Neo-Nazis on the Move in Germany

[Woodmonkey]

Neo-Nazis on the Move in Germany

How the Far Right Plans to Grow


Germany's far-right National Democratic Party is on the move. After recent successes at the polls in eastern Germany, the neo-Nazis now have their sights set on Bavaria and the national parliament. It's also improving relations with far-right militants.

A man is wandering around Schwerin Castle. Short, bald and wearing a dark suit, he tries every door, but most are locked. There is almost no one else in the castle, which houses the parliament (Landtag) for the eastern state of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania. It is Monday, Sept. 18, the day after the state parliamentary elections in which Germany's far right National Democratic Party (NPD) captured 7.3 percent of the vote.

But the man eventually finds what he is looking for. He enters a room and squints at a group of people wielding champagne glasses and surrounding Landtag President Sylvia Bretschneider, a member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). The visitor amiably greets the group with the words "bottoms up" and asks for the director of the Landtag. He is here to discuss the future assignment of seats in the state parliament. The revelers are amused at the man's question and want to know who could possibly be in such a hurry. They practically drop their glasses at the man's response: "Peter Marx, NPD parliamentary group. We are ready to begin."

The anecdote, which Marx recounts with a smirk, is indicative of his party's self-confidence. It's the same self-assured smirk a number of NPD members had on their faces last Thursday when they greeted a group of journalists at their dilapidated headquarters building in Berlin's Köpenick neighborhood.

At the press conference, NPD leader Udo Voigt was joined by Udo Pastörs, the future head of the party's parliamentary group in Schwerin, Pastörs' campaign manager, Holger Apfel -- whose main job is running the NPD's parliamentary group in the state of Saxony's parliament -- and Gerhard Frey, the head of the extremist right-wing German People's Union (DVU). Surrounded by his supporters, Voigt told reporters about the party's plans for the future. In the wake of its successes in Schwerin and Berlin, where the NPD managed to win seats in four of the region's twelve district parliaments, Voigt said he plans to "strengthen our current bastions" and then "energetically approach the West." Next on agenda for the NPD, also known in Germany as the "browns," are the Bavarian state elections in 2008 and national parliamentary elections in 2009.

"Germany pact"

The party plans to pursue a strategy of showing up the democratic parties in the respective parliaments and expanding its cooperation with what it calls "unaffiliated groups of comrades" within the neo-Nazi community. The NPD also intends to open citizens' offices and provide social services, which it expects to fund with government subsidies for campaign costs and parliamentary stipends for members' offices. Finally, Voigt plans to integrate the remnants of the struggling far-right party the Republicans into the NPD's and DVU's "Germany pact," which determines who runs for office and where.

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