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From: "hkb" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Sun, 6 Aug 2000 01:48:06 +0100
Subject: Germany: NPD Overhauls Ideology in Saxony
> (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
>
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