El neonazismo comprende los movimientos militantes, sociales y políticos posteriores a la Segunda Guerra Mundial que buscan revivir y restablecer la ideología nazi . Los neonazis emplean su ideología para promover el odio y la supremacía racial (a menudo la supremacía blanca ), para atacar a las minorías raciales y étnicas (a menudo el antisemitismo y la islamofobia ) y, en algunos casos, para crear un estado fascista . [1] [2]
El neonazismo es un fenómeno global, con representación organizada en muchos países y redes internacionales. Toma elementos de la doctrina nazi, incluidos el antisemitismo, el ultranacionalismo , el racismo , la xenofobia , el capacitismo , la homofobia , el anticomunismo y la creación de un " Cuarto Reich ". La negación del Holocausto es común en los círculos neonazis.
Los neonazis exhiben con regularidad símbolos nazis y expresan admiración por Adolf Hitler y otros líderes nazis. En algunos países europeos y latinoamericanos, las leyes prohíben la expresión de opiniones pro nazis, racistas, antisemitas u homofóbicas. Los símbolos relacionados con el nazismo están prohibidos en muchos países europeos (especialmente Alemania ) en un esfuerzo por reducir el neonazismo. [3]
El término neonazismo describe cualquier movimiento militante, social o político posterior a la Segunda Guerra Mundial que busca revivir la ideología del nazismo en su totalidad o en parte. [4] [5]
El término "neonazismo" también puede referirse a la ideología de estos movimientos, que pueden tomar prestados elementos de la doctrina nazi, incluyendo el ultranacionalismo , el anticomunismo , el racismo, el capacitismo , la xenofobia , la homofobia , el antisemitismo , hasta llegar a iniciar el Cuarto Reich . La negación del Holocausto es una característica común, al igual que la incorporación de símbolos nazis y la admiración por Adolf Hitler .
El neonazismo se considera una forma particular de política de extrema derecha y extremismo de derecha. [6]
Los escritores neonazis han postulado una doctrina espiritual y esotérica de la raza , que va más allá del racismo científico materialista de inspiración darwiniana, popular principalmente en la anglosfera durante el siglo XX. Figuras influyentes en el desarrollo del racismo neonazi, [ cita requerida ] como Miguel Serrano y Julius Evola (escritores que son descritos por los críticos del nazismo como el Southern Poverty Law Center como influyentes dentro de lo que presenta como partes de "las franjas extrañas del nacionalsocialismo, pasado y presente"), [7] afirman que los ancestros hiperbóreos de los arios fueron en el pasado distante, seres mucho más elevados que su estado actual, habiendo sufrido una "involución" debido a la mezcla con los pueblos "telúricos"; supuestas creaciones del Demiurgo . Dentro de esta teoría, si los "arios" han de regresar a la Edad de Oro del pasado distante, necesitan despertar la memoria de la sangre. A menudo se afirma un origen extraterrestre de los hiperbóreos. Estas teorías se inspiran en el gnosticismo y el tantrismo , y se basan en la obra de la Ahnenerbe . En esta teoría racista, los judíos son considerados la antítesis de la nobleza, la pureza y la belleza.
El neonazismo generalmente se alinea con una variación de sangre y suelo del ambientalismo, que tiene temas en común con la ecología profunda , el movimiento orgánico y el proteccionismo animal . [8] [9] Esta tendencia, a veces llamada " ecofascismo ", estuvo representada en el nazismo alemán original por Richard Walther Darré , quien fue el Reichsminister de Alimentación desde 1933 hasta 1942. [10]
Tras la derrota de la Alemania nazi , la ideología política del partido gobernante, el nazismo, quedó en completo desorden. El líder final del Partido Nacional Socialista Obrero Alemán (NSDAP) fue Martin Bormann . Murió el 2 de mayo de 1945 durante la Batalla de Berlín , pero la Unión Soviética no reveló su muerte al resto del mundo y su destino final siguió siendo un misterio durante muchos años. Surgieron teorías conspirativas sobre el propio Hitler , según las cuales había sobrevivido en secreto a la guerra y había huido a Sudamérica o a otros lugares.
El 10 de octubre de 1945, el Consejo de Control Aliado disolvió oficialmente el NSDAP, lo que marcó el fin del "viejo" nazismo. Se inició un proceso de desnazificación y tuvieron lugar los juicios de Núremberg , en los que muchos dirigentes e ideólogos importantes fueron condenados a muerte en octubre de 1946 y otros se suicidaron.
Tanto en el Este como en el Oeste, los exmiembros del partido y los veteranos militares que sobrevivieron se asimilaron a la nueva realidad y no tenían interés en construir un "neonazismo". [ cita requerida ] Sin embargo, durante las elecciones de Alemania Occidental de 1949, varios defensores del nazismo, como Fritz Rössler, se habían infiltrado en el partido conservador nacional Deutsche Rechtspartei , que tenía cinco miembros elegidos. Rössler y otros se fueron para fundar el Partido Socialista del Reich (SRP) más radical bajo Otto Ernst Remer . Al comienzo de la Guerra Fría , el SRP favoreció a la Unión Soviética sobre los Estados Unidos. [ cita requerida ]
En Austria , se había restablecido la independencia nacional y la Verbotsgesetz de 1947 criminalizaba explícitamente al NSDAP y cualquier intento de restauración. Alemania Occidental adoptó una ley similar para atacar a los partidos que definía como anticonstitucionales: el artículo 21, párrafo 2, de la Ley Fundamental prohibió al SRP en 1952 por oponerse a la democracia liberal .
Como consecuencia, algunos miembros del naciente movimiento del neonazismo alemán se unieron al Deutsche Reichspartei, del que Hans-Ulrich Rudel era la figura más destacada. Los miembros más jóvenes fundaron el Wiking-Jugend, inspirado en las Juventudes Hitlerianas . El Deutsche Reichspartei se presentó a las elecciones desde 1953 hasta 1961, obteniendo alrededor del 1% de los votos cada vez. [ cita requerida ] Rudel se hizo amigo de Savitri Devi , nacida en Francia , que era una defensora del nazismo esotérico . En la década de 1950 escribió varios libros, como Pilgrimage (1958), que trata sobre lugares destacados del Tercer Reich , y The Lightning and the Sun (1958), en el que afirma que Adolf Hitler era un avatar del dios Vishnu . No estaba sola en esta reorientación del nazismo hacia sus raíces thuleanas ; La Artgemeinschaft , fundada por el ex miembro de las SS Wilhelm Kusserow, intentó promover un nuevo paganismo . [ cita requerida ] En la República Democrática Alemana (Alemania del Este), un ex miembro de las SA , Wilhelm Adam , fundó el Partido Nacional Democrático de Alemania . Este se acercó a aquellos atraídos por el Partido Nazi antes de 1945 y les proporcionó una salida política, para que no se sintieran tentados a apoyar a la extrema derecha nuevamente o recurrir a los aliados occidentales anticomunistas. [ cita requerida ] Joseph Stalin quería usarlos para crear una nueva cepa prosoviética y antioccidental en la política alemana. [11] Según el principal diplomático soviético Vladimir Semyonov, Stalin incluso sugirió que se les podría permitir continuar publicando su propio periódico, Völkischer Beobachter . [11] Mientras estaba en Austria, el ex miembro de las SS Wilhelm Lang fundó un grupo esotérico conocido como la Logia de Viena ; Popularizó el nazismo y el ocultismo, como el Sol Negro y las ideas de colonias de supervivencia del Tercer Reich debajo de los casquetes polares. [ cita requerida ]
Con el inicio de la Guerra Fría , las fuerzas aliadas habían perdido interés en procesar a cualquiera como parte de la desnazificación. [12] A mediados de la década de 1950, este nuevo entorno político permitió que Otto Strasser , un activista del NS a la izquierda del NSDAP, que había fundado el Frente Negro , regresara del exilio. En 1956, Strasser fundó la Unión Social Alemana como sucesor del Frente Negro, promoviendo una política "nacionalista y socialista" strasserista , que se disolvió en 1962 debido a la falta de apoyo. Otros grupos asociados al Tercer Reich fueron el HIAG y Stille Hilfe dedicados a promover los intereses de los veteranos de las Waffen-SS y rehabilitarlos en la nueva sociedad democrática. Sin embargo, no afirmaban estar intentando restaurar el nazismo, sino que funcionaban como organizaciones de cabildeo para sus miembros ante el gobierno y los dos principales partidos políticos (la conservadora CDU/CSU y los antiguos archienemigos de los nazis, el Partido Socialdemócrata ).
Muchos burócratas que sirvieron bajo el Tercer Reich continuaron sirviendo en la administración alemana después de la guerra. Según el Centro Simon Wiesenthal , muchos de los más de 90.000 criminales de guerra nazis registrados en los archivos alemanes estaban sirviendo en puestos de relevancia bajo el canciller Konrad Adenauer . [13] [14] No fue hasta la década de 1960 que el personal de los antiguos campos de concentración fue procesado por Alemania Occidental en el juicio de Belzec , los juicios de Auschwitz en Fráncfort , los juicios de Treblinka , los juicios de Chelmno y el juicio de Sobibór . [15] Sin embargo, el gobierno había aprobado leyes que prohibían a los nazis expresar públicamente sus creencias.
