Germany 2008/9
The level of antisemitism in Germany remained high in 2008, despite a slight decrease in manifestations. There was a
considerable spike in antisemitic activity, in which members of the Muslim
community played a prominent role, following the start of Israel’s Cast Lead Operation in Gaza. Other triggers of antisemitic activity
included the global financial crisis and the US presidential election. Neo-Nazi
and Holocaust denial activity has increased at German universities.
the jewish community
There are more than 200,000
Jews in Germany, out of a total population of 82.5 million, according to
government estimates. The largest Jewish centers are Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich and Hamburg, but Jewish communities are active in most other large urban areas.
Religious, cultural and social support is provided to a total of 83
communities. In many cities, especially those in former East Germany, newcomers from the former Soviet Union account for the majority of Jews.
The
Zentralrat der Juden in Deutschland (Central Council for German Jews – CCGJ)
acts as the roof organization of Jews in Germany, with headquarters in Berlin. There are synagogues in most cities with communities, and the larger communities
have Jewish schools as well. The weekly Allgemeine Jüdische
Wochenzeitung is the most prominent of a number of publications serving Germany’s Jews. The Frankfurt-based Tribüne is the leading Jewish scholarly
journal. The Jewish Museum in Berlin, opened in 2001, houses two millennia of
German Jewish history.
Right-wing Extremism
According
to German Interior Wolfgang Schäuble in April 2009, 31,801 politically
motivated crimes took place in 2008 (11.4 percent more than in 2007), the
majority (20,422) perpetrated by extreme right activists (an increase of 16
percent). Of the total, 1,935 were violent attacks and 2 were murders. The most
dramatic incident occurred on December 13, when Passau Police Chief Alois
Mannichl was almost stabbed to death in Bavaria by a suspected neo-Nazi. His
words before the attacks: "You won't stamp on the graves of our comrades
anymore. Best regards from the national resistance,” referred to Mannichl’s
tough stand against violent neo-Nazis. Since the attempted murder was obviously
not a spontaneous act, it has added a new dimension to extreme right attacks, said
Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann. It has also led to a renewal of
the debate about banning the extreme right NPD (see below).
Right-wing
extremists remain the biggest threat to the constitutional state, says a report
of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV). A study
on right-wing extremism and attitudes toward democracy, published on June 18, 2008,
by the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (SPD), confirmed that far right views have infiltrated
the mainstream of German society. It also suggested that immigrant − and especially,
economically disadvantaged communities − are more likely to hold
anti-democratic views than others, as “fear and the threat of exclusion are
fertile soil for right-wing extremist views” (“A Look at the Center,” http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/do/05433.pdf).
A survey conducted by the Institute of Social Science of the German Army
revealed that 13 percent of soldiers polled agreed with the declared aims of
the "new right,” and had doubts about Germany’s parliamentary democracy.
At
the end of 2008, 156 active extreme right-wing organizations and parties, with an
estimated 30,000 members (2007: 31,000), were known to the BvF (2007: 180).
They included 9,500 (2007: 1,000) youths, mostly skinheads, who were ready to
use violence. Neo-Nazi groups, largely organized in local comradeships (Kameradschaften),
showed a rise in membership to 4800 (2007: 4,200) although fewer groups were
active in 2008 than in 2007.
Parties
The NPD (German National Democratic Party), the oldest extreme right
party in Germany (see ASW 2007),
continued to be the more active and successful of the two extreme
right-wing parties observed by the BfV. In November 2008 the German magazine Der
Spiegel described the NPD as a "racist, antisemitic and
revisionist" party which was gaining political ground.
Notwithstanding
its partial success in elections (see below), the party is losing members and
influence (from 7,200 in 2007 to 7000 in 2008). Udo Voigt's position as party leader is threatened, the party's financial situation is precarious and
several members face legal proceedings. As a result, the NPD may no longer be
able to fulfill the conditions necessary for government support. In February
2008 Berlin police raided NPD national headquarters in Berlin and arrested the
organization's treasurer Erwin Kemma on suspicion of embezzlement. If convicted,
he faces up to ten years in prison. Furthermore, the Bundestag is demanding
that the NPD repay 870,000 euro, which it alleged the party received by
fraudulent means. In an attempt, to revive the ranks of the NPD leadership, convicted
Holocaust denier and lawyer Jürgen Rieger, known for his defense of
neo-Nazis, was appointed vice chairman of the NPD in May 2008. (He died,
however, in October 2009.)
