Neo-Nazism
The terms Neo-Nazism and Neo-Fascism refer to any social or political movement that revive Nazism or Fascism, respectively, and postdate the Second World War.The Neo-Nazi movement is identified by devotion to Adolf Hitler, the national ensign of Germany during National-Socialism containing the swastika, and other features specific to Germany from the period 1933 to 1945. These may include antisemitism, racism, and xenophobia. These groups often draw membership from people who blame their society's problems on immigrants and a presumed Jewish conspiracy. Some 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 or Historical revisionism.
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2 Neo-Fascism in Italy 3 Neo-Nazism in the USA 4 Neo-Nazism in the UK 5 Neo-Nazism in other countries 6 External links |
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. Some former Nazis retained their ideology and racist beliefs, however, and passed them down to new generations.
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.
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, and use euphemisms for Nazi ideas and symbols -- for example, the swastika may be referred to as a sun disc, sun wheel, hooked cross, wolf's cross, wolf's hook, black sun, or dark star.
Many of the ideas of Germanic cultural pride and distrust of outsiders continue to be spread under the umbrella of a Folkish "spiritual movement" variously known as Odalism, Odinism, or heathenism.
Organisations that have been described as 'Neo-Fascist' and/or 'Neo-Nazi' include;
In the USA, broad freedom of speech allows political organisations great latitude in expressing Nazi, racist or anti-Semitic ideology. Several White supremacist or white separatist groups share large parts of their ideology with Nazism.
Organisations that have been described as being 'Neo-Fascist' and/or 'Neo-Nazi' include;
The following British organizations have been described as neo-Nazi:
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 being neo-nazi.
Organisations that have been described as 'Neo-Fascist' and/or 'Neo-Nazi' include the following.
Neo-Nazism in Germany
("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.)Neo-Fascism in Italy
Neo-Nazism in the USA
Neo-Nazism in the UK
Neo-Nazism in other countries
External links