El neonazismo encontró expresión fuera de Alemania, incluso en países que lucharon contra el Tercer Reich durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial, y en ocasiones adoptó características paneuropeas o "universales", más allá de los parámetros del nacionalismo alemán . [ cita requerida ] Las dos tendencias principales, con diferentes estilos e incluso visiones del mundo, fueron los seguidores del estadounidense Francis Parker Yockey , que era fundamentalmente antiestadounidense y abogaba por un nacionalismo paneuropeo , y los de George Lincoln Rockwell , un conservador estadounidense . [ nb 1 ] [ cita requerida ]
Yockey, un autor neospengleriano, había escrito Imperium: The Philosophy of History and Politics (1949) dedicado al "héroe del siglo XX" (es decir, Adolf Hitler) y fundó el Frente Europeo de Liberación . Estaba más interesado en el destino de Europa; con este fin, abogó por una alianza rojiparda de estilo nacional-bolchevique contra la cultura estadounidense e influyó en figuras de la década de 1960 como el veterano de las SS Jean-François Thiriart . Yockey también era aficionado al nacionalismo árabe , en particular a Gamal Abdel Nasser , y vio la Revolución cubana de Fidel Castro como algo positivo, visitando a funcionarios allí. Las opiniones de Yockey impresionaron a Otto Ernst Remer y al filósofo tradicionalista radical Julius Evola . Fue constantemente acosado por el FBI y finalmente fue arrestado en 1960, antes de suicidarse. En el ámbito nacional, los mayores simpatizantes de Yockey eran el Partido del Renacimiento Nacional , que incluía a James H. Madole , H. Keith Thompson y Eustace Mullins ( protegido de Ezra Pound ) y el Liberty Lobby de Willis Carto . [ cita requerida ]
Rockwell, un conservador estadounidense, se politizó primero en los movimientos anticomunistas y antiintegración racial antes de volverse antijudío. En respuesta a que sus oponentes lo llamaran "nazi", se apropió teatralmente de los elementos estéticos del NSDAP, para "apropiarse" del insulto pretendido. En 1959, Rockwell fundó el Partido Nazi Americano e instruyó a sus miembros a vestirse con camisas marrones de imitación al estilo SA , mientras ondeaban la bandera del Tercer Reich. A diferencia de Yockey, era proestadounidense y cooperó con las solicitudes del FBI, a pesar de que el partido estaba en la mira del COINTELPRO debido a la creencia errónea de que eran agentes del Egipto de Nasser durante un breve "susto marrón" de inteligencia. [nb 2] Los líderes posteriores del nacionalismo blanco estadounidense llegaron a la política a través del ANP, incluido un adolescente David Duke y William Luther Pierce de la Alianza Nacional , aunque pronto se distanciaron de la autoidentificación explícita con el neonazismo. [ cita requerida ]
En 1961, Rockwell y Colin Jordan , del Movimiento Nacional Socialista Británico, fundaron la Unión Mundial de Nacionalsocialistas , adoptando la Declaración de Cotswold . La socialité francesa Françoise Dior mantuvo una relación sentimental con Jordan y su adjunto John Tyndall y una amiga de Savitri Devi, que también asistió a la reunión. El Movimiento Nacional Socialista vestía uniformes cuasi-SA, estuvo involucrado en conflictos callejeros con el Grupo Judío 62. En la década de 1970, la participación anterior de Tyndall con el neonazismo volvería a atormentar al Frente Nacional , que él dirigía, mientras intentaban aprovechar una ola de populismo antiinmigratorio y preocupaciones por el declive nacional británico. Las exposiciones televisadas en This Week en 1974 y World in Action en 1978 mostraron su pedigrí neonazi y dañaron sus posibilidades electorales. En 1967, Rockwell fue asesinado por un ex miembro descontento. Matthias Koehl tomó el control del ANP y, fuertemente influenciado por Savitri Devi, lo transformó gradualmente en un grupo esotérico conocido como el Nuevo Orden . [ cita requerida ]
En la España de Franco , algunos refugiados de las SS, en particular Otto Skorzeny , Léon Degrelle y el hijo de Klaus Barbie, se asociaron con CEDADE ( Círculo Español de Amigos de Europa ), una organización que difundía apologías del Tercer Reich desde Barcelona . Se cruzaron con defensores neonazis, desde Mark Fredriksen en Francia hasta Salvador Borrego en México. En el Movimiento Social Italiano postfascista, grupos escindidos como Ordine Nuovo y Avanguardia Nazionale , involucrados en los " Años de Plomo ", consideraron al nazismo como una referencia. Franco Freda creó una síntesis de " nazi-maoísmo ".
En la propia Alemania, los diversos movimientos nostálgicos del Tercer Reich se unieron en torno al Partido Nacional Democrático de Alemania en 1964 y en Austria al Partido Nacional Democrático en 1967 como los principales simpatizantes del pasado del NSDAP, aunque más cautelosos públicamente que los grupos anteriores. [ cita requerida ]
La negación del Holocausto , la afirmación de que seis millones de judíos no fueron exterminados deliberada y sistemáticamente como una política oficial del Tercer Reich y Adolf Hitler, se convirtió en una característica más destacada del neonazismo en la década de 1970. Antes de esta época, la negación del Holocausto había existido durante mucho tiempo como un sentimiento entre los neonazis, pero aún no se había articulado sistemáticamente como una teoría con un canon bibliográfico. Pocos de los principales teóricos de la negación del Holocausto (que se autodenominan " revisionistas ") pueden clasificarse sin controversia como neonazis declarados (aunque algunas obras como las de David Irving presentan una visión claramente comprensiva de Hitler y el editor Ernst Zündel estaba profundamente vinculado al neonazismo internacional); sin embargo, el principal interés de la negación del Holocausto para los neonazis era su esperanza de que les ayudara a rehabilitar su ideología política a los ojos del público en general. ¿ Realmente murieron seis millones? (1974) de Richard Verrall y El engaño del siglo XX (1976) de Arthur Butz son ejemplos populares de material de negación del Holocausto.
Entre los acontecimientos clave del neonazismo internacional durante esta época se encuentra la radicalización de la Vlaamse Militanten Orde , dirigida por el exmiembro de las Juventudes Hitlerianas Bert Eriksson , que comenzó a celebrar una conferencia anual, la "Peregrinación de Hierro", en Diksmuide , que atraía a ideólogos afines de toda Europa y más allá. Además de esto, en 1972 surgió en Estados Unidos el NSDAP/AO, dirigido por Gary Lauck , que desafió la influencia internacional del WUNS rockwelliano. La organización de Lauck obtuvo el apoyo del Movimiento Nacional Socialista de Dinamarca de Povl Riis-Knudsen y de varias figuras alemanas y austriacas que sentían que los partidos "nacionaldemócratas" eran demasiado burgueses e insuficientemente nazis en su orientación. Entre ellos se encontraban Michael Kühnen , Christian Worch , Bela Ewald Althans y Gottfried Küssel, del ANS/NS fundado en 1977, que pedía el establecimiento de un Cuarto Reich germánico . Algunos miembros de la ANS/NS fueron encarcelados por planear ataques paramilitares contra bases de la OTAN en Alemania y por planear la liberación de Rudolf Hess de la prisión de Spandau . La organización fue prohibida oficialmente en 1983 por el Ministro del Interior.
A finales de los años 1970, una subcultura británica empezó a asociarse con el neonazismo: los skinheads . Retratando una imagen ultramasculina, cruda y agresiva, con referencias de clase trabajadora, algunos de los skinheads se unieron al Movimiento Británico bajo la dirección de Michael McLaughlin (sucesor de Colin Jordan ), mientras que otros se asociaron con el proyecto Rock Against Communism del Frente Nacional , que pretendía contrarrestar el Rock Against Racism del SWP . El grupo musical más importante involucrado en este proyecto fue Skrewdriver , liderado por Ian Stuart Donaldson . Junto con el ex miembro de BM Nicky Crane , Donaldson fundó la red internacional Blood & Honour en 1987. En 1992, esta red, con el aporte de Harold Covington , había desarrollado un ala paramilitar; Combat 18 , que se cruzó con firmas de hooligans del fútbol como los Chelsea Headhunters . El movimiento skinhead neonazi se extendió a los Estados Unidos, con grupos como los Hammerskins . Se popularizó a partir de 1986 gracias a Tom Metzger, de la Resistencia Aria Blanca . Desde entonces, se ha extendido por todo el mundo. Películas como Romper Stomper (1992) y American History X (1998) consolidaron la percepción pública de que el neonazismo y los skinheads eran sinónimos.
También surgieron nuevos desarrollos en el nivel esotérico, ya que el ex diplomático chileno Miguel Serrano se basó en las obras de Carl Jung , Otto Rahn , Wilhelm Landig , Julius Evola y Savitri Devi para unir y desarrollar teorías ya existentes. Serrano había sido miembro del Movimiento Nacional Socialista de Chile en la década de 1930 y desde los primeros días del neonazismo, había estado en contacto con figuras clave en toda Europa y más allá. A pesar de esto, pudo trabajar como embajador en numerosos países hasta el ascenso de Salvador Allende . En 1984 publicó su libro Adolf Hitler: El avatar definitivo . Serrano afirmó que los arios eran seres extragalácticos que fundaron Hiperbórea y vivieron la vida heroica de los Bodhisattvas , mientras que los judíos fueron creados por el Demiurgo y solo se preocupaban por el materialismo burdo . Serrano afirmaba que se podía alcanzar una nueva Edad de Oro si los hiperbóreos repurificaban su sangre (supuestamente la luz del Sol Negro) y restauraban su " memoria de sangre ". Al igual que sucedió con Savitri Devi antes que él, las obras de Serrano se convirtieron en un punto de referencia clave en el neonazismo.
Con la caída del Muro de Berlín y el colapso de la Unión Soviética a principios de los años 1990, el neonazismo comenzó a difundir sus ideas en el Este, ya que la hostilidad hacia el orden liberal triunfante era alta y el revanchismo un sentimiento generalizado. En Rusia, durante el caos de principios de los años 1990, una mezcla amorfa de partidarios de la línea dura de la KGB , nostálgicos neozaristas ortodoxos (es decir, Pamyat ) y neonazis explícitos se encontraron dispersos en el mismo campo. Estaban unidos por la oposición a la influencia de los Estados Unidos, contra el legado liberalizador de la perestroika de Mijail Gorbachov y en la cuestión judía , la sionología soviética se fusionó con un sentimiento antijudío más explícito. La organización más importante que representaba esto era la Unidad Nacional Rusa bajo el liderazgo de Alexander Barkashov , donde los rusos vestidos de negro marchaban con una bandera roja que incorporaba la esvástica bajo el estandarte de Rusia para los rusos . Estas fuerzas se unieron en un último esfuerzo por salvar al Soviet Supremo de Rusia contra Boris Yeltsin durante la crisis constitucional rusa de 1993. Además de los acontecimientos en Rusia, en los nuevos estados ex soviéticos independientes se celebraban conmemoraciones anuales en honor de los voluntarios de las SS, en particular en Letonia , Estonia y Ucrania .