Continuing
the strategies of recruitment and extending its influence (see ASW 2007),
the NPD increasingly included propaganda targeting the Russian group of Volksdeutsche
(ethnic Germans). Important means of transporting their messages are
the Volksdeutsche Stimme (similar to the party mouthpiece Deutsche
Stimme), an internet site (http://www.volksdeutsche-stimme.de),
and a group of Russian Germans who began working within the NPD in February 2008. In addition “German völkisch socialism" is disseminated via a monthly news
show called "Critical News" (Kritische Nachrichten) . The show
is linked to the internet sites of the various branches of the NPD and its aim
"is it to counter the propaganda flood of re-education institutions of the
Federal Republic” (http://www.faz.net/s/Rub475F682E3FC24868A8A5276D4FB916D7/Doc~E7B194EC245664794BB7C29A2534CE077~ATpl~Ecommon~Scontent.html).
By
2008 the RNF (Ring Nationaler Frauen - National Women’s Circle), founded in
2006 as an affiliate of the NPD, had expanded to 13 groups in nine German
states. Michaela Koettig, researcher of the extreme right from the University of Goettingen, noted that the RNF could develop into an umbrella organization
for many conservative and right-wing women who prefer not to join the NPD. RNF
tries to attract women in a variety of ways, notably through family-centered
issues such as day care centers for children.
The
other party monitored by the BfV, the DVU (German Peoples' Union: The New Right),
founded in 1987, has been dominated by millionaire publisher Dr. Gerhard Frey
for almost 30 years. However since January 2009 Mathias Faust has replaced the old
leader. The weekly National-Zeitung/Deutsche Wochenzeitung reflects its
xenophobic, antisemitic, anti-American and anti-Israel tendencies. The branding
of all “foreigners” as criminals and the threat of the islamization of Germany have been leading mottos of their election campaigns. DVU membership decreased from
7,000 to 6,000.
Elections
The NPD
improved its results by about 4 percent in district elections in Saxony in June 2008. The party now has delegates in every district parliament in Saxony and in one district got even more votes than the mainstream SPD (Social Democrats)
and CDU (Christian Democrats) together. In the September elections in Brandenburg, the NPD received 1.8 percent and the DVU 1.6 percent of the votes. The NPD is represented
in six provincial governments and in the parliament of the city of Cottbus (with 3 percent of the votes); the DVU is represented in Potsdam.
Extra-parliamentary Groups
Modus Operandi
A change in
the dress-code of neo-Nazis and extreme right-wingers in Germany has been noted in recent years. Instead of military-style clothing, they wear
casual fashion with coded symbols such as "18" or "88,” which can be translated as AH or HH (Adolf Hitler, Heil Hitler). They prefer the clothing brand "CoNSDAPle" (which
includes the letters NSDAP). Also, clothes linked to leftists, such as Che
Guevara T-shirts, are worn more often by extreme rightists making it more
difficult to identify them. Fashion labels like Thor Steinar, popular among
ultra-rightist youth, are monitored by the authorities for illegal symbols such
as swastikas and runes that imply identification with national socialist
opinions or glorification of Adolf Hitler. In early February 2008 an outlet
store selling the Thor Steinar label opened in the center of Berlin, stirring
up a controversy. The store is located, symbolically, at 18 Rosa Luxembourg Street
(Adolf Hitler's initials, 1=A, 8=H). Local business people, as well as the
anti-fascist organization ANTIFA protested. The windows of the store have been broken
frequently and attacked with paint bombs.
Music and Internet
Because of
the consensus against antisemitism in Germany and strict legislation (see, for
example, ASW
2005), openly aggressive antisemitism can be found only among hate
groups, mostly neo-Nazis and skinheads, who disseminate and incite mainly through
song lyrics. The number of public concerts held by such groups has decreased
since 2006 (2008:127; 2007:138), possibly because many events are dissolved by
the police or disturbed by antifascist activists. Consequently, efforts to
produce and disseminate music with direct hate messages and antisemitic
propaganda through social networks such as YouTube and Facebook were
intensified in 2008. Illegal in Germany, they are produced abroad and can be
bought or downloaded free of charge from foreign servers. In June 2008, Stephan
Kramer, secretary general of the Zentralrat, filed a lawsuit in Hamburg asking for a temporary restriction to pull especially offensive hate material from
YouTube Germany, a subsidiary of the US-based Google. According to Kramer, in
one video, a photograph of the late president of the Central Council, Paul
Spiegel, was burned against a background of swastikas. The German edition of YouTube
− which allows members to post their own material free of charge −
went online on November 8, 2007, one year after the site was purchased by
Google.
