Neo-Nazism in Germany
Photo: AP
'My fight against Nazism has become personal'
German youth suffers constant harassment by far-Right activists since she organized anti-Nazi event, but pledges not to give up struggle over country's democratic character
Kassel – Ever since she started getting threatening phone calls from far-Right activists, the life of Anita (not her real name), a high school student from the German town of Kassel, has changed dramatically.
"I always look around me, to check whether I'm being followed," she told Ynet.
Anita's experience represents the new and effective methods exercised by the radical Right in the country against those who try to oppose them.
The affair began several weeks ago, after the students council at Anita's school published a poster inviting students to participate in a conference against Nazism.
In the middle of the night, Anita, one of the event's organizers, received a telephone call from an unidentified person, who yelled, "Heil Hitler" and then hung up.
On the following morning, her cell phone rang, and a caller warned her, "We're watching your every step." After that, the calls kept coming, and became even more menacing.
Because of those calls, Anita no longer dares to stay at home alone, and when her roommates are out, she takes refuge at her parents' house.
'Nazis getting more professional'
"Anita's case is not an isolated one," explained Carsten Meyer, an investigative journalist who has been following the German far-Right for the last 20 years. "The Nazis are beginning to get organized. They are more daring, better organized, and what's most worrying of all – more professional."
Meyer is always very careful in his meetings with members of the radical Right, and he has reason to be. Reports of an increase in violent attacks by rightists have been registered all across Germany in the past year.
"Their aim is to terrorize in order to silence people and make them stop operating against the far-Right," Meyer said. In East Germany, where the Right has had impressive success in the last elections, there are already villages leftists dare not visit.
Meyer discovered recently that rightist hackers broke into the databases of anti-fascist websites and then published on the net the personal details of all those who ordered anti-Nazi stickers or books through the sites.
The list's declared purpose was to "Smash the reds!" and the phone numbers and addresses posted alongside the names were meant to be used to harass and threaten by phone or mail.
However, the activity does not stop there. Some of the activists also show up at left-wing rallies and violently attempt to disperse the participants. Members are also sent by the neo-Nazi youth movement to join youth and sport clubs in a bid to take over them from within. "In this they are trying to follow the example of radical Islamic groups, like Hamas," Meyer said.
Increased police operations
The police are fully aware of the problem, and are making intensive efforts to stop the radical rightists. "We're not blind," told Ynet Wolfgang Jungnitsch,
spokesperson for the Kassel police. He said that the police have increased their operations against the Nazis, and that almost any Nazi event is being immediately broken up by the cops.
In West Germany the phenomenon is still marginal. For example in Kassel, a city of 200,000 residents, Meyer estimates that there are no more than 80 activists. "They are still a few, but it must be kept in mind that a few people can terrorize an entire town if they are well organized, and the Nazis here are definitely learning."
However, democratic activists, like Anita, are not giving up the struggle against the violent neo-Nazis. "If I give up, who will do this work? For me, the fight against Nazism has become persona. We are all responsible for preventing dark things from happening in Germany again. I'm now fighting for my country's democratic character," Anita concluded.
