A prominent Jewish leader in Germany has called for the establishment of a special European police force to deal with the growing phenomenon of neo-Nazi activity. Michael Friedman, deputy chairman of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, said in a newspaper interview that the purpose of such a force would be to observe neo-Nazi activities, collect data and prevent violence.
Friedman’s proposal came early last week, following a weekend when police were busy dealing with at least four separate incidents of neo-Nazi activity, all of which took place in parts of the former East Germany.
In one incident, police arrested 10 youths belonging to the so-called Viking paramilitary neo-Nazi group who were found taking part in combat exercises in a forest near Weimar. In another, police arrested four suspects after some 20 extreme rightists vandalized a pub in the eastern German city of Merseburg.
And this past weekend, police reportedly arrested hundreds of neo-Nazi skinheads in separate incidents in the northern city of Hanover, in the northwestern city of Bremen and in Gotha, located in the eastern German state of Thuringia.
The ongoing neo-Nazi violence has prompted a key member of Germany’s main opposition Social Democratic Party to warn that violence by right-wing extremists amounts to “a direct danger to the internal peace” of Germany.
Gunter Verheugen, chairman of the Social Democratic caucus in the Bundestag, the lower house of the German legislature, said that ill-conceived governmental policies were setting the stage for the growth of neo-Nazi movements.
He blamed the government’s housing policy and the lack of employment opportunities as the leading causes for the spread of the radical right.
In an effort to demonstrate popular opposition to neo-Nazi activities, Verheugen declared Sept. 17 as a day of “resistance against the right.”
This coming weekend may provide a test of how the German authorities deal with the growing number of neo-Nazi adherents.
German radicals in Bremen have asked the authorities there for a permit to hold a mass rally on Aug. 13 to commemorate Rudolf Hess, Adolf Hitler’s deputy, who died in Berlin’s Spandau prison seven years ago.
Some 1,000-2,000 neo-Nazis are expected to participate in the rally, which has become an annual tradition.
Local authorities are reportedly checking whether they have any legal grounds to reject the request.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
