(The comments regarding former SED members are a somewhat disturbing - James) Shrinking NPD Overhauls Ideology in Saxony By Peter Carstens DRESDEN. The Saxony members of the far-right National Democratic Party are particularly pleased by the sudden talk about banning the nationwide organization because it gives them a new chance to get back on the public stage. Such opportunities have been limited lately after the party suffered a string of election defeats and almost one-third of its members turned their backs on the party within a year. For all the resignations, though, the NPD in Saxony remains the largest of the extremist party's regional German associations. The NPD has about 1,000 members in Saxony and around 6,000 throughout Germany, according to the federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution. Like its membership rolls, the NPD's platform has been undergoing changes, officials of the Saxony Interior Ministry said. As part of the change, the party is describing itself as a nationalist organization with a socialist, anti-capitalist slant. Within the party, politicians connected to the former East Germany's communist party, the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED), are emerging as leaders in place of those with their origins in right-wing extremism. The talk now is about "ethnically based German socialism" or "German ethnic socialism." Leaflets call for an "ethnic community instead of European Union dictatorship" or "work for millions instead of profits for millionaires." The state officials have identified a former SED supporter, Professor Dr. Michael Nier from Frankenberg, as the "chief ideologist" of the Saxony NPD. He is described as having once been professor of dialectical and historical materialism at a Saxon university. A working group called "Socialists in the NPD" also was set up in the party in May last year. As part of the transition, the state organization is said to have abandoned its reservations on admitting radical right-wing bruisers and skinheads. In its election campaigning, the xenophobic party cooperated closely at local level with right-wing radicals ready to resort to violence, although they do not belong to the party. Members of the S�chsische Schweiz Skinheads, which is classed as a criminal association, served NPD candidates as auditorium security or guards at campaign stands. The state party is now making more public appearances again in Saxony. On August 13, for example, a "Silent march to commemorate the victims of the Berlin Wall" is planned in Zwickau. Construction of the wall began on August 13, 1961. Saxon officials have identified tensions between the Saxon NPD and the national party, caused partly by the two groups' different age structure. The NPD in the west is still an "elderly gentlemen's party," the officials said, but about 80 percent of the Saxony NPD's new members in recent years have been younger than 30. The party's youth organization, the Young Nationals, disbanded last year in Saxony after having a falling-out with the national organization over the membership of a foreigner in the national youth organization. The officials assume that youth group members are now joining forces with other right-wing extremist groups. Earlier members, who switched to the NPD from neo-Nazi societies after some of these were banned, are forming small groups again, called "comradeships." The state Interior Ministry said the number of militant right-wing extremists in skinhead cliques and "comradeships" had risen from 900 to 1,100 since 1998. Comments by the national NPD leader, Udo Voigt, in the party newspaper "German Voice Extra," show that the party does not care where it recruits its support. It is only important, he writes, that new members "join ranks in our common fight for a better Germany." In Saxony, party members have been trying to cope with the blows they suffered at the polls in 1998 and 1999. With 22 local organizations and its own publication, the "Saxony Voice," the state party led by Winfrid Petzold felt well equipped for the election campaigns. Furthermore, party officials went into the elections with a new strategy in which the organization outwardly dissociated itself from violent activities and neo-Nazi marches. But the strategy backfired at the polls. During the national elections in 1998, the NPD gained 1.4 percent of the party votes in Saxony, less than the other right-wing extremist parties, the German People's Union and the Republikaner. It performed equally dismally at the state election in the late summer of 1999, capturing just 1.4 percent of the vote -- far below the 5 percent it needed to enter the state parliament. But, at the local level, the party racked up some exceptional results in 1999. Right-wing extremists won seats on the municipal and local councils in Sebnitz, Riesa, Meissen, Wurzen, Trebsen, Hirschfelde and K�nigstein. The NPD did particularly well in eastern Saxony, gaining 6.2 percent of the vote in Bad Schandau during the national elections and no less than 11.8 percent in the local elections in K�nigstein. The state of Saxony is using a time-tested concept to combat right-wing extremist violence and ideas. Together, police and officials in the state's Office for the Protection of the Constitution are giving young people and school teachers detailed information on right-wing groups and their symbols. Where education and information fail, a special commission set up 1991 by the Saxony police to deal with right-wing extremism is put to work. It consists of about 35 officers from the State Office of Criminal Investigation detailed to investigate right-wing extremist offenses. The commission also operates with mobile task forces and investigative units in three precincts. Front-end work for the special commission and task forces cover meeting places for youths with violent tendencies. Officials also conduct regular vehicle and alcohol checks of persons whom police have identified as belonging to the right-wing scene. Practically no "skin" concerts featuring racist and extremely nationalist performances are staged publicly any more in Saxony, but come in the guise of private birthday parties. Often, visitors are informed of the venue by mobile phone only shortly before the concerts begin. The Saxony Interior Ministry says the number of offenses by right-wing extremists in the first half of this year dropped, compared to the same period last year: A total of 621 such crimes were committed compared with 589 in the first half of 1999. In the period under review, the number of violent offenses registered -- attacks on foreigners, people of color or the disabled, for example -- fell from 46 to 30. The majority of offenses (71.2 percent) were committed by children and adolescents, according to the ministry. A ministry spokesman said that, in general, right-wing crime had declined steadily since 1994. Still, there are no grounds for complaceny. The state government called on citizens in the state to ostracize right-wing extremists "as if they gave off a repulsive smell. August 3 Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 2000 ############################################################
