West German police raided hundreds of homes in North Rhine-Westphalia and Bavaria yesterday to seize tons of neo-Nazi and anti-Semitic propaganda material smuggled into the country from abroad. No arrests were made but it was indicated that the raids, conducted in strictest secrecy, were intended to gather evidence for future prosecutions.
The targets were the homes of known extreme right-wingers suspected of distributing racist material outlawed in West Germany. Tens of thousands of leaflets were seized, calling for action against Jews and denying that the Holocaust ever occurred. The material was said to have originated in the U.S. and Canada. It included records and tapes of speeches made by Hitler.
The raids, said to have been the largest crackdown on neo-Nazis since the Federal Republic was established in 1949, followed the disclosure by security authorities last week of an alarming upsurge of anti-Semitic acts during the past year. These included the daubing of swastikas and Nazi slogans on synagogues, Jewish monuments and other Jewish property, the vandalization of Jewish cemeteries and threats against the lives of Jewish community leaders.
According to the public prosecutors office in Stuttgart, the raids hit more than 450 homes and involved more than 600 suspected neo-Nazis. In Ulm, police seized a quantity of arms and ammunition in addition to the propaganda leaflets.
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