Report Shows Germany Still Has 119 Extremist, Neo-nazi Groups

There were still 119 extremist organizations in existence in West Germany by the end of 1964, many of them neo-Nazi and anti-Semitic, carrying on anti-Jewish campaigns both openly and covertly, the American Jewish Committee reported here today. In Austria, the report stated, more than 40 such groups have been formed in the last 10 years.

In a survey of neo-Nazi activities in Europe coinciding with the 20th anniversary of the defeat of Hitlerism, the American Jewish Committee’s foreign affairs department found that, on the whole, “the hundreds of neo-Nazi and splinter groups organized throughout Europe in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s have lost members and strength during the past decade.” but the racist ideas and political themes advocated by the remaining groups were declared to have gained currency and prestige, the report added.

The remaining groups, the report declared, carry on publicly a campaign deriding the fact that the Nazis had murdered 6,000,000 Jews calling such reports “a fable.” Undercover, and often in alliance with Arab groups, the report warned, the neo-Nazi organizations are trying to prevent adoption by the forthcoming session of the Ecumenical Council, at the Vatican, of the proposed Catholic Church declaration which would finally repudiate the ancient charges of Jewish responsibility for the death of Jesus. The report noted several “dangerous factors” of the present situation. These are:

1.) Support for anti-Semitic and right-radical groups in Europe and South America by the Nasser Government and the Arab League, as evidenced by the recent exposure of a neo-Nazi underground in Sweden.

2.) The attraction to right-wing ideologies of large numbers of university students.

3.) The increased currency and prestige of certain racist and political themes that were advanced almost solely by neo-Nazis in the early postwar period. “While crude racist theories are still anathema,” the report pointed out, “emphasis on ethnic or national ‘personality’ is much more widespread today than a few years ago.”

ESCAPE ROUTES FORMED FOR WAR CRIMINALS; RIGHT-WING PRESS GROWS

Apart from survival, these extremist groups have shown skill in various forms of cooperation, the Committee’s report added, giving as examples: The creation of escape routes for war criminals, the continual shipment of extremist literature across frontiers, and the ability to exploit trouble and tension, as with French difficulties in Algeria, social strife in Belgium, and Austrian-Italian conflict over the Alto Adige region.

The Committee pointed to the growth of the right-wing press and publications both in France and Germany as “the right extremists’ most notable achievement of late.” In addition to former Nazis, ex-generals, and right radicals, one writer often quoted by the right propagandists is the American historian, Dr. David Hoggan, whose 898-page book, ‘The Enforced War,’ casts the British as the villains who caused World War II and Hitler as their victim.

“Right-wing heroes are getting a greater play than at any time during the past two decades,” the report stated, adding: “renewed interest in World Wars I and II is warmly welcomed by all the right-radical groups for it offers them another opportunity to impress the youth and to argue for a ‘rewriting of history.’

“With Jews rarely an open target today, extremist groups in Europe seem to be concentrating their attention on the racial and ethnic minorities who are migrating across national boundaries as part of the widespread movement to meet Europe’s labor shortages.

While differences of opinion may exist as to what the future of the neo-Nazis and right radical will be, the American Jewish Committee concluded: “There is general agreement, however, that if the relatively stable climate of present-day Europe should be disturbed by social, economic or political crisis, extremist groups would gain considerably in strength and influence.”