Los acontecimientos rusos entusiasmaron al neonazismo alemán, que soñaba con una alianza entre Berlín y Moscú contra las fuerzas atlantistas supuestamente "decadentes" , un sueño que había sido temático desde los días de Remer. [ cita requerida ] Zündel visitó Rusia y se reunió con el ex general de la KGB Aleksandr Stergilov y otros miembros de la Unidad Nacional Rusa. A pesar de estas aspiraciones iniciales, el neonazismo internacional y sus afiliados cercanos en el ultranacionalismo se dividirían a raíz de la Guerra de Bosnia entre 1992 y 1995, como parte de la desintegración de Yugoslavia . La división se daría en gran medida a lo largo de líneas étnicas y sectarias. Los alemanes y los franceses apoyarían en gran medida a los croatas católicos occidentales (el NSDAP/AO de Lauck pidió explícitamente voluntarios , a lo que respondió el Partido Obrero Alemán Libre de Kühnen y los franceses formaron el "Groupe Jacques Doriot "), mientras que los rusos y los griegos respaldarían a los serbios ortodoxos (incluidos los rusos de la Unidad Nacional Rusa de Barkashov, el Frente Nacional Bolchevique de Eduard Limonov y los miembros de Amanecer Dorado se unieron a la Guardia Voluntaria Griega ). De hecho, el resurgimiento del nacionalbolchevismo pudo robar algo de protagonismo al neonazismo ruso manifiesto, ya que el ultranacionalismo se casó con la veneración de Joseph Stalin en lugar de Adolf Hitler, al tiempo que seguía coqueteando con la estética nazi.
Fuera de Alemania, en otros países que estuvieron involucrados con las potencias del Eje y tenían sus propios movimientos ultranacionalistas nativos, que a veces colaboraron con el Tercer Reich pero que técnicamente no eran nacionalsocialistas de estilo alemán, han surgido movimientos revivalistas y nostálgicos en el período de posguerra que, como lo hizo el neonazismo en Alemania, buscan rehabilitar sus diversas ideologías vagamente asociadas. Estos movimientos incluyen neofascistas y posfascistas en Italia; vichyistas, pétainistas y "europeos nacionales" en Francia; simpatizantes de la Ustacha en Croacia ; neochetniks en Serbia; revivalistas de la Guardia de Hierro en Rumania ; húngaristas y horthistas en Hungría y otros. [16]
El caso más significativo a nivel internacional fue la elección de Kurt Waldheim como presidente de Austria en 1986. Se supo que Waldheim había sido miembro de la Liga Nacional Socialista de Estudiantes Alemanes , la SA, y había servido como oficial de inteligencia durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Después de esto, sirvió como diplomático austríaco y fue Secretario General de las Naciones Unidas desde 1972 hasta 1981. Después de que un periodista austríaco hiciera revelaciones sobre el pasado de Waldheim, Waldheim chocó con el Congreso Judío Mundial en el escenario internacional. El historial de Waldheim fue defendido por Bruno Kreisky , un judío austríaco que sirvió como canciller de Austria. El legado del asunto perdura, ya que Victor Ostrovsky ha afirmado que el Mossad manipuló el archivo de Waldheim para implicarlo en crímenes de guerra. [ cita requerida ]
Algunos críticos han intentado establecer una conexión entre el nazismo y el populismo moderno de derecha en Europa, pero la mayoría de los académicos no los consideran intercambiables. En Austria, el Partido de la Libertad de Austria (FPÖ) sirvió como refugio para ex nazis casi desde su inicio. [17] En 1980, los escándalos socavaron a los dos principales partidos de Austria y la economía se estancó. Jörg Haider se convirtió en líder del FPÖ y ofreció una justificación parcial del nazismo , calificando de eficaz su política de empleo. En las elecciones austriacas de 1994 , el FPÖ ganó el 22 por ciento de los votos, así como el 33 por ciento de los votos en Carintia y el 22 por ciento en Viena, lo que demuestra que se había convertido en una fuerza capaz de revertir el viejo patrón de la política austriaca. [18]
El historiador Walter Laqueur escribe que, aunque Haider dio la bienvenida a ex nazis en sus reuniones y se esforzó por dirigirse a los veteranos de la Schutzstaffel (SS), el FPÖ no es un partido fascista en el sentido tradicional, ya que no ha hecho del anticomunismo un tema importante y no aboga por el derrocamiento del orden democrático o el uso de la violencia. En su opinión, el FPÖ "no es del todo fascista", aunque es parte de una tradición, similar a la del alcalde vienés del siglo XIX Karl Lueger , que involucra nacionalismo , populismo xenófobo y autoritarismo. [19] Haider, quien en 2005 abandonó el Partido de la Libertad y formó la Alianza para el Futuro de Austria , murió en un accidente de tráfico en octubre de 2008. [20]
Barbara Rosenkranz , candidata del Partido de la Libertad en las elecciones presidenciales de Austria de 2010 , fue objeto de controversia por haber hecho declaraciones supuestamente pro nazis. [21] Rosenkranz está casada con Horst Rosenkranz , un miembro clave de un partido neonazi prohibido, conocido por publicar libros de extrema derecha. Rosenkranz dice que no puede detectar nada "deshonroso" en las actividades de su marido. [22]
El Movimiento Político Racialista Armenio-Ario es un movimiento nacionalsocialista en Armenia . Fue fundado en 2021 y apoya el arianismo , el antisemitismo y la supremacía blanca. [23]
En 2004 se creó la organización neonazi belga Bloed, Bodem, Eer en Trouw (Sangre, Tierra, Honor y Lealtad), tras separarse de la red internacional Blood and Honour . El grupo saltó a la fama en septiembre de 2006, después de que 17 miembros (entre ellos 11 militares) fueran detenidos en virtud de las leyes antiterroristas de diciembre de 2003 y contra el racismo, el antisemitismo y los partidarios de la censura. Según la ministra de Justicia Laurette Onkelinx y el ministro del Interior Patrick Dewael , los sospechosos (11 de ellos militares) se preparaban para lanzar atentados terroristas con el fin de "desestabilizar" Bélgica . [24] Según el periodista Manuel Abramowicz, de las Resistencias, [25] los extremistas de la derecha radical siempre tuvieron como objetivo "infiltrarse en los mecanismos del Estado", incluido el ejército en los años 1970 y 1980, a través de Westland New Post y el Frente de la Juventud . [26]
Una operación policial, que movilizó a 150 agentes, registró cinco cuarteles militares (en Leopoldsburg , cerca de la frontera holandesa, Kleine-Brogel, Peer , Bruselas (Real Escuela Militar) y Zedelgem ), así como 18 domicilios privados en Flandes . Encontraron armas, municiones, explosivos y una bomba casera lo suficientemente grande como para hacer "explotar un coche". El principal sospechoso, BT, organizaba el tráfico de armas y estaba desarrollando vínculos internacionales, en particular con el movimiento de extrema derecha holandés De Nationale Alliantie . [27]
La organización nacionalista blanca neonazi Bosanski Pokret Nacionalnog Ponosa ( Movimiento Bosnio de Orgullo Nacional ) fue fundada en Bosnia y Herzegovina en julio de 2009. Su modelo es la División Handschar de las Waffen-SS , que estaba compuesta por voluntarios bosnios . [28] Proclamó que sus principales enemigos eran "los judíos, los gitanos , los chetniks serbios , los separatistas croatas , Josip Broz Tito , los comunistas , los homosexuales y los negros ". [29] Su ideología es una mezcla de nacionalismo bosnio , nacionalsocialismo y nacionalismo blanco . Dice: "Las ideologías que no son bienvenidas en Bosnia son: el sionismo, el islamismo, el comunismo, el capitalismo. La única ideología buena para nosotros es el nacionalismo bosnio porque asegura la prosperidad nacional y la justicia social..." [30] El grupo está dirigido por una persona apodada Sauberzwig, en honor al comandante de la 13.ª SS Handschar. La zona de operaciones más fuerte del grupo se encuentra en la región de Tuzla en Bosnia.
El principal partido político neonazi que recibió atención en Bulgaria después de la Segunda Guerra Mundial fue la Unión Nacional Búlgara – Nueva Democracia . [ cita requerida ]
El 13 de febrero de cada año desde 2003, los neonazis búlgaros y los nacionalistas de extrema derecha con ideas afines se reúnen en Sofía para honrar a Hristo Lukov , un general fallecido en la Segunda Guerra Mundial conocido por su postura antisemita y pronazi. De 2003 a 2019, el evento anual fue organizado por la Unión Nacional Búlgara. [31] [32] [33]
Los neonazis en Croacia basan su ideología en los escritos de Ante Pavelić y la Ustacha , un movimiento separatista fascista antiyugoslavo. [34] El régimen de la Ustacha cometió un genocidio contra serbios , judíos y gitanos . Al final de la Segunda Guerra Mundial , muchos miembros de la Ustacha huyeron a Occidente, donde encontraron refugio y continuaron sus actividades políticas y terroristas (que fueron toleradas debido a las hostilidades de la Guerra Fría ). [35] [36]
En 1999, la Plaza de las Víctimas del Fascismo de Zagreb fue rebautizada como Plaza de los Nobles Croatas , lo que provocó críticas generalizadas sobre la actitud de Croacia hacia el Holocausto . [37] En 2000, el Ayuntamiento de Zagreb volvió a rebautizar la plaza como Plaza de las Víctimas del Fascismo . [38] Muchas calles de Croacia fueron rebautizadas en honor a la prominente figura ustacha Mile Budak , lo que provocó indignación entre la minoría serbia. Desde 2002, se ha producido una reversión de este desarrollo y las calles con el nombre de Mile Budak u otras personas relacionadas con el movimiento ustacha son pocas o inexistentes. [39] En Slunj se erigió una placa con la inscripción "Caballero croata Jure Francetić " para conmemorar a Francetić, el notorio líder ustacha de la Legión Negra. La placa permaneció allí durante cuatro años, hasta que fue retirada por las autoridades. [39] [40]
En 2003, el código penal croata fue enmendado con disposiciones que prohibían la exhibición pública de símbolos nazis, la propagación de la ideología nazi, el revisionismo histórico y la negación del Holocausto , pero las enmiendas fueron anuladas en 2004 porque no se promulgaron de acuerdo con un procedimiento prescrito constitucionalmente. [41] Sin embargo, desde 2006 el código penal croata prohíbe explícitamente cualquier tipo de delito de odio basado en la raza , el color , el género , la orientación sexual , la religión o el origen nacional. [42]
En Croacia se han dado casos de incitación al odio , como el uso de la frase Srbe na vrbe! ("¡[Cuelguen] a los serbios de los sauces !"). [ cita requerida ] En 2004, una iglesia ortodoxa fue pintada con aerosol con grafitis a favor de la Ustacha. [43] [44] Durante algunas protestas en Croacia, partidarios de Ante Gotovina y otros en ese momento sospechosos de ser criminales de guerra (todos absueltos en 2012) han llevado símbolos nacionalistas y fotos de Pavelić. [45] El 17 de mayo de 2007, 60.000 personas asistieron a un concierto en Zagreb de Thompson , un popular cantante croata, algunos de ellos con uniformes ustachas. Algunos saludaron a la Ustacha y gritaron el eslogan ustacha " Za dom spremni " ("¡Por la patria, listos!"). Este evento llevó al Centro Simon Wiesenthal a emitir públicamente una protesta al presidente croata. [46] [47] [48] [49] [50] Se han registrado casos de exhibición de recuerdos de la Ustacha en la conmemoración de Bleiburg que se celebra anualmente en Austria. [51]
El gobierno de la República Checa castiga severamente el neonazismo ( en checo : Neonacismus ). Según un informe del Ministerio del Interior de la República Checa , los neonazis cometieron más de 211 delitos en 2013. En la República Checa existen varios grupos neonazis. Uno de ellos es el grupo Wotan Jugend, con sede en Alemania.
