In what has become an annual ritual, 30 neo-Nazis were arrested Saturday in the German cities of Bayreuth and Wunsiedel as they marked the fifth anniversary of the death of Nazi leader Rudolf Hess.
Although the initial demonstrations took place in Bavaria, by Saturday evening they had spread to Rudolstadt, a town in the federal state of Thuringia, formerly part of East Germany.
Some 2,000 activists held an illegal rally there in which banners decrying Jews and foreigners were unfurled. Several youths wore illegal Nazi emblems on their clothes and gave the outlawed Nazi salute.
Police blocked roads to the small town and made arrests among the demonstrators, who were protesting what they claim was the murder of Hess in Berlin’s Spandau prison five years ago.
While the wartime Allies who ran the prison have said all along that Hess committed suicide, neo-Nazis have spread the story that their idol was deliberately murdered.
Police made arrests in Bayreuth, the Bavarian town dedicated to a yearly performance of operas by Richard Wagner, the 19th-century anti-Semitic composer.
In a separate demonstration, opponents of the neo-Nazis protested their rally and tried to disrupt it. But a heavy police presence prevented physical contacts between the two groups.
In Wunsiedel, where Hess was buried, a dozen neo-Nazis attempted to stage a commemorative service at his tomb. But police, informed in advance, surrounded the cemetery and arrested anyone who sought access there.
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.