Eliminatory
antisemitic texts are propagated by the band Sturmkommando, with songs such as “Not
Nice” (Nicht nett) from the CD Hate Notes (Noten des Hasses):
"Sieg
Heil! Sieg Heil!/The world does not need more Zionist lies./Sieg Heil! Sieg
Heil!/The only solution is to kill them all./6 million more!/6 million more!/We
want to see them shower.”
Although
the band and such lyrics are banned in Germany, similar inflammatory texts can
be downloaded from their website, http://www.last.fm/music/Sturmkommando. The
group Racial Hatred consider music a weapon to fight Zionists, Kanaken (Turks)
and Communists, as in their song “Hate!” from the CD Open Your Eyes (Macht
die Augen auf!). The lyrics include messages such as "If they don’t leave
of their own free will, Zyklon B will help us [to get rid of them]" and “Dirty
Jews are in the government, we have to pay them without end.”
The
term cyber mobilization is used for building networks and overcoming
geographical as well as political frontiers and legal obstacles. The number of
internet sites in German with extreme right-wing content is rising steadily, and
by the end of 2008 had reached more than 1,700.
Europe-Wide Cooperation
Cross-border
cooperation of right-wing extremists takes place not only at public rallies and
commemorations, but also during seminars, culture days, celebrations and
memorial days. In many right-wing circles the possibility of collaboration with
the Russian right wing extremists was discussed in 2008.
Systematic
incitement against the alleged threat of islamization of Europe serves to
recruit members and sympathizers Europe-wide. In September 2008 an
anti-islamization congress was supposed to have taken place in Cologne with the participation of representatives of far right organizations from seven
other countries. The event had to be aborted after a number of protest actions..
Extreme
right activists from Spain, Britain, France, Austria, Sweden, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands participated in a march in Dresden city center in
February 2009 on the occasion of the 63rd anniversary of the destruction of Dresden by the Allies. By the end of October 2008 an online
petition circulated by the Dresden-based anti-fascist Geh Denken (Go Think) had
been signed by 190 politicians and celebrities. One of the first signatures was
that of former President Richard von Weizsacker.
Antisemitic activity
A survey
conducted by the Pew Global Attitudes Project and released in September 2008
revealed that 25 percent of Germans harbor antisemitic opinions. Although
latent anti-Jewish feelings have stayed at 20-25 percent in postwar Germany, antisemitic
manifestations during the last decade have adjusted to the mainstream, often
anti-Israel narrative, which has become more socially acceptable (gesellschaftsfaehig
− see ASW
2007 and General
Analysis), even among those who may not be aware of and would
vehemently reject any suggestion of having expressed an antisemitic worldview. They
speak of “Zionists” and “lobby,” instead of “Jew” or “conspiracy.” (German
journalist Marek Broder coined this phenomenon "antisemitism without
antisemites.") This almost politically correct attitude leads to the
legitimization of antisemitic activity and sometimes even inspires physical
attacks.
Antisemitic Triggers in 2008
The level
of antisemitic manifestations in Germany remained high in 2008, despite a
slight decrease. However, there was a considerable spike in antisemitic
activity, expressed especially during anti-Israel demonstrations, following the
start of Israel’s Cast Lead Operation in Gaza in late 2008−early 2009. On
January 3, 2009, for example some 7,000 people took part in a rally during
which antisemitic placards with slogans such as: "Israelis are child
murderers" were displayed. Four days earlier, in a similar event held in Berlin, demonstrators carried signs such as "Death to Israel" or "Kick out
the Jews." Criticizing the support Chancellor Merkel gave Israel during the Gaza operation, Dr. Kersten Radzimanowski (NPD),
in a piece posted on the party’s website, accused Israel of perpetrating a
Palestinian holocaust and asked whether Merkel would have to defend herself for
denying the holocaust of the Palestinians. Comparisons between Israel and Nazi Germany were common and Israel was accused of setting up ghettos and concentrations
camps for the Palestinians.