El Movimiento Nacional Socialista de Dinamarca se formó en 1991 y fue formalmente un partido neonazi que promovería activamente la ideología nazi en Dinamarca. El partido no ganó ninguna influencia política y fue considerado un proyecto político fallido por el experto neonazi Frede Farmand. [52] El líder del partido durante mucho tiempo, Johnni Hansen, fue reemplazado por Esben Rohde Kristensen en 2010, lo que resultó en que una gran cantidad de miembros del partido abandonaran el partido. Si bien el partido nunca se ha disuelto formalmente, ha habido muy poca actividad de su miembro principal desde 2010. [53] El ex neonazi Daniel Carlsen formó el pequeño partido nacional Partido de los Daneses en 2011, que rechazó oficialmente el nazismo, pero no obstante fue categorizado como tal por el profesor de política Peter Nedergaard. [54] [55] Se disolvió en 2017 después de que su fundador Daniel Stockholm anunciara su retiro de la política. [56]
En 2006, Roman Ilin, un director de teatro judío de San Petersburgo , Rusia, fue atacado por neonazis cuando regresaba de un túnel después de un ensayo. Posteriormente, Ilin acusó a la policía estonia de indiferencia después de denunciar el incidente. [57] Cuando un estudiante francés de piel oscura fue atacado en Tartu , el jefe de una asociación de estudiantes extranjeros afirmó que el ataque era característico de una ola de violencia neonazi. Sin embargo, un funcionario de la policía estonia declaró que solo hubo unos pocos casos que involucraron a estudiantes extranjeros durante los dos años anteriores. [58] En noviembre de 2006, el gobierno estonio aprobó una ley que prohibía la exhibición de símbolos nazis . [59]
El informe del Relator Especial del Consejo de Derechos Humanos de las Naciones Unidas de 2008 señaló que los representantes de la comunidad y las organizaciones no gubernamentales dedicadas a los derechos humanos habían señalado que había grupos neonazis activos en Estonia —en particular en Tartu— y que habían perpetrado actos de violencia contra minorías no europeas. [60]
La organización terrorista neonazi División Feuerkrieg fue fundada y opera en el país, y algunos miembros del Partido Conservador Popular de Estonia han estado vinculados a la División Feuerkrieg. [61] [62] [63]
En Finlandia, el neonazismo suele relacionarse con el Movimiento Patriótico Popular (IKL), fascista y pronazi de los años 1930 y 1940, su movimiento juvenil Azules y Negros y su predecesor, el Movimiento Lapua . Grupos fascistas de posguerra como el Movimiento Patriótico Popular (1993) , el Frente Patriótico Popular , el Movimiento Nacional Patriótico , el Movimiento Azul y Negro y muchos otros copian conscientemente el estilo del movimiento y se inspiran en sus líderes. Un concejal del Partido Finés y un oficial de policía en Seinäjoki provocaron un pequeño escándalo vistiendo el uniforme fascista azul y negro. [65] [66]
Durante la Guerra Fría, todos los partidos considerados fascistas fueron prohibidos según los Tratados de Paz de París y todos los ex activistas fascistas tuvieron que encontrar nuevos hogares políticos. [67] A pesar de la finlandización , muchos continuaron en la vida pública. Tres ex miembros de las Waffen SS sirvieron como ministros; los oficiales del Batallón SS finlandés Sulo Suorttanen ( Partido del Centro ) y Pekka Malinen ( Partido Popular ), así como Mikko Laaksonen ( socialdemócrata ), un soldado de la Compañía SS finlandesa , formada por desertores pronazis. [68] [69] El activismo neonazi se limitó a pequeños grupos ilegales como el grupo ocultista nazi clandestino liderado por Pekka Siitoin, que fue noticia después del incendio y el bombardeo de las imprentas del Partido Comunista de Finlandia . Sus asociados también enviaron cartas bomba a izquierdistas, incluida la sede de la Liga de la Juventud Democrática Finlandesa . [70] Otro grupo llamado "Nuevo Movimiento Patriótico Popular" bombardeó el periódico de izquierdas Kansan Uutiset y la embajada de la Bulgaria comunista. [71] [72] [73] Seppo Seluska, miembro del Partido del Reino Nórdico, fue condenado por la tortura y asesinato de un judío homosexual. [74] [75] [76]
La cultura skinhead cobró impulso a finales de los años 1980 y alcanzó su punto máximo a finales de los años 1990. En 1991, Finlandia recibió a varios inmigrantes somalíes que se convirtieron en el principal objetivo de la violencia skinhead finlandesa en los años siguientes, incluidos cuatro ataques con explosivos y un asesinato racista. Los centros de solicitantes de asilo fueron atacados; en Joensuu, los skinheads entraron a la fuerza en un centro de solicitantes de asilo y comenzaron a disparar con escopetas. En el peor de los casos, los somalíes fueron atacados por 50 skinheads al mismo tiempo. [77] [78]
El grupo neonazi más destacado es el Movimiento de Resistencia Nórdica , vinculado a múltiples asesinatos, intentos de asesinato y agresiones a enemigos políticos, fue fundado en 2006 y proscrito en 2019. [79] El segundo partido finlandés más grande, los políticos del Partido Finns han apoyado con frecuencia movimientos de extrema derecha y neonazis como la Liga de Defensa Finlandesa, Soldados de Odín, el Movimiento de Resistencia Nórdica, Rajat Kiinni (Cerrar las Fronteras) y Suomi Ensin (Finlandia Primero). [80]
The NRM, Finns party and other far-right nationalist parties organize an annual torch march demonstration in Helsinki in memory of the Finnish SS-battalion on the Finnish independence day which ends at the Hietaniemi cemetery where members visit the tomb of Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim and the monument to the Finnish SS Battalion.[81][82] The event is protested by antifascists, leading to counterdemonstrators being violently assaulted by NRM members who act as security. The demonstration attracts close to 3,000 participants according to the estimates of the police and hundreds of officers patrol Helsinki to prevent violent clashes.[83][84][85][86]
In France, the most enthusiastic collaborationists during the German occupation of France had been the National Popular Rally of Marcel Déat (former SFIO members) and the French Popular Party of Jacques Doriot (former French Communist Party members). These two groups, like the Germans, saw themselves as combining ultra-nationalism and socialism. In the south there existed the vassal state of Vichy France under the military "Hero of the Verdun", Marshal Philippe Pétain whose Révolution nationale emphasised an authoritarian Catholic conservative politics. Following the liberation of France and the creation of the Fourth French Republic, collaborators were prosecuted during the épuration légale and nearly 800 put to death for treason under Charles de Gaulle.
In the aftermath of the Second World War, the main concern of the French radical right was the collapse of the French Empire, in particular the Algerian War, which led to the creation of the OAS. Outside of this, individual fascistic activists such as Maurice Bardèche (brother-in-law of Robert Brasillach), as well as SS-veterans Saint-Loup and René Binet, were active in France and involved in the European Social Movement and later the New European Order, alongside similar groups from across Europe. Early neo-fascist groups included Jeune Nation, which introduced the Celtic cross into use by radical right groups (an association which would spread internationally). A "neither East, nor West" pan-Europeanism was most popular among French fascistic activists until the late 1960s, partly motivated by feelings of national vulnerability following the collapse of their empire; thus the Belgian SS-veteran Jean-François Thiriart's group Jeune Europe also had a considerable French contingent.
It was the 1960s, during the Fifth French Republic, that a considerable upturn in French neo-fascism occurred; some of it in response to the Protests of 1968. The most explicitly pro-Nazi of these was the FANE of Mark Fredriksen. Neo-fascist groups included Pierre Sidos' Occident, the Ordre Nouveau (which was banned after violent clashes with the Trotskyist LCR) and the student-based Groupe Union Défense. A number of these activists such as François Duprat were instrumental in founding the Front National under Jean-Marie Le Pen; but the FN also included a broader selection from the French hard-right, including not only these neo-fascist elements, but also Catholic integrists, monarchists, Algerian War veterans, Poujadists and national-conservatives. Others from these neo-fascist micro-groups formed the Parti des forces nouvelles working against Le Pen.
