Thursday, August 23, 2007

Neo-Nazi revival in Eastern Germany

From The Australian, August 22, 2007 by Roger Boyes, Berlin ....

LOCALS in a small east German township stood by as a drunken mob of about 50 youths howling neo-Nazi slogans hunted down eight terrified Indian tourists. The attack in Mugeln, near Leipzig, was the latest in a series of violent assaults on foreigners in eastern Germany that is beginning to alarm the Government in Berlin.

The inhabitants of Mugeln were celebrating their traditional Old Town street festival on Saturday night when a horde of German youths started to pick a fight with the visiting Indians.
After pushing and shoving them, the youths chased them out of a beer tent and pursued them through the narrow streets of the town centre. The young Indian men took refuge in a pizzeria and tried to barricade the doors with tables. By the time police arrived, the Germans had smashed their way into the pizzeria. The eight Indians were treated in hospital but have been released.

... witnesses say the mob was shouting slogans such as "Long live the national resistance!" and "Get out of Germany!".

....Saturday was a red letter day for neo-Nazis in Germany, marking the anniversary of the 1987 death of Rudolf Hess, Hitler's deputy in the Nazi party.

.....A survey of 14 to 25-year-olds carried out by the Forsa opinion poll institute found that one out of two youths in eastern Germany believed that national socialism had "its good sides".
Because of the strong grassroots presence of the NPD in Saxony -- Mugeln is close to the main Saxon cities of Leipzig and Dresden -- and in Mecklenburg-Pommerania, funding is often made available for youth centres for the far-Right.....In Wismar, an ancient port in eastern Germany, there are now not only neo-Nazi youth centres but also retail outlets where sympathisers can buy CDs with racist music and neo-Nazi paraphernalia.

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