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The Neo-Nazi movement is identified by devotion to Adolf Hitler, the national insignia of Nazi Germany (e.g. the swastika), and other features specific to Germany from the period 1933 to 1945. These usually include anti-Semitism, racism, and/or xenophobia. These groups often draw membership from people who blame their society's problems, such as the disintegration of national unity and culture, and multicultural friction, on non-white immigrants and an alleged Jewish conspiracy. Some Neo-Nazi groups espouse violence, and for this reason they are a source of concern to law enforcement. Many Neo-Nazi groups also espouse Holocaust denial or Historical revisionism, claiming that the Holocaust slaughter of 6,000,000 Jews is a lie, and that the German Nazi government had no extermination policy, or at least that the extent of the Holocaust is greatly exaggerated.
It is not known whether Neo-Nazi Holocaust revisionists believe these claims or if it is simply a means to make their ideology more palatable by removing the blemish of the Holocaust.
Significant people in the effort to revive Nazism include Colin Jordan, George Lincoln RockwellGeorge Lincoln Rockwell ( March 9, 1918 August 25, 1967) was the founder of the American Nazi Party and perhaps the most prominent American neo-Nazi leader. Rockwell grew up with divorced parents, both of whom were famous vaudeville comedians and actors,, William PierceWilliam Luther Pierce ( September 11, 1933 July 23, 2002) was an associate of the American Nazi Party (ANP) and one of the most prominent ideologues of the white nationalist movement. D physicist, he rose to prominence in the white separatist movement fol, Savitri DeviSavitri Devi ( September 30, 1905 October 22, 1982) was a Franco- Greek woman who became enamored with Hinduism and National Socialism, linking the Aryan invasion theory' to Adolf Hitler, and proclaiming him an avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu. Her writings, and David MyattDavid Wulstan Myatt (born 1950) has been the author of numerous tracts advocating National-Socialism, radical Islam, and what he calls The Numinous Way of Folk Culture and Cosmic Ethics. Early years Myatt grew up in Africa where his father was employed by.
Nazi iconography remains to this day heavily restricted in Germany. As German law forbids the production of Nazi devotionalia, such items come mostly (illegally) from the USAThe United States of America also referred to as the United States U. America ¹ or the States is a federal republic in central North America, stretching from the Atlantic in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west. It shares land borders with Canada in and northern European countries. Current Neo-Nazi websites mostly depend on hosting in the USA and Canada, and use other terms for Nazi ideas and symbols -- for example, the swastika may be referred to as a sun disc, sun wheel, hooked cross, wolf's cross, wolf's hook, black sun, or dark star.
In GermanyThe Federal Republic of Germany ( German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland is one of the world's leading industrialized countries, located in the middle of the European Union. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark and the Baltic Sea, to the east immediately after World War IIWorld War II was the most extensive and costly armed conflict in the history of the world, involving the great majority of the world's nations, being fought simultaneously in several major theatres, and costing tens of millions of lives. The war was fough, Allied forces and the new German governments attempted to prevent the creation of new Nazi movements through a process known as denazificationDenazification was an Allied initiative to rid German and Austrian society, culture, press, economy, judiciary and politics of any remnants of the Nazi regime, specifically by removing those involved from positions of influence and by disbanding or render. With this and the total defeat of the Nazi regime, there was little overt neo-Nazi activity in Europe until the 1960s. Some former Nazis retained their ideology and racist beliefs, however, and passed them down to new generations.
In the 1990s, after German reunification, Neo-Nazi groups succeeded in gaining more followers, mostly among teenagers in Eastern Germany. Many were new groups that arose amidst the economic collapse and subsequent high unemployment in the former East Germany. The activities of these groups resulted in several violent attacks on foreigners and creating a hostile atmosphere for foreigners in some towns. The violence manifested itself especially in attempts to burn down the homes for people in search of asylum in Germany.
("Arson attack" is a translation of the German word Brandanschlag, which implies throwing Molotov cocktails into houses (fire-bombing), and attempts to burn a house down.)
These events preceded demonstrations (Lichterketten) with hundreds of thousands of participants against right-extremist violence in many German cities. These further precipitated other massive neo-Nazi demonstrations later on, which continue today. Demonstrations often erupt in violence as Nazis and their anti-Fascist counter-protestors clash in the streets.
The official German statistics for the year 1990 record 178 right-extremist motivated crimes of violence (Gewalttaten), in 1991 there were 849 and in 1992 there were 1,485, with a significant concentration in the eastern Bundesländer (1999: 2,19 crimes per 100,000 inhabitants in the eastern Bundesländer and 0,68 in the western ones). After 1992 the numbers went down. Because the strong public opinion and media coverage concerning Neo-Nazi ideologies is extremely negative, organized attempts of those groups get ended quickly by local authorities when they reach a certain size.
A trial was held before the Bundesverfassungsgericht, the highest court in Germany, about the prohibition of the NPD, considered a right-extremist party. In the course of the trial it was discovered that some high-ranking party members who should appear as witnesses worked as undercover agents for the secret services, the Verfassungsschutz. The trial turned into a major political scandal, was first temporarily suspended and finally rejected by the court because of the unclear influence of agents in the actions and image of the NPD. In 2004, the NPD received 9.1% of the vote in the parliamentary elections for Saxony, thus earning the right to seat parliament members. The other parties are refusing to enter into discussion with the NPD.