirts mingling with the crowd and distributing balloons and leaflets.

"The shirts they were wearing were exactly the same colour as those usually worn by Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives at campaign rallies," Ute Lindenau, Lübtheen's mayor, told The Independent. "Nobody had the slightest idea that the men were all neo-Nazis until after they had left and people had time to study their vile propaganda."

The new and almost covert style of canvassing was being practised by Germany's neo-Nazi National Democratic Party (NPD), which is fighting to retain parliamentary seats in key elections in the eastern state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern this autumn. The party first won seats there in 2006 after mounting a virulent campaign against foreigners. It also has seats in the east German state of Saxony

For Mrs Lindenau, the tactic was not much of a surprise. As a committed anti-Nazi and the mayor of a town known as a far-right stronghold of the east, she has watched the NPD gradually shed its skinhead image in an attempt to appeal to more voters. "These days the neo-Nazis are almost invariably polite and they make an effort to look respectable. They seem to have realised that the skinhead look is a vote loser," she said.

Mrs Lindenau's observations have now been borne out by Germany's Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BVS), the equivalent of Britain's MI5. In a report published last week, the domestic intelligence agency concluded that the country's far right had all but completely shed the aggressive skinhead image it was renowned for in the 1990s. "Members of the far right scene prefer to wear clothing or brands that orient themselves more towards general trends in youth fashion," the report noted. "The more noticeable skinhead culture is becoming increasingly less interesting for far right extremist youths."

But the less aggressive image adopted by the German far right has not resulted in a corresponding drop in violence. On the contrary, the BVS found that the number of neo-Nazis prepared to use extreme violence to convey their political message had increased dramatically, from 5,000 in 2009 to 5,600 last year. The report put the total number of far right extremists at 25,000 and noted that the number of far right crimes in the former communist east had risen by an alarming 40 per cent.

The kind of violence meted out by Germany's growing "autonomous nationalist" groups was graphically illustrated in March this year at the trial of members of a banned neo-Nazi group called Sturm 34. In a style reminiscent of the campaign mounted by Hitler's Nazis to make German towns and villages "Jew-free", Sturm 34 set about trying to make the east German town of Mittweida "insect-free and brown".

"Brown" is a German byword for Nazi. By "insect-free", the group signalled that it was out to rid the town of anyone who held a different opinion to its own. The court heard how the gang patrolled Mittweida and set about "insects" – mostly punk rockers and vagrants – with baseball bats and boxing gloves filled with sand to double the effect of face punches.

Sturm 34 persecuted the town's inhabitants for months before police finally intervened. In one particularly brutal incident the gang appears to have practised a favourite form of neo-Nazi assault called "kerb biting" in which the victim's lower jaw is smashed against a kerbstone with a kick from a steel-capped boot.

Experts on the far right say that in public the NPD's political core goes out of its way to distance itself from such behaviour in public. Many of its members have exchanged skinhead haircuts and boots for an almost preppy look.

Michael Weiss, the author of a new study on neo-Nazi dress codes entitled Hide and Seek, says the increasingly ordinary appearance of far-right extremists means they can often blend in at left-wing demonstrations or in sports stadiums. "These people no longer stand out," he said.

To recognise each other, neo-Nazis now resort increasingly to an array of about 150 secret codes, according to Mr Weiss. These include the number 88 on T-shirts or other garments. The eight represents the eighth letter of the alphabet, so 88 corresponds to HH, for Heil Hitler, a phrase banned in Germany along with the swastika.

Neo-Nazis have also started to wear the black and white Palestinian Kaffiyeh scarf – a garment once the preserve of the far left at demonstrations – in an attempt to signal that they are against Israel. "Their style incorporates elements from rock and pop culture. Neo-Nazis now have piercings," Mr Weiss said.

In Mecklenburg, where the NPD's popularity may be just enough to enable it to stay in parliament after this autumn's state election, the party's attempts to garner support have not been confined to a new dress code. The Social Democrat-run state government recently became so concerned about the party's attempts to infiltrate schools and youth groups that it insisted teachers sign a declaration pledging their commitment to democracy.

However some of the far-right party's politicians have not managed to hide behind the new guise of respectability. Sven Kruger, a building contractor who is also an NPD politician, has been exposed for using a sign to advertise his company which shows a sledgehammer smashing what looks like a Star of David. His premises were searched last year and prosecutors discovered photographs of German Jewish community leaders which were suspected of having been used as targets for pistol shooting practice.

Finding new support

* Germany banned Hitler's National Socialist Party in 1945, but the neo-Nazi NPD was allowed to form in West Germany in 1964 and made some short-lived political gains during that decade, although it has never entered a national government.

The party found new support in east Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and has since won seats in eastern state parliaments.

The government tried to ban the NPD in 2001, but the constitutional court overruled it. The NPD merged with another far-right party, the German People's Union (DVU) last year. It is estimated to have 6,600 members and 25,000 supporters, many of whom belong to other neo-Nazi groups.

Independent

Neo-Nazi skinheads jailed in Russia for racist killings

A court in Moscow has sentenced nine members of a neo-Nazi skinhead gang to prison terms of up to 23 years.