Within the FN itself, Duprat founded the FANE-backed Groupes nationalistes révolutionnaires faction, until his 1978 assassination. The subsequent history of the French hard right has been the conflict between the national-conservative controlled FN and "national revolutionary" (fascistic and National Bolshevik) splinter or opposition groups. The latter include groups in the tradition of Thiriart and Duprat, such as the Parti communautaire national-européen, Troisième voie, the Nouvelle Résistance of Christian Bouchet,[87] Unité Radicale and most recently Bloc identitaire. Direct splits from the FN include the 1987 founded FANE-revival Parti nationaliste français et européen, which was disbanded in 2000. Neo-Nazi organizations are outlawed in the Fifth French Republic, yet a significant number of them still exist.[88]
Following the failure of the National Democratic Party of Germany in the election of 1969, small groups committed to the revival of Nazi ideology began to emerge in Germany. The NPD splintered, giving rise to paramilitary Wehrsportgruppe. These groups attempted to organize under a national umbrella organization, the Action Front of National Socialists/National Activists.[89] Neo-Nazi movements in East Germany began as a rebellion against the Communist regime; the banning of Nazi symbols helped neo-Nazism to develop as an anti-authoritarian youth movement.[90] Mail order networks developed to send illegal Nazi-themed music cassettes and merchandise to Germany.[91]
Turks in Germany have been victims of neo-Nazi violence on several occasions. In 1992, two young girls were killed in the Mölln arson attack along with their grandmother; nine others were injured.[92][93] In 1993, five Turks were killed in the Solingen arson attack.[94] In response to the fire Turkish youth in Solingen rioted chanting "Nazis out!" and "We want Nazi blood". In other parts of Germany police had to intervene to protect skinheads from assault.[95] The Hoyerswerda riots and Rostock-Lichtenhagen riots targeting migrants and ethnic minorities living in Germany also took place during the 1990s.[89]
Between 2000 and 2007, eight Turkish immigrants, one Greek and a German policewoman were murdered by the neo-Nazi National Socialist Underground.[96] The NSU has its roots in the former East German area of Thuringia, which The Guardian identified as "one of the heartlands of Germany's radical right". The German intelligence services have been criticized for extravagant distributions of cash to informants within the far-right movement. Tino Brandt publicly boasted on television that he had received around €100,000 in funding from the German state. Though Brandt did not give the state "useful information", the funding supported recruitment efforts in Thuringia during the early 1990s. (Brandt was eventually sentenced to five and a half years in prison on for 66 counts of child prostitution and child sexual abuse).[97]
Police were only able to locate the killers when they were tipped off following a botched bank robbery in Eisenach. As the police closed in on them, the two men committed suicide. They had evaded capture for 13 years. Beate Zschäpe, who had been living with the two men in Zwickau, turned herself in to the German authorities a few days later. Zschäpe's trial began in May 2013; she was charged with nine counts of murder. She pleaded "not guilty". According to The Guardian, the NSU may have enjoyed protection and support from certain "elements of the state". Anders Behring Breivik, a fan of Zschäpe's, reportedly sent her a letter from prison in 2012.[97]
According to the annual report of Germany's interior intelligence service (Verfassungsschutz) for 2012, at the time there were 26,000 right-wing extremists living in Germany, including 6,000 neo-Nazis.[98] In January 2020, Combat 18 was banned in Germany, and raids directed against the organization were made across the country.[99] In March 2020, United German Peoples and Tribes, which is part of Reichsbürger, a neo-Nazi movement that rejects the German state as a legal entity, was raided by the German police.[100] Holocaust denial is a crime, according to the German Criminal Code (Strafgesetzbuch § 86a) and § 130 (public incitement).[citation needed]
The far-right political party Golden Dawn (Χρυσή Αυγή – Chrysi Avyi) is generally labelled neo-Nazi, although the group rejects this label.[101] A few Golden Dawn members participated in the Bosnian War in the Greek Volunteer Guard (GVG) and were present in Srebrenica during the Srebrenica massacre.[102][103] The party has its roots in Papadopoulos' regime.
There is often collaboration between the state and neo-Nazi elements in Greece.[104] In 2018, during the trial of sixty-nine members of the Golden Dawn party, evidence was presented of the close ties between the party and the Hellenic Police.[105]
Golden Dawn has spoken out in favour of the Assad regime in Syria,[106] and the Strasserist group Black Lily have claimed to have sent mercenaries to Syria to fight alongside the Syrian regime, specifically mentioning their participation in the Battle of al-Qusayr.[107] In the 6 May 2012 legislative election, Golden Dawn received 6.97% of the votes, entering the Greek parliament for the first time with 21 representatives, but when the elected parties were unable to form a coalition government a second election was held in June 2012. Golden Dawn received 6.92% of the votes in the June election and entered the Greek parliament with 18 representatives.
Since 2008, neo-Nazi violence in Greece has targeted immigrants, leftists and anarchist activists. In 2009, certain far-right groups announced that Agios Panteleimonas in Athens was off limits to immigrants. Neo-Nazi patrols affiliated with the Golden Dawn party began attacking migrants in this neighborhood. The violence continued escalating through 2010.[104] In 2013, after the murder of anti-fascist rapper Pavlos Fyssas, the number of hate crimes in Greece declined for several years until 2017. Many of the crimes in 2017 have been attributed to other groups like the Crypteia Organisation and Combat 18 Hellas.[105]
In Hungary, the historical political party which allied itself ideologically with German National Socialism and drew inspiration from it, was the Arrow Cross Party of Ferenc Szálasi. They referred to themselves explicitly as National Socialists and within Hungarian politics this tendency is known as Hungarism.[citation needed] After the Second World War, exiles such as Árpád Henney kept the Hungarist tradition alive. Following the fall of the Hungarian People's Republic in 1989, which was a Marxist–Leninist state and a member of the Warsaw Pact, many new parties emerged. Amongst these was the Hungarian National Front of István Győrkös, which was a Hungarist party and considered itself the heirs of Arrow Cross-style National Socialism (a self-description they explicitly embraced).[citation needed] In the 2000s, Győrkös' movement moved closer to a national bolshevist and neo-Eurasian position, aligned with Aleksandr Dugin, cooperating with the Hungarian Workers' Party. Some Hungarists opposed this and founded the Pax Hungarica Movement.
In modern Hungary, the ultranationalist Jobbik is regarded by some scholars as a neo-Nazi party; for example, it has been termed as such by Randolph L. Braham.[108] The party denies being neo-Nazi, although "there is extensive proof that the leading members of the party made no effort to hide their racism and anti-Semitism."[109] Rudolf Paksa, a scholar of the Hungarian far-right, describes Jobbik as "anti-Semitic, racist, homophobic and chauvinistic" but not as neo-Nazi because it does not pursue the establishment of a totalitarian regime.[109] Historian Krisztián Ungváry writes that "It is safe to say that certain messages of Jobbik can be called open neo-Nazi propaganda. However, it is quite certain that the popularity of the party is not due to these statements."[110]
During the 1950s, the neo-fascist Italian Social Movement moved closer to bourgeois conservative politics on the domestic front, which led to radical youths founding hardline splinter groups, such as Pino Rauti's Ordine Nuovo (later succeeded by Ordine Nero) and Stefano Delle Chiaie's Avanguardia Nazionale. These organisations were influenced by the esotericism of Julius Evola and considered the Waffen-SS and Romanian leader Corneliu Zelea Codreanu a reference, moving beyond Italian fascism. They were implicated in paramiliary attacks during the late 1960s to the early 1980s, such as the Piazza Fontana bombing. Delle Chiaie had even assisted Junio Valerio Borghese in a failed 1970 coup attempt known as the Golpe Borghese, which attempted to reinstate a fascist state in Italy.
The National Socialist Irish Workers Party, a small party, was active between 1968 and the late 1980s, producing neo-Nazi propaganda pamphlets and sending threatening messages to Jews and Black people living in Ireland.[111]
Noteworthy neo-Nazi movements and parties in the Netherlands include the National European Social Movement (NESB), the Dutch People's Union (NVU),[112] the National Alliance (NA),[113] and the Nationalist People's Movement (NVB). Individuals of note have included Waffen-SS volunteer and NESB founder Paul van Tienen, war-time collaborator and NESB co-founder Jan Wolthuis, former NVU member Bernhard Postma, the "Black Widow" Florentine Rost van Tonningen, former NVU leader Joop Glimmerveen,[114] CP/CP'86 member and NVB leader Wim Beaux, former CP/CP'86 member and NA leader Jan Teijn, former NVU member and "Hitler-lookalike"[115] Stefan Wijkamp, former CP'86 member and current NVU leader Constant Kusters,[114] and former NVU member and NA leader Virginia Kapić.
Both the General Intelligence and Security Service[116] and non-governmental initiatives such as the far-left anti-fascist research group Kafka research neo-Nazism and other forms of political extremism and have attested to the local presence of international movements such as Blood & Honour,[117][118] Combat 18,[119] the Racial Volunteer Force,[120] and The Base,[121] and expressed concern at the online dissemination of alt-right and far-right accelerationist thought in the Netherlands.[122]
Under the Polish Constitution promoting any totalitarian system such as Nazism, fascism, or communism, as well as inciting violence and/or racial hatred is illegal.[123] This was further re-enforced in the Polish Penal Code where discrediting any group or persons on national, religious, or racial grounds carries a sentence of 3 years.[124]
Although several small far-right and anti-semitic organisations exist, most notably NOP and ONR (both of which exist legally), they frequently adhere to Polish nationalism and National Democracy, in which Nazism is generally considered to be against ultra-nationalist principles, and although they are classed as nationalist and fascist movements, they are at the same time considered anti-Nazi. Some of their elements may resemble neo-Nazi features, but these groups frequently dissociate themselves from Nazi elements, claiming that such acts are unpatriotic and they argue that Nazism misappropriated or slightly altered several pre-existing symbols and features, such as distinguishing the Roman salute from the Nazi salute.[125]
Self-declared neo-Nazi movements in Poland frequently treat Polish culture and traditions with contempt, are anti-Christian and translate various texts from German, meaning they are considered movements favouring Germanisation.[126]
According to several reporter investigations, the Polish government turns a blind eye to these groups, and they are free to spread their ideology, frequently dismissing their existence as conspiracy theories, dismissing acts political provocations, deeming them too insignificant to pose a threat, or attempting to justify or diminish the seriousness of their actions.[127][128][129][130]
.jpg/1280px-Neo-Nazism_in_Russia_(2010).jpg)
Some observers have noted a subjective irony of Russians embracing Nazism, because one of Hitler's ambitions at the start of World War II was the Generalplan Ost (Master Plan East) which envisaged to exterminate, expel, or enslave most or all Slavs from central and eastern Europe (e.g., Russians, Ukrainians, Poles etc.).[131] At the end of the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union, over 25 million Soviet citizens had died.[132]
The first reports of neo-Nazi organizations in the USSR appeared in the second half of the 1950s. In some cases, the participants were attracted primarily by the aesthetics of Nazism (rituals, parades, uniforms, the cult of physical fitness, architecture). Other organizations were more interested in the ideology of the Nazis, their program, and the image of Adolf Hitler.[133] The formation of neo-Nazism in the USSR dates back to the turn of the 1960s and 1970s; during this period, these organizations still preferred to operate underground.
