neo-nazis taking roots in germany, interesting development.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/germany/article/0,,1873381,00.html
German neo-Nazis set for poll victory

Luke Harding in Berlin
Friday September 15, 2006
The Guardian
Germany's racist neo-Nazi party is poised to make a stunning breakthrough during elections this weekend, entering a regional parliament for the second time in three years, polls suggest.

According to a poll for ZDF television the far-right National Party of Germany (NPD) is likely to win 7% of the vote in elections on Sunday in the north-east state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Another Infratest poll puts the party on 6%.

The projected result is above Germany's 5% hurdle - and means the far-right MPs will sit in the parliament for the first time. "We are very confident. It's extremely likely we are going to make it," Michael Andrejewski, the NPD's candidate in its stronghold town of Anklam, told the Guardian today.

Mr Andrejewski claimed that voters in Germany's depressed former communist east were turning to the neo-Nazi right because they were disillusioned with mainstream politics. They were also fed up with the region's massive unemployment, he said.

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"People are furious. They are disappointed with this government. Unemployment here is 30%. If we can win here we will have established a trend. Our mid-term goal is to win seats in the Bundestag [Germany's federal parliament]."

A result above 5% would be a major embarrassment for Germany's leader Angela Merkel, whose seaside Baltic constituency is part of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The region is abundant in lakes and forests, but is also one of the most economically depressed parts of the country. Unemployment is officially put at 18%.

Hundreds of neo-Nazis from across Germany have flooded into Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The party has teamed up with local Kameradschaften, gangs of far-right skinheads - some of whom are standing as NPD candidates.

Volunteers have hung up thousands of xenophobic placards and distributed copies of the party's far-right newspaper, the Island Messenger. They have also have intimidated workers from other parties, it is alleged.

Rival candidates concede the NPD has waged a meticulous, highly professional campaign. "I have to admit that to a certain degree we have failed," said Uwe Schulz, Anklam's Social Democratic candidate.

Mr Schulz - whose party governs in the state's regional assembly in Schwerin together with the post-communist PDS - added: 'My father came back from the second world war with a leg missing. These people appear to have learned nothing from the Nazi era. To hear these ideas and slogans again makes me furious."

Nationally, the NPD has had little impact on German politics. But in 2004 the party stunned expectations by winning 9.25% of the vote in the east German state of Saxony, entering a regional parliament for the first time since 1968. A second victory tomorrow would confirm fears that the NPD is an established feature of Germany's political landscape, analysts say.

In several Baltic villages in Mecklenburg Vorpommern the far-right now provides social services. It runs businesses and organises discos. The NPD has also abandoned its skinhead image, these days fielding candidates turned out in immaculate suits.

"There are a large number of people in East Germany who have become estranged from democracy," Dr Hajo Funke, a political scientist at Berlin's Free University said, adding: "Mainstream parties have failed to address local problems."

Günter Hoffmann, the founder of a local anti-Nazi group in Anklam, Bunt statt Braun, said: "The big mistake happened after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The need to establish and teach democracy in the East was overlooked. We are now picking up the bill."

The quiet, stealthy rise of extremism in Germany's north east is linked to the state's woeful economic condition, analysts say. After German reunification in 1990 manufacturing industry here collapsed. Anklam's population shrank from 22,000 to 14,000 as young people fled for the West. At the same time a far-right youth culture based around rock concerts and the Blood & Honour movement took root, Mr Hoffmann says.

Success for the NPD tomorrow is likely to provoke an anguished debate among Germany's ruling Christian and Social Democrats about what went wrong. Both govern together in Berlin in a grand coalition led by Mrs Merkel.

Previous attempts to stamp out the NPD as a political force have failed. Germany's previous chancellor Gerhard Schröder tried to outlaw the NPD -⊃only for the supreme court to throw out his attempted ban when it emerged the organisation had become riddled with government informers.


considering germany is one of the leading economies in the world i am suprised to see this development. hope it wont repeat post WW1 history again.