Neo-Nazis threaten antifascists with fake obituaries
Anti-Nazi activists based around Nuremberg in Germany receive death threats in the form of their own obituaries from neo-Nazi email
“He will only be missed by the antifascists and the Jewish Union,” a fake obituary reads in stark black letters. It was sent by neo-Nazis to Ulrich Schneeweiss, a secretary for the German trade union Verdi, by mail. The sender: nationalsozialisten-franken@mivu.in.
Apart from Schneeweiss, three other anti-Nazi activists have received similar emails with their personal obituary – the social scientist Birgit Mair; freelancer journalist Jonas Miller, who works for weekly newspaper Die ZEIT and public broadcast Bayerischer Rundfunk; and the director of the Social Democrats in Nuremberg, Rüdiger Löster. Löster used to be the director of EndstationRechts.Bayern, an online portal that provides information on right-wing extremists in Bavaria and which is run by the Social Democrats.
'An assault on everybody who fights Nazis'
All of the above are based in the area of Nuremberg in Bavaria, in the south of Germany. Over the weekend, they have gone public with the death threats, publishing them online and releasing a collective statement. The four have also reported it to the police.
“The current attack will be seen as what it is,” the statement reads. “An assault on scientists, unionists and journalists that fight for a free, tolerant and just society, and at the same time an assault on everybody who is involved in fighting Nazis.” All of the four antifascists have announced that they will continue their fight against neo-Nazis despite the threats.
Schneeweiss, Miller and co. think of the fake obituaries as a typical example of neo-Nazi tactics. Social scientist Miller says in the statement that mass threats towards opponents is a classic move of neo-Nazis, who rely on intimidation and violence. She says it is a specific expression of their inhuman ideology – and it’s not new.
The Third Way and The Right
Endstation Rechts writes that the four activists attribute the threats to people affiliated with German neo-Nazi parties “Der Dritte Weg” (The Third Way) or “Die Rechte” (The Right). Members of “Die Rechte” in Bavaria were taken into custody in October after police raided their homes. They were accused of having planned attacks on two refugee homes in Bavaria.
In Nuremberg and elsewhere, Die Rechte and Der Dritte Weg are also interwoven with Pegida, the right wing movement that has since last year been staging weekly marches in several German cities.
Unionist Schneeweiss is quoted as saying that the neo-Nazis in Nuremberg had become frustrated because their parades and marches didn’t gain them any new members and the public was still protesting against them.
Not the first incident – previous threats in Dortmund
The Nuremberg obituary incident might be the first for Bavaria, but it is not the first one in Germany. In February, similar death threats with fake obituaries were sent out to journalists in the city of Dortmund in Nordrhine-Westfalia, in the west of Germany. All of the journalists threatened were experienced reporters who had been covering the neo-Nazi scene in Nordrhine-Westfalia for a long time. At the time, they reported an offense to the police because of the incident.
Dortmund in particular is a center for Neo-Nazis with a very active scene. In 2012, the group “Nationaler Widerstand” (National Resistance) was forbidden. In the same year neo-Nazi party “Die Rechte” was founded and several former members of Nationaler Widerstand joined the party.
Die Rechte even holds one seat in the Dortmund city council, which used to be held by Siegfried Borchardt, known as “SS-Siggi.” His successor, Dennis Giemsch, became (in)famous when he asked the local authorities how many Jewish people lived in Dortmund and in which neighbourhoods they were registered.