Modern Russian neo-paganism took shape in the second half of the 1970s[134] and is associated with the activities of supporters of antisemitism, especially the Moscow Arabist Valery Yemelyanov (also known as "Velemir") and the former dissident and neo-Nazi activist Alexey Dobrovolsky (also known as "Dobroslav").
In Soviet times, the founder of the movement of Peterburgian Vedism (a branch of Slavic neopaganism) Viktor Bezverkhy (Ostromysl) revered Hitler and Heinrich Himmler and propagated racial and antisemitic theories in a narrow circle of his students, calling for the deliverance of mankind from "inferior offspring", allegedly arising from interracial marriages. He called such "inferior people" "bastards", referred to them as "Zhyds, Indians or gypsies and mulattoes" and believed that they prevent society from achieving social justice.
The first public manifestations of neo-Nazis in Russia took place in 1981 in Kurgan, and then in Yuzhnouralsk, Nizhny Tagil, Sverdlovsk, and Leningrad.[135][136]
In 1982, on Hitler's birthday, a group of Moscow high school students held a Nazi demonstration on Pushkinskaya Square.[135]
Russian National Unity (RNE) was a Neo-Nazi group founded in 1990 and was led by Alexander Barkashov, who claimed to have members in 250 cities. RNE adopted the swastika as its symbol, and sees itself as the avant-garde of a coming national revolution. It is critical of other major far-right organizations, such as the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR). As of 1997, the members RNE were called Soratnik (comrades in arms), receive combat training at locations near Moscow, and many of them work as security officers or armed guards.[137] RNE was banned in 1999 by Moscow's court in 1999,[138] after which the group faded away.[139][140]
In 2007, it was claimed that Russian neo-Nazis accounted for "half of the world's total".[141][142]
On 15 August 2007, Russian authorities arrested a student for allegedly posting a video on the Internet which appears to show two migrant workers being beheaded in front of a red and black swastika flag.[143] Alexander Verkhovsky, the head of a Moscow-based center that monitors hate crime in Russia, said, "It looks like this is the real thing. The killing is genuine ... There are similar videos from the Chechen war. But this is the first time the killing appears to have been done intentionally."[144]
Atomwaffen Division Russland is a neo-Nazi terrorist group in Russia found by Russian officials to have been tied to multiple mass murder plots. AWDR was founded by former members of defunct National Socialist Society responsible for 27 murders and AWDR is connected to local chapter of the Order of Nine Angles responsible for rapes, ritual murders and drug trafficking. The Russian authorities raided an Atomwaffen compound in Ulan-Ude and uncovered illegal weapons and explosives.[145][146][147][148]
An example of neo-Nazism in Serbia is the group Nacionalni stroj. In 2006 charges were brought against 18 leading members.[149][150][151] Besides political parties, there are a few militant neo-Nazi organizations in Serbia, such as Blood & Honour Serbia and Combat 18.[152]
The Slovak political party Kotlebists – People's Party Our Slovakia, which is represented in the National Council and European Parliament, is widely characterized as neo-Nazi.[153][154][155] Kotleba has softened its image over time and now disputes that is fascist or neo-Nazi, even suing a media outlet that described it as neo-Nazi. As of 2020, the party spokesperson was Ondrej Durica, a former member of the neo-Nazi band Biely Odpor (White Resistance). 2020 candidate Andrej Medvecky was convicted of attacking a black man while shouting racial slurs; another candidate, Anton Grňo, was fined for making a fascist salute. The party still celebrates 14 March, the anniversary of the founding of the fascist first Slovak Republic.[156] In 2020, party leader Marian Kotleba was facing trial for writing checks for 1,488 euros, alleged to be a reference to Fourteen Words and Heil Hitler.[157]
Spanish neo-Nazism is often connected to the country's Francoist and Falangist past, and nurtured by the ideology of the National Catholicism.[158][159]
According to a study by the newspaper ABC, black people are the ones who have suffered the most attacks by neo-Nazi groups, followed by Maghrebis and Latin Americans. They have also caused deaths in the anti-fascist group, such as the murder of the Madrid-born sixteen-year-old Carlos Palomino on 11 November 2007, stabbed with a knife by a soldier in the Legazpi metro station (Madrid).[160]
There have been other neo-Nazi cultural organizations such as the Spanish Circle of Friends of Europe (CEDADE) and the Circle of Indo-European Studies (CEI).[161]
The extreme right has little electoral support, with the presence of these groups of 0.36% (if the Plataforma per Catalunya (PxC) party is excluded with 66007 votes (0.39%), according to the voting data of the European elections of 2014. The first extreme right party FE de las JONS obtains 0.13% of the votes (21 577 votes), after doubling its results after the crisis; this is followed by the far-right party La España en Marcha (LEM) with 0.1% of the votes, National Democracy (DN) of the far-right with 0.08%, Republican Social Movement (MSR) (far-right) with 0.05% of the votes.[162]
Neo-Nazi activities in Sweden have previously been limited to white supremacist groups, few of which have a membership over a few hundred members.[163] The main neo-Nazi organization is the Nordic Resistance Movement, a political movement which engages in martial arts training and paramilitary exercises[164] and which has been called a terrorist group.[165] They are also active in Norway and Denmark; the branch in Finland was banned in 2019.
The neo-Nazi and white power skinhead scene in Switzerland has seen significant growth in the 1990s and 2000s.[166] It is reflected in the foundation of the Partei National Orientierter Schweizer in 2000, which resulted in an improved organizational structure of the neo-Nazi and white supremacist scene.
In 1991, the Social-National Party of Ukraine (SNPU) was founded.[167] The party combined radical nationalism and neo-Nazi features.[168][169] The SNPU was characterized as a radical right-wing populist party that combined elements of ethnic ultranationalism and anti-communism. During the 1990s, it was accused of neo-Nazism due to the party's recruitment of skinheads and usage of neo-Nazi symbols.[170][171][172] When Oleh Tyahnybok was elected party leader in 2004, he made efforts to moderate the party's image by changing the party's name to All-Ukrainian Association "Svoboda", changing its symbols and expelling neo-Nazi and neofascist groups.[173][174] Some commentators continued to consider it neo-Nazi: in 2016, The Nation reported that "in Ukrainian municipal elections held [in October 2015], the neo-Nazi Svoboda party won 10 percent of the vote in Kyiv and placed second in Lviv. The Svoboda party's candidate won the mayoral election in the city of Konotop."[175] In 2015, the Svoboda party mayor in Konotop reportedly had the number "14/88" displayed on his car and refused to display the city's official flag because it contains a star of David, and has implied that Jews were responsible for the Holodomor.[168]
The topic of Ukrainian nationalism and its alleged relationship to neo-Nazism came to the fore in polemics about the more radical elements involved in the Euromaidan protests and subsequent Russo-Ukrainian War from 2014 onward.[169] Some Russian, Latin American, U.S. and Israeli media have portrayed the Ukrainian nationalists in the conflict as neo-Nazi.[176]
The Azov Battalion, founded in 2014, has been described as a far-right militia,[177][178] with connections to neo-Nazism[179] and members wearing neo-Nazi and SS symbols and regalia, as well as expressing neo-Nazi views.[180][181]
According to Vyacheslav Likhachev of the Institut français des relations internationales, members of far-right (including neo-Nazi) groups played an important role on the pro-Russian side, arguably more so than on the Ukrainian side, especially during early 2014.[182][183] Members and former members of the National Bolshevik Party, Russian National Unity (RNU), Eurasian Youth Union, and Cossack groups participated in recruitment of the separatists.[182][184][185][186] A former RNU member, Pavel Gubarev, was founder of the Donbas People's Militia and first "governor" of the Donetsk People's Republic.[182][187] RNU is particularly linked to the Russian Orthodox Army,[182] one of a number of separatist units described as "pro-Tsarist" and "extremist" Orthodox nationalists.[188][182] 'Rusich' is part of the Wagner Group, a Russian mercenary group in Ukraine which has been linked to far-right extremism.[189][190] Afterward, the pro-Russian far-right groups became less important in Donbas and the need for Russian radical nationalists started to disappear.[182]
The radical nationalist group С14, whose members openly expressed neo-Nazi views, gained notoriety in 2018 for being involved in violent attacks on Romany camps.[191][192][193]
In 1962, the British neo-Nazi activist Colin Jordan formed the National Socialist Movement (NSM) which later became the British Movement (BM) in 1968.[194][195]
John Tyndall, a long-term neo-Nazi activist in the UK, led a break-away from the National Front to form an openly neo-Nazi party named the British National Party.[196] In the 1990s, the party formed a group for protecting its meetings named Combat 18,[197] which later grew too violent for the party to control and began to attack members of the BNP who were not perceived as supportive of neo-Nazism.[198] Under the subsequent leadership of Nick Griffin, the BNP distanced itself from neo-Nazism, although many members (including Griffin himself) have been accused of links to other neo-Nazi groups.[199]
Sonnenkrieg Division is a neo-Nazi terrorist organization in the United Kingdom, linked to international Atomwaffen Division network. Multiple members have been jailed for plotting terror attacks against minorities. Sonnenkrieg Division has been proscribed as a terrorist organization in United Kingdom and Australia. Sonnenkrieg Division is also closely tied with the Order of Nine Angles linked to the Murders of Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman.[200][201][202]
The UK has also been a source of neo-Nazi music, such as the band Skrewdriver.[203]
Several neo-Nazi groups were active in Iran, although they are now defunct. Advocates of Nazism continue to exist in Iran and are mainly based on the Internet.[204][205]
Neo-Nazi activity is not common or widespread in Israel, and the few reported activities have all been the work of extremists, who were punished severely. One notable case is that of Patrol 36, a cell in Petah Tikva made up of eight teenage immigrants from the former Soviet Union who had been attacking foreign workers and gay people, and vandalizing synagogues with Nazi images.[206][207] These neo-Nazis were reported to have operated in cities across Israel, and have been described as being influenced by the rise of neo-Nazism in Europe;[206][207][208] mostly influenced by similar movements in Russia and Ukraine, as the rise of the phenomenon is widely credited to immigrants from those two states, the largest sources of emigration to Israel.[209] Widely publicized arrests have led to a call to reform the Law of Return to permit the revocation of Israeli citizenship for—and the subsequent deportation of—neo-Nazis.[207]