From
the onset of the global financial crisis in
2008 harsh criticism of bankers and managers gave birth to comparisons, such as
"managers are the Jews of today,” which amounted to banalization of the
persecution of the Jews during the Nazi era ("Studio Friedmann,"
November 6, 2008, Tagesspiegel, October 27). Not only was the so-called
persecution of the managerial elite compared to that of the Jews but economically
deprived groups of immigrant background were too. On May 19, 2008 in an article in the Turkish newspaper Referans, Prof. Faruk Sen, director of the Center
for Turkish Studies (Zentrum fur Turkeistudien) at the University
Duisburg-Essen, called the European Turks "the Jews of today.” Sen’s
statement initiated a heated debate during which he was criticized of
downplaying the Holocaust.
The
US election campaign in 2008 revived the argument of “Jewish influence” on
global decision making. The German-English website of the National Journal
claimed that Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska (Republican) belonged to the so-called
evangelicals in the United States which was "created by the Lobby [Jews],"
also known as Jesus for Jews. National Zeitung (NZ), mouthpiece
of the DVU, made a similar allegation about the Democratic candidate, but more indirectly,
in order to avoid legal problems in Germany. Showing a photo of Barak Obama wearing
a kippa at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, the NZ asked in November 2008:
"To what extent can and will Obama free himself from the Israel lobby?" Shortly after the 2008 US election, NPD Deputy Jürgen Gansel published a
statement titled "Africa Conquers the White House," further claiming
Obama’s victory was a result of "the American alliance of Jews” (http://jta.org/news/article/2008/11/11/1000886/german-politician-decries-jewish-negro-alliance).
The American Jewish Committee’s office in Berlin condemned Gansel’s remarks as
"an open expression of racism, antisemitism and anti-Americanism."
This incident added fuel to the debate about the possibility of banning the NPD
(see below).
Applying
the term "fake victimhood" to the Jews has become a central theme in
the discourse of the established extreme right: "That Knobloch [Charlotte
Knobloch, head of the Zentralrat] is afraid of antisemitism is understandable.
But sometimes you can not avoid the impression that the danger is deliberately
exaggerated so as to reinforce a fictional victim role to serve their own
interests"(Nation & Europa − German Monatshefte,
no. 6, 2008, p. 60).
Antisemitism in Academia
Neo-Nazi
and Holocaust denial activity has increased at German universities since 2006. It
is almost impossible to remove students from the neo-Nazi camp as freedom of
speech is a central value on campus. An attempt was made to curb neo-Nazi
influence in November 2008 when the student union of the University of Greifswald, AStA, distributed flyers warning freshman of extreme right-wing tendencies of several
members of the Markomannia fraternity, which tries to recruit new members by
offering cheap living quarters. During the 2008 summer semester, posters
inciting to racial hatred and denying the Holocaust appeared at Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, where the majority of the students are left wing. Mario
Matthes, deputy chairman of the NPD in Hesse and a student at the university,
was believed to be responsible for the propaganda. The universities of Trier, Giessen and Cologne, where right-wing extremists were elected to student councils,
have also experienced confrontations with neo-Nazis.
Antisemitic
views were also expressed by other members of academia. On June 20, 2008, Arnd
Krüger, professor of the history and sociology of sports at the University
of Göttingen, delivered a paper at a conference of the German Federation
of Sport Science (DVS), claiming that the Israelis who were killed during the
terror attacks at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games had known about the risk of an
attack, and therefore their death should be seen as a freely chosen suicide to
help Israel and to prolong financial restitution from Germany and preserve
guilt among Germans for the Holocaust. He also suggested that Israelis perceived
the body differently than in other western countries, claiming, falsely, that Israel had a higher abortion rate. In July, a panel of three scientists from the university
cleared Krüger of all charges of antisemitism
Muslim Antisemitism
The Amadeu
Antonio Foundation (http://www.amadeu-antonio-stiftung.de/eng/about-us/) and
the scientific journal Focus Schule reported a rise in antisemitism
among Muslim children and teenagers. According to the Federal Ministry of
Interior, there were some 600,000−700,000 schoolchildren in Germany out of a total Muslim population of 3.1−3.4 million (one million with German
citizenship) in 2007. A study published in February 2009 found that 15.7
percent of youngsters with a Muslim background agreed with the statement “Jews
are greedy and arrogant,” while 21.8 percent showed general anti-democratic
tendencies. There has also been a rise in the number of antisemitic crimes in
which the suspected perpetrators were of Muslim background.
