The Village Where the Neo-Nazis Rule - extremism on the rise in Germany

[cowcommander]

...The Lohmeyers knew that a notorious neo-Nazi lived nearby -- Sven Krüger, a demolition contractor and high-level member of the far-right National Democratic Party (NPD). What the Lohmeyers didn't know was that other neighbors felt terrorized by Krüger. He and his associates were in the process of buying up the entire village.

Jamel is an example of the far-right problem that has plagued Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania for years. The rural region, once part of communist East Germany, has a poor reputation in this regard -- the NPD, which glorifies the Third Reich, has been in the state parliament since 2006 and neo-Nazi crimes are part of daily life. In recent months, a series of attacks against politicians from all the democratic parties has shaken the state. Sometimes hardly a week goes by without an attack on another electoral district office, with paint bombs, right-wing graffiti and broken windows.

Norbert Nieszery, leader of the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) in the state parliament, calls it an "early form of terror." Nieszery's own office windows have been smashed twice. State Interior Minister Lorenz Caffier of the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) says he has registered a "new level" of right-wing extremist violence. He believes the NPD is trying to raise its profile through aggressive behavior ahead of the state parliament election in September. One local mayor requested police protection after receiving repeated right-wing threats. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Germany's domestic intelligence agency, has warned that the NPD is becoming increasingly influential in local municipalities and that the neo-Nazis are trying to entrench themselves in daily life.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,737471,00.html

[Tunkamerica]

1. sounds familiar

[aquart]

2. Sigh.

[era veteran]

3. Germany sits icily, awakes

When I was in Germany I was not stationed there I was occupying. When I saw this post I guessed the village was in the old GDR. The fascists must never be allowed to flourish again.

[pampango]

4. NPD "stated that the election of Barack Obama ... was the result of "the American alliance of Jews a

and Negroes" and that Obama aimed to destroy the United States' "white identity".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Democratic_Party_of_Germany

The NPD "is a far right German nationalist party" "and considers itself to be Germany's "only significant patriotic force".

The NPD calls itself a party of "grandparents and grandchildren" because the 1960s generation in Germany, known for the leftist student movement, strongly opposes the NPD's policies. The NPD's economic program promotes social security for Germans and control against plutocracy, but it does not oppose private property. Voigt has demanded the "dismantling" of the "liberal-capitalist system".

The NPD argues that NATO fails to represent the interests and needs of European people. The party considers the European Union to be little more than a reorganisation of a Soviet-style Europe along financial lines. Although highly critical of the EU, as long as Germany remains a part of it, the NPD opposes Turkey's incorporation into the organisation. Voigt envisions future collaboration and continued friendly relations with other nationalists and European national parties.

The NPD was going to sponsor a march through Leipzig on 21 June 2006, as the 2006 World Cup was going on. The party wanted to show its support for the Iranian national football team, which was playing in Leipzig, and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. However, the NPD decided against the demonstration; only a counter-demonstration took place that day, in support of Israel. During the World Cup, the party's web site stated that due to the prevalence of people of non-German descent on the German national football team, the team "was not really German". Later in 2006, the party designed leaflets which said "White - not just the color of a jersey! For a true National team!"


Supporters of the NPD, during a march in Berlin, 2005.

The NPD claims not to be a Nazi party but the distinction is hard to figure.

[conspirator]

5. East germany is a barrel of gunpowder ready to explode n/t