Since 1982, the neo-Nazi National Socialist Japanese Workers' Party has operated in Japan, currently under the leadership of Kazunari Yamada, who has praised Hitler and denied the Holocaust.[210]
From 2008, Mongolian neo-Nazi groups have defaced buildings in Ulaanbaatar, smashed Chinese shopkeepers' windows, and killed Chinese immigrants. The neo-Nazi Mongols' targets for violence are Chinese, Koreans,[211] Mongol women who have sex with Chinese men, and LGBT people.[212] They wear Nazi uniforms and revere the Mongol Empire and Genghis Khan. Though Tsagaan Khass leaders say they do not support violence, they are self-proclaimed Nazis. "Adolf Hitler was someone we respect. He taught us how to preserve national identity," said the 41-year-old co-founder, who calls himself Big Brother. "We don't agree with his extremism and starting the Second World War. We are against all those killings, but we support his ideology. We support nationalism rather than fascism." Some have ascribed it to poor historical education.[211]
The National Socialism Association (NSA) is a neo-Nazi political organisation founded in Taiwan in September 2006 by Hsu Na-chi (Chinese: 許娜琦), at that time a 22-year-old female political science graduate of Soochow University. The NSA has an explicit stated goal of obtaining the power to govern the state. The Simon Wiesenthal Centre condemned the National Socialism Association on 13 March 2007 for championing the former Nazi dictator and blaming democracy for social unrest in Taiwan.[213]
A neo-Nazi group existed in 1969 in İzmir, when a group of former Republican Villagers Nation Party members (precursor party of the Nationalist Movement Party) founded the association "Nasyonal Aktivite ve Zinde İnkişaf" (National Activity and Vigorous Development). The club maintained two combat units. The members wore SA uniforms and used the Hitler salute. One of the leaders (Gündüz Kapancıoğlu) was re-admitted to the Nationalist Movement Party in 1975.[214]
Apart from neo-fascist[215][216][217][218][219] Grey Wolves and the Turkish ultranationalist[220][221][222] Nationalist Movement Party, there are some neo-Nazi organizations in Turkey such as the Turkish Nazi Party[223] or the National Socialist Party of Turkey, which are mainly based on the Internet.[224][225][226]
Several Brazilian neo-Nazi gangs appeared in the 1990s in Southern and Southeastern Brazil, regions with mostly white people, with their acts gaining more media coverage and public notoriety in the 2010s.[227][228][229][230] Some members of Brazilian neo-Nazi groups have been associated with football hooliganism.[231] Their targets have included African, South American and Asian immigrants; Jews, Muslims, Catholics and atheists; Afro-Brazilians and internal migrants with origins in the northern regions of Brazil (who are mostly brown-skinned or Afro-Brazilian);[232][233] homeless people, prostitutes; recreational drug users; feminists and—more frequently reported in the media—gay people, bisexuals, and transgender and third-gender people.[230][234][235] News of their attacks has played a role in debates about anti-discrimination laws in Brazil (including to some extent hate speech laws) and the issues of sexual orientation and gender identity.[236][237][238]
Neo-Nazism in Canada began with the formation of the Canadian Nazi Party in 1965. In the 1970s and 1980s, neo-Nazism continued to spread in the country as organizations including the Western Guard Party and Church of the Creator (later renamed Creativity) promoted white supremacist ideals.[239] Founded in the United States in 1973, Creativity calls for white people to wage racial holy war (Rahowa) against Jews and other perceived enemies.[240]
Don Andrews founded the Nationalist Party of Canada in 1977. The purported goals of the unregistered party are "the promotion and maintenance of European Heritage and Culture in Canada," but the party is known for anti-Semitism and racism. Many influential neo-Nazi Leaders, such as Wolfgang Droege, were affiliated with the party, but many of its members left to join the Heritage Front, which was founded in 1989.[241]
Droege founded the Heritage Front in Toronto at a time when leaders of the white supremacist movement were "disgruntled about the state of the radical right" and wanted to unite unorganized groups of white supremacists into an influential and efficient group with common objectives.[241] Plans for the organization began in September 1989, and the formation of the Heritage Front was formally announced a couple of months later in November. In the 1990s, George Burdi of Resistance Records and the band Rahowa popularized the Creativity movement and the white power music scene.[242]
On September 18, 2020, Toronto Police arrested 34-year-old Guilherme "William" Von Neutegem and charged him with the murder of Mohamed-Aslim Zafis. Zafis was the caretaker of a local mosque who was found dead with his throat cut. The Toronto Police Service said the killing is possibly connected to the stabbing murder of Rampreet Singh a few days prior a short distance from the spot where Zafis' murder took place. Von Neutegem is a member of the Order of Nine Angles and social media accounts established as belonging to him promote the group and included recordings of Von Neutegem performing satanic chants. In his home there was also an altar with the symbol of the O9A adorning a monolith.[243] According to Evan Balgord of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, they are aware of more O9A members in Canada and their affiliated organization Northern Order.[244][245] Northern Order is a proscribed[246] neo-Nazi terrorist organization in Canada. NO members have been arrested for trafficking explosives and firearms, and NO has active members of the Canadian Armed Forces as its members and even a member of the CJIRU was identified as a member.[247][248][249]
Controversy and dissention has left many Canadian neo-Nazi organizations dissolved or weakened.[241]
After the dissolution of the National Socialist Movement of Chile (MNSCH) in 1938, notable former members of MNSCH migrated into Partido Agrario Laborista (PAL), obtaining high positions.[250] Not all former MNSCH members joined the PAL; some continued to form parties that followed the MNSCH model until 1952.[250] A new old-school Nazi party was formed in 1964 by school teacher Franz Pfeiffer.[250] Among the activities of this group were the organization of a Miss Nazi beauty contest and the formation of a Chilean branch of the Ku Klux Klan.[250] The party disbanded in 1970. Pfeiffer attempted to restart it in 1983 in the wake of a wave of protests against the Augusto Pinochet regime.[250]
Nicolás Palacios considered the "Chilean race" to be a mix of two bellicose master races: the Visigoths of Spain and the Mapuche (Araucanians) of Chile.[251] Palacios traces the origins of the Spanish component of the "Chilean race" to the coast of the Baltic Sea, specifically to Götaland in Sweden,[251] one of the supposed homelands of the Goths. Palacios claimed that both the blonde-haired and the bronze-coloured Chilean Mestizo share a "moral physonomy" and a masculine psychology.[252] He opposed immigration from Southern Europe, and argued that Mestizos who are derived from south Europeans lack "cerebral control" and are a social burden.[253]
Several fringe neo-Nazi groups have existed in Costa Rica, some with online presence since around 2003.[254][255] The groups normally target Jewish Costa Ricans, Afro-Costa Ricans, Communists, gay people and especially Nicaraguan and Colombian immigrants. In 2012 the media discovered the existence of a neo-Nazi police officer inside the Public Force of Costa Rica, for which he was fired and would later commit suicide in April 2016 due to lack of job opportunities and threats from anti-fascists.[256][257][258][259]
In 2015, the Simon Wiesenthal Center asked the Costa Rican government to shut down a store in San José that sells Nazi paraphernalia, Holocaust denial books and other products associated with Nazism.[260]
In 2018, a series of pages on the social network Facebook of neo-Nazi inclination openly or discreetly carried out a vast campaign instigating xenophobic hatred by recycling old news or posting fake news to take advantage of an anti-immigrant sentiment after three homicides of tourists allegedly committed by migrants (although from one of the homicides the suspect is Costa Rican).[261] A rally against the country's migration policy was held on 19 August 2018, in which neo-Nazi and hooligans took part. Although not all participants were linked these groups and the majority of participants were peaceful, the protest turned violent and the Public Force intervened with 44 arrested (36 Costa Ricans and the rest Nicaraguans).[262][263] Authorities confiscated sharp weapons, Molotov cocktails and other items from the neo-Nazis, who also carried swastika flags.[264] A subsequent anti-xenophobic march and solidarity with the Nicaraguan refugees was organized a week later with more assistance. A second anti-migration demonstration, with the explicit exclusion of neo-Nazis and hooligans, was carried out in September with similar assistance.[265] In 2019 Facebook pages of extreme right-wing tendencies and anti-immigration position as Deputy 58, Costa Rican Resistance and Salvation Costa Rica called an anti-government demonstration on 1 May with small attendance.[266][267]
Peru has been home to a handful of neo-Nazi groups, most notably the National Socialist Movement "Peru Awake", the National Socialist Tercios of New Castile, and the Peruvian National Socialist Union.[268][269][270]
There are several neo-Nazi groups in the United States. The National Socialist Movement (NSM), with about 400 members in 32 states,[271] is currently the largest neo-Nazi organization in the US.[272] After World War II, new organizations formed with varying degrees of support for Nazi principles. The National States' Rights Party, founded in 1958 by Edward Reed Fields and J. B. Stoner, countered racial integration in the Southern United States with Nazi-inspired publications and iconography. The American Nazi Party, founded by George Lincoln Rockwell in 1959, achieved high-profile coverage in the press through its public demonstrations.[273]
The ideology of James H. Madole, leader of the National Renaissance Party, was influenced by Blavatskian Theosophy. Helena Blavatsky developed a racial theory of evolution, holding that the white race was the "fifth rootrace" called the Aryan Race. According to Blavatsky, Aryans had been preceded by Atlanteans who had perished in the flood that sunk the continent Atlantis. The three races that preceded the Atlanteans, in Blavatsky's view, were proto-humans; these were the Lemurians, Hyperboreans and the first Astral rootrace. It was on this foundation that Madole based his claims that the Aryan Race has been worshiped as "White Gods" since time immemorial and proposed a governance structure based on the Hindu Laws of Manu and its hierarchical caste system.[274]
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees freedom of speech, which the courts have interpreted very broadly to include hate speech, severely limiting the government's authority to suppress it.[275] This allows political organizations great latitude in expressing Nazi, racist, and antisemitic views. A landmark First Amendment case was National Socialist Party of America v. Village of Skokie, in which neo-Nazis threatened to march in a predominantly Jewish suburb of Chicago. The march never took place in Skokie, but the court ruling allowed the neo-Nazis to stage a series of demonstrations in Chicago.