The
number of active Islamist organizations remained relatively stable (2008:29;
2007:30), although there was a rise in membership and supporters (2008: 34,720;
2007: 27,920). Although radical Islamists are a minority, they have become increasingly
predominant. On September 16, 2008, the Berlin-based migration and racism group
Amira organized a conference in the city, at which the findings of a survey they
conducted between autumn 2007 and summer 2008 among immigrant associations and
staff of youth clubs in Berlin Kreuzberg about their experiences with
antisemitism, were presented and mooted. It was revealed that the Middle East
conflict was the leading context for antisemitic expressions and that global
political affairs were apt to trigger antisemitic conspiracy theories mixed with
anti-Americanism; however, classical antisemitic stereotypes were found to be
less widespread than expected, as was religiously based antisemitism (Berlin.de/Aktuelles/Presse+
percentC3 percentBCber+amira/45.html).
Often
youngsters who use it are unaware of the significance of the antisemitic impact
of insults such as "You Jew." But the consequences may amount to
abuse as in the case of a 14-year-old Jewish girl at a high school in the
Kreuzberg district of Berlin, who was harassed for weeks with such taunts by Muslim
classmates as she made her way home. Finally the girl received police
protection before she moved to a well-secured Jewish school.
Anti-Jewish
vilification and sometimes even incitement to violence among the Muslim
community reached a peak during the Gaza crisis. According to the testimony of
a visitor to a mosque in Bielefeld, the Palestinian imam and Hamas
activist Ismael Gharaballi declared: "Jews are the enemy of Allah," Turning
to another page in the Koran, he read, "and kill them [he explained this
to mean unbelievers, especially the Jews] wherever you overtake them and expel
them from wherever they have expelled you" (Surah 2, verse 191). "What
are you waiting for?... Allah Himself is telling us kill them. No
peace can be made with the Jews." (http://islam-watch.org/Sami/Radical-Muslims-of-Germany.htm).
In
an effort to combat antisemitism and radicalization among the Muslim immigrant
population, Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble banned the antisemitic
satellite TV station al-Manar, mouthpiece of Lebanon's Hizballah in November
2008. The channel which has already been outlawed in the US and France, describes itself as "the first institution in an effective psychological war
against the Zionist entity."
Antisemitic Incidents
There was
a slight decrease in antisemitic incidents in 2008 − 1,496 compared to 1,561 in 2007 – as reported by the Federal Ministry of Interior. These included several attacks on
visibly Jewish young people. For example, shouting antisemitic insults, seven
pupils from the Kepler Gymnasium in Pforzheim (Baden-Württemberg) threw
fireworks at the windows and urinated at the house of a Jewish schoolmate on
December 26. The boy had been the victim of ongoing antisemitic harassment at
the school. His family demanded that the perpetrators be expelled and was
considering leaving the town. In addition, Rafael David Reinecke, 17, son of
Peter Reinecke, CDU, was kicked and beaten on July 19 during a birthday party
in Gummersbach by three neo-Nazis who called him “a dirty Jew pig.” He
required hospitalization.
The
desecration of Jewish cemeteries throughout Germany remained a regular weekly
phenomenon. Fifty-three were targeted in 2008, mostly, it is suspected, by youth
influenced by extreme right ideology. On the night of November 16−17, for
example, a pig's head and a sheet with the text: "6 million lies"
written on it were found on the entrance gate to the Jewish cemetery of Gotha. Synagogues and Holocaust memorial sites were also vandalized frequently. On
June 5, for instance, the Museum des Todesmarches (Museum of the Death March)
in Wittstock, Belower Wald, was partly demolished.
Threats
and antisemitic abuse communicated by e-mail, post or phone were frequently
received by Jewish institutions such as schools, community buildings and
museums, as well as homes and individual property. As a result, security
measures were increased with the help of the local authorities. The Jewish
Museum of Frankfurt, for example, will be provided with barriers. Visitors will
be searched at the entrance for guns or explosives. These steps were taken by
the museum’s director, Raphael Gross, as a result of warnings received from the
state criminal office and the police. The state of Frankfurt has doubled the
funds given to Jewish institutions for security purposes.
