The Interior Ministry warned today of growing activity and cooperation among neo-Nazi organizations and their increased willingness to resort to violence.
The Ministry’s concern was expressed in a report, released in Kiel, of right-wing activity in the federal state of Schleswig-Holstein in northeast Germany. The report said that of 150 neo-Nazis registered in Kiel, 35 indicated they were prepared to engage in terrorist activities and other forms of violence. The number of neo-Nazis according to a broader criterion was placed at 700.
ALARMED OVER COOPERATION
The Ministry report said it was “alarming” that cooperation has increased between neo-Nazi organizations at home and abroad. It described a Frankfurt-based group called “Help Organization for National Prisoners” as the “possible roof organization for all neo-Nazi groups.”
The report said that compared to the post, neo-Nazi groups and individuals have dropped many restraints on the use of fire arms. There is more readiness among their sympathizers and supporters to supply moral and political help to extremists, the report said.
It defined the neo-Nazi National Democratic Party (NDP), however, only as a rightwing political body. Some 12,000 people demonstrated in Augsburg today against the NDP’s convention there. A trade union leader urged the government to ban all neo-Nazi organizations in the country. The anti-Nazi rally in Augsburg included public hearings on the worldwide connections of right-wing groups.
Meanwhile, the weekly Der Spiegel disclosed that at least one federal state allows taxpayers to deduct private donations to neo-Nazi bodies.
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