The Institute for Historical Review, formed in 1978, is a Holocaust denial body associated with neo-Nazism.[276]
Organizations which report upon neo-Nazi activities in the U.S., which may involve attacking and harassing minorities, include the American organizations Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center.[277]
In 2020, the FBI reclassified neo-Nazis to the same threat level as ISIS. Chris Wray, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, stated "Not only is the terror threat diverse, it's unrelenting."[278][279]
In 2022, famous rapper Kanye West stated that he identifies as a Nazi, denying the Holocaust and praising the policies of Adolf Hitler.[280]
In 1998, a group of people belonging to the "Joseph Goebbels Movement" tried to burn down a synagogue, which also served as a Hebrew school, in the Pocitos neighborhood of Montevideo in Uruguay; an antisemitic pamphlet signed by the group was found in the building after the quick action of firefighters saved it. Another group, the racist and antisemitic neo-Nazi Euroamerikaners group, founded in 1996, said when they were interviewed by the newspaper La República de Montevideo that they had no involvement with the attack on the synagogue, but revealed that they maintain contacts with a group called Poder Blanco ("White Power"), also Uruguayan, as well as with neo-Nazi groups from Argentina and several European countries. Through the Internet they have received the solidarity of the Patria pro-fascist group, based in Spain. They also said that in the city of Canelones, Uruguay, fifty kilometers from Montevideo, there is a clandestine "Aryan church" which uses rituals taken from the Ku Klux Klan. The Euroamerikaners declared that they did not tolerate interracial or gay couples. One of the militants said in the interview that "... if we see a black man with a white woman, we break them up ...". Other neo-Nazi incidents in Uruguay in 1998 included the bombing of a Jewish-owned small business in February, which injured two people, and the appearance of posters celebrating the anniversary of Hitler's birthday in April.[281]
Several groups in South Africa, such as Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging and Blanke Bevrydingsbeweging, have often been described as neo-Nazi.[282]Eugène Terre'Blanche was a prominent South African neo-Nazi leader who was murdered in 2010.[283]
There were a number of now-defunct Australian neo-Nazi groups, such as the Australian National Socialist Party (ANSP), which was formed in 1962 and merged into the National Socialist Party of Australia (1968–1970s), originally a splinter group, in 1968,[284] and Jack van Tongeren's Australian Nationalist Movement.[284]
The National Socialist Network (NSN) is an Australian neo-Nazi political organisation formed from two far-right organisations, the Lads Society and the Antipodean Resistance, in 2020.
White supremacist organisations active in Australia as of 2016 included local chapters of the Aryan Nations.[285] Blair Cottrell, former leader of the United Patriots Front, has tried to distance himself from neo-Nazism, but he has nevertheless been accused of expressing "pro-Nazi views".[286] Australian Security Intelligence Organisation director Mike Burgess said in February 2020 that neo-Nazis pose a "real threat" to Australia's security. Burgess maintained that there is a growing threat from the extreme right, and that its supporters "regularly meet to salute Nazi flags, inspect weapons, train in combat and share their hateful ideology".[287] In June 2022, the Australian state Victoria banned display of the swastika symbol. Under the new law, individuals who intentionally exhibit the symbol may face up to a year in jail or a A$22,000 (£12,300; $15,000) fine. The state of Victoria already has laws against hate speech, but they have been criticized for having weaknesses. The call for reform of these laws grew stronger in 2020 when a couple flew a swastika flag over their home, causing outrage in the community."[288]
In New Zealand, historical neo-Nazi organisations include Unit 88[289] and the National Socialist Party of New Zealand.[290] White nationalist organisations such as the New Zealand National Front and Action Zealandia have faced accusations of neo-Nazism.[291]
Informational notes
Citations
In contrast to today, in which rigid authoritarianism and neo-Nazism are characteristic of marginal groups, open or latent leanings toward Nazi ideology in the 1940s and 1950s
Neo-Nazism, drawing heavily both on the ideology and aesthetics of the NSDAP, emerged in many parts of Europe and elsewhere in the economic crises of the 1970s, and has continued to influence a number of small political groups.
The term Neo-Nazism refers to any social, political and/or (quasi) religious movement seeking to revive Nazism. Neo-Nazi groups are racist hate groups that pattern themselves after Hitler's philosophies. Examples include: Aryan Nations, National Alliance
Right-wing extremism can be equated neither with Nazism nor with neo-Fascism or neo-Nazism. Neo-Nazism, a legal term, is understood as the attempt to propagate, in direct defiance of the law (Verbotsgesetz), Nazi ideology or measures such as the denial, playing-down, approval or justification of Nazi mass murder, especially the Holocaust.
The term neo-Nazism refers to any social or political movement seeking to revive National Socialism, and which postdates the Second World War. Often, especially internationally, those who are part of such movements do not use the term to describe themselves.
Neo-Nazism is the name for a modern offshoot of Nazism. It is a radically right-wing ideology, whose main characteristics are extreme nationalism and violent xenophobia. Neo-Nazism is, as the word suggests, a modern version of Nazism. In general, it is an incoherent right-extremist ideology, which is characterised by 'borrowing' many of the elements that constituted traditional Nazism.
Neo-Nazism: An ideology which draws upon the legacy of the Nazi Third Reich, the main pillars of which are an admiration for Adolf Hitler, aggressive nationalism ("nothing but the nation"), and hatred of Jews, foreigners, ethnic minorities, homosexuals and everyone who is different in some way.
Adalbert Rückerl, head of the Central Bureau for the Prosecution of National Socialist Crimes observed that because of the 1968 Dreher's amendment (§ 50 StGB), 90% of all Nazi war criminals in Germany enjoyed total immunity from prosecution.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)One particularly severe episode happened in 1997, when a group of about 50 skinheads attacked Somali youths playing football in the Helsinki suburb Kontula. The violence did not stop before the police started shooting warning shots, and 22 skinheads were sentenced for the attack. Pekonen et al. also mention a number of other violent events from the 1990s, including ten particularly severe events from 1995 (not included in the RTV dataset because sufficient event details are lacking): a racist murder, an immigrant stabbed by a skinhead, four attacks on immigrants using explosives, and another four immigrants beaten severely.
Helsinki, Finland, 'Towards Freedom' and '612 for freedom' march' in memory of the Finnish SS-battalion which fought with Nazi Germany
Thethe main organizers and guests of the event have been drawn from either non-party-affiliated far-right-activists or members of the right-wing populist Finns Party (Perussuomalaiset), its youth organization Finns Party Youth (Perussuomalaiset Nuoret)...the 612-march is a torchlight procession from central Helsinki to the Hietaniemi war cemetery, where members visit the tomb of World War II-era President Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim and the monument to the Finnish SS-Battalion. There are speeches at both the assembly point and at the cemetery, eulogizing the Battle for Helsinki, depicted by speakers as the occasion "when Germans and Finns marched side by side and liberated the city from the communists."
Last year's right-wing 612 torchlight procession on Independence Day attracted about 3,000 people.
Soon afterwards the Moscow headquarter of the party was closed and the organization practically liquidated
Azov Battalion, a paramilitary unit of the Ukrainian National Guard, which the FBI says is associated with neo-Nazi ideology.
the Russian Orthodox Army, one of a number of separatist units fighting for the "Orthodox faith," revival of the Tsarist Empire, and the Russkii Mir. Igor Girkin (Strelkov [Shooter]), who led the Russian capture of Slovyansk in April 2014, was an example of the Russian nationalists who have sympathies to pro-Tsarist and extremist Orthodox groups in Russia. ... the Russian Imperial Movement ... has recruited thousands of volunteers to fight with the separatists. ... such as the Russian Party of National Unity who use a modified swastika as their party symbol and Dugin's Eurasianist movement. The paramilitaries of both of these ... are fighting alongside separatists.
Russian mercenaries fighting in Ukraine, including the Kremlin-backed Wagner Group, have been linked to far-right extremism ... Much of the extremist content, posted on Telegram and the Russian social media platform VKontakte (VK), relates to a far-right unit within the Wagner Group called Rusich ... One post on the messaging app Telegram, dated 15 March, shows the flag of the Russian Imperial Movement (RIM), a white-supremacist paramilitary ... Another recent VK posting lists Rusich as part of a coalition of separatist groups and militias including the extreme far-right group, Russian National Unity.
The Sonnenkrieg Division, with its glorification of sexual violence, highlights another disturbing theme relating to the ONA – sexual offending as a way of undermining social norms....The authorities are concerned by the number of paedophiles associated with the ONA, taking the group into a different area of law enforcement activity.
Today, [O9A] adherents are infiltrating and influencing a new generation of neo-Nazi terrorist groups like Atomwaffen Division Canada [Northern Order]
Bibliography
Media related to Neo-Nazism at Wikimedia Commons