Late News Development Neo-nazi Gang in Germany Reported Linked to Bombing in Antwerp

A neo-Nazi gang involved in a gun-battle with police near Munich Tuesday night was linked today to the bomb blast outside an Antwerp synagogue Tuesday morning which claimed two lives and to the Palestine Liberation Organization. The connection, reported by the West German State Television, was not directly confirmed by police or the domestic security service.

But both sources said the neo-Nazi organization, called “Peoples Socialist Movement” has well established links with similar groups abroad, including the PLO. One of the three neo-Nazis who survived the shoot-out with police in which two of the gang were killed, was identified today as Peter Hamberger, 18, who was trained at an El Fatah camp in Lebanon. According to West German television, one of the Nazis shot dead in the encounter probably played a role in the Antwerp bombing.

According to the Bavarian security services, the neo-Nazi group was founded in Krefeld in 1971 and moved its headquarters to Munich in 1975. It is headed by Friedhelm Busse, 52, who was arrested in Munich yesterday following the shoot-out. Police said they found a large quantity of arms and ammunition in his home. Busse also runs a youth organization called the “Young Front” which hands out leaflets and marches in neo-Nazi demonstrations.

His “Peoples Socialist Movement” has participated in local elections but failed to win any seats. Its stated aim is to replace the democratic form of government in West Germany. At its annual conference in Munich last year it called for the expulsion to Israel of the “Jewish instigator,” Heinz Galinski, chairman of the Jewish Community in West Berlin, a ban on the official organ of the West German Jewish community and a ban on the entry to Germany of Nazi-hunter Simon Wiesenthal. The party also demands that the post World War II Nuremberg war crimes trial verdicts be overturned.