German fascists threaten opponents with violence
01 January 1991
German fascists threaten opponents with violence
artdoc March=1994
Greenleft News Jan 17, 1994
German fascists threaten opponents with violence
By Mary Merkenich
BOCHUM - A 17-year-old pupil in Aurich, in the state of Niedersachsen, has
had to go into hiding and receive police protection after neo-Nazis
terrorised him and his family. This pupil is among 250 German citizens who,
because of their opposition to the growing neo-Nazi movement or their
involvement with migrants or progressive groups, are listed on a neo-Nazi
``hit list''.
This hit list, called ``Einblick'' (Insight), gives addresses, telephone
numbers and car registration numbers, and describes the habits, family
members and even pets of so-called ``anti-Germans''. It calls on its readers
to crush antifascist and left groups as well as to attack individuals
accused of anti-German activities, of ``race mixing'' and
``bastardisation''.
Although the actual killing of individuals is not openly advocated, the
authors of ``Einblick'' suggest that people on the hit list be ``taken care
of''. For the pupil from Aurich, this meant threatening phone calls,
physical injury, cut car tyres, a demolished motorcycle and swastika
graffiti on the family home.
A full-time organiser of the German Union Federation (DGB) in Wilhelmshaven,
Wilfred Klopper, is also on the hit list. His 16-year-old daughter has twice
been beaten up by skin heads so badly that she had to be admitted into
hospital. On December 1 he received a letter containing an empty cartridge.
In Torgau, an east German city, 30 masked neo-Nazis carrying sticks broke up
a PDS (Party of Democratic Socialism) meeting, burned a flag and chanted
``bloody death to the PDS''. In another small east German city, Sonnewalde,
the newly elected PDS mayor, Gunter Lorenz, who was elected with 68.2 % of
the votes, received a Nazi letter threatening his life.
At the University of Duisburg in the Ruhr Valley, an ``open'' letter was
sent to at least 19 university workers denouncing other colleagues and
students for having had abortions, being gay or migrant. In another pamphlet
circulated at the same university, the authors conclude with the words, ``If
we dispose of five Turks today, we'll save ourselves having to murder 50
Turks in 15 years' time''.
The number of attacks on handicapped people has also increased, and security
forces and media believe these are also encouraged by fascists.
These are only a few examples of an organised terror campaign, which in
Austria reached the point of letter-bombs. One television presenter had her
thumb blown off, the mayor of Vienna narrowly escaped death and had several
fingers blown off, and a lawyer's secretary was seriously injured.
Even right-wing activists are warned in the ``Einblick'' that if they oppose
or resist the present campaign, they will make themselves suspect of being a
provocateur.
The reaction of German security officials and government politicians has
been to play down the whole thing. For example, in Bochum and Dortmund, two
other Ruhr Valley cities, about a year ago, psychological and other terror
against left-wingers lasted several months, until the police arrested a
group who, according to the police, had enough explosives to blast away half
of Bochum. This group was shortly afterwards set free again.
Although the security forces have known since June that an organised
campaign existed to collect information about citizens with the goal of
threatening, attacking and intimidating them, they publicly deny that the
neo-Nazis are well or centrally organised.
A few CSU (Christian Social Union, the sister party of the ruling CDU) have
even stated that the right-wing radicals are no threat. The bigger threat,
they warn, comes from the PDS and the Greens. They have suggested the PDS
should be banned!
While most of the media took the issue seriously, the magazine, Der Spiegel,
once viewed as p