The gang members, most in their late teens, were found guilty of a string of brutal and very public murders. The skinheads targeted people of Central Asian origin and posted videos of their attacks on the Internet.

Russia has seen a surge of racially-motivated attacks in recent years. In 2009 alone, neo-Nazis are believed to have killed more than 70 people. The nine neo-Nazis called themselves "The White Wolves". They sought out Central Asian migrants, and attacked them in Moscow's back streets. They clubbed some of their victims to death with wooden planks and killed others by repeatedly stabbing them with knives and screwdrivers.

In one case, a glazier from Kyrgyzstan was stabbed 73 times, as the gang members shouted "Russia for the Russians!" and filmed the murder on their mobile phones. The jury heard the gang was responsible for at least 11 killings, possibly even more.

And so - after five months of deliberations - came the prison terms: Twenty-three years for the gang leader and up to nine years for the others - the maximum prison term allowed in Russia for underage criminals. Human rights activists have welcomed the sentencing. They admit that the police are now cracking down on skinhead gangs. But even so, last year alone, dozens were killed, and hundreds injured simply for not looking Slavic, and for speaking with a foreign accent.

BBC

Violent neo-nazi skinhead group Volksfront growing in prominence

Volksfront, a virulently racist and anti-Semitic group comprised mostly of neo-Nazi skinheads, is growing in prominence in the United States and internationally, with chapters in Canada, Spain, Australia Germany and Portugal. A new report from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) identifies Volksfront as one of the most active skinhead groups in the United States, with a range of activities including distributing newsletters, rallies, recruitment and promoting the hate music subculture.

According to ADL's Center on Extremism, which monitors and reports on the activities of domestic extremist groups, Volksfront, based in Portland, Oregon, has become the most active neo-Nazi group on the West Coast and maintains close alliances with many other hate groups. The group has a history of violence.

"Volksfront promotes a deeply racist and anti-Semitic worldview and its members have not been afraid to back up their words with violent deeds," said Deborah Lauter, ADL Civil Rights Director. "The group appeals to disaffected, young white males and promotes an ideology of hatred and white supremacy that has led in some cases to intimidation, assault and murder."

ADL's report identifies the facets of Volksfront's activities, leadership, recruitment and outreach:

• Members have been involved in a number of violent crimes in the Pacific Northwest. Kurtis Monschke, who was a probationary unit leader for Volksfront, is serving a life sentence for his role in a March 2003 murder that emulated a brutal attack depicted in the film "American History X." Another Volksfront member in Eugene, Oregon was arrested in 2005 along with three other men for throwing rocks engraved with swastikas at a synagogue during a religious service.

• Volksfront is a major player on the hate music scene. The group works with many white supremacist rock bands and has organized a number of concerts. Volksfront holds a number of events annually, including weekend long white power concerts two or three times a year.

• Volksfront promotes meetings that serve as networking opportunities for racists from a variety of domestic extremist groups. One of the more heavily promoted events in early 2007 was its Victory Achievement Conference, held February 24 in St. Louis, Missouri. More than 80 white supremacists attended the event, including racist skinheads from the Hammerskins and members of White Revolution, Aryan Nations and Women for Aryan Unity.

• Volksfront distributes newsletters and tries to exploit controversial public issues. The group's Web site features information on their history, editorials by members, information about upcoming events and downloadable hate literature. Several units have their own Web pages and sites that provide information about local activity.

• One of Volksfront's primary goals is to establish an autonomous whites-only living space in the Pacific Northwest and, to this end, the group claims to have purchased several acres of property in Oregon and Washington State.

• Volksfront has established units in Oregon, Washington State, California, Arizona, Massachusetts, Illinois, Missouri, the Carolinas and New York.

ADL

Hatewatch: for the week of March 28th 2007

Gay man’s murder spurs campaign to update laws
Detroit Free Press
March 21, 2007
Prompted by the beating death of 72-year-old Andrew Athos, state and federal lawmakers introduced legislation to expand the definition of hate crimes to include attacks on gays and lesbians.
Read more

Fort Bragg skinhead killer dies in prison
The Fayetteville Observer
March 22, 2007
James Burmeister, 31, one of two racist skinheads convicted in 1997 of randomly murdering a black couple while serving in the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, died of natural causes in prison, ten years into a life sentence.
Read more

National Vanguard organizes 'White Pride' rally
East Valley Tribune
March 21, 2007
Several members of the neo-Nazi group National Vanguard's Arizona chapter held "White Pride Worldwide" banners at a busy intersection in observance of a United Nations-designated "Harmony Day."
Read more

White supremacists arrested for murder
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
March 24, 2007
Two members of the Riverside Skins allegedly shot to death a drug dealer they feared would become an informant.
Read more

Neo-Nazi march cost city $32,000
Columbia Tribune
March 20, 2007
City agencies spent more than $32,000 on security for a 45-minute march by two-dozen members of the National Socialist Movement near the University of Missouri-Columbia on March 10.
Read more

SPLC