Holocaust Denial
Denying
the Holocaust is illegal in Germany and those who disseminate the Auschwitz Lie
(Auschwitzlüege) violate the law. German Holocaust deniers such as
Germar Rudolf and Ernst Zündel, who played a leading role internationally,
are currently in prison. Consequently, their activities are limited.
Direct
Holocaust denial is published and distributed almost exclusively from abroad. In
2008, the UK-based publishing house Castle Hill Publisher (CHP), which was
headed until his arrest and extradition to Germany in 2005 by Rudolf, issued a
popular pamphlet entitled "Auschwitz Forensically Examined" (edited
by Cyrus Cox), basically a re-edition of the Rudolf Report (1993; see Sarah Rembiszewski, The Final Lie: Holocaust Denial in Germany.
A Second-Generation Denier as a Test Case, Stephen Roth Institute, October
1996). Outlawing the activities of groups associated with Holocaust denial
continued in 2008, and Collegium Humanum (CH) and Bauernhilfe, for instance, were
forced to abandon their activities.
Responses to racism and antisemitism
Official and Public Activity
Many NGOs,
as well as, government organizations, work to combat antisemitic manifestations
in Germany. In June 2008 the German version of innovative materials for teaching
antisemitism was launched in Berlin by the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Office for Democratic Institutions and Human
Rights (ODIHR), the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Federal Agency
for Civic Education. In a symbolic gesture acknowledging the 70th anniversary
of the Kristallnacht pogrom on 9 November 1938, the German parliament approved a
draft of a non-partisan parliamentary resolution on November 4, pledging to
"resolutely counter every form of anti-Jewish hatred and antisemitism.”
Interior
Minister Schäuble (SPD) instructed interior ministers of the federal
states to prepare a report by April 13, 2008, regarding the possibility of
re-opening proceedings to ban the NPD. However, fearing that the process might
fail again (see ASW 2002/3)
and thus strengthen the party, the ministers of several states refused to organize
reports. Frank-Walter Steinmeier, SPD candidate for prime minister in the 2009
elections, branded the NPD a racist, antisemitic, anti-democratic and generally
antagonistic party. Thomas Oppermann, executive director of SPD, said it was
"intolerable" that the NPD received funding from the German budget.
In
addition, on October 14, 2008 the Federal Supreme Court in Karlsruhe, banned
the public use of Celtic crosses. The Celtic cross is known as a symbol of the anti-government
extreme right movement VSBD/PdA (Volkssozialistische Bewegung Deutschlands/Partei
der Arbeit), banned in February 1982. Although the cross is often used for
cultural and religious purposes, the court issued a general ban, unless the intention
is other than supporting the VSPD/PdA.
A
campaign against neo-Nazism in sports (via interactive internet platforms) was
started in May 2008 by the German weekly Die Zeit. The aim is to stop
the extreme right from infiltrating sports clubs. The captain of the German
national football team, Michael Ballack, is one of the celebrities taking an
active part in the project. One month later, police arrested fans of the German
national soccer team at the European championship match against Poland. German fans clashed with Polish fans, shouting "All Poles must wear a yellow
star." Following an antisemitic demonstration of the Leipzig Free Power (Freie
Kraefte) organization on October 25, 2008, the soccer fan club “1. FC
Lokomotive Leipzig” banned the "Blue Caps" fan group from the
Bruno-Plache-Stadion in Leipzig, since it allegedly participated in the
incident and is known to support Neo-Nazi organizations. The Blue Caps rejected
the accusations, claiming they were a non-political organization.
Court Proceedings
Among
those tried and sentenced for neo-Nazi activities in 2008 were the three founders
of the criminal Kamaradschaft Sturm 34.
Former
left-wing RAF (Red Army Faction) member turned neo-Nazi Horst Mahler, went on
trial in Potsdam in October, accused of disseminating Holocaust denial on the
Internet and by e-mail.
In
October 2008 a Danish court ruled that a German and a Dane would be extradited
to Germany for distributing neo-Nazi music and inciting ethnic hatred.
According to German prosecutors, the men distributed the music, which contains
antisemitic and Holocaust denying lyrics, through the Danish label Celtic Moon.
The German suspect admitted having contacts with the British neo-Nazi group
Blood & Honour.
