120-660: The National Socialist Underground (German: Nationalsozialistischer Untergrund , pronounced [natsi̯oˌnaːlzotsi̯alɪstɪʃɐ ˈʊntɐˌɡʁʊnt] ), or NSU ( German: [ɛnʔɛsˈʔuː] ), was a German neo-Nazi militant organization active between 2001 and 2010, and uncovered in November 2011. Regarded as a terror cell , the NSU is mostly associated with Uwe Mundlos , Uwe Böhnhardt and Beate Zschäpe , who lived together under false identities. Between 100 and 150 further associates were identified who supported
240-489: A Berlin –Moscow alliance against the supposedly "decadent" Atlanticist forces; a dream which had been thematic since the days of Remer. Zündel visited Russia and met with ex-KGB general Aleksandr Stergilov and other Russian National Unity members. Despite these initial aspirations, international neo-Nazism and its close affiliates in ultra-nationalism would be split over the Bosnian War between 1992 and 1995, as part of
360-448: A CZ 83 silenced weapon , which had been used throughout the NSU's serial murders , as well as a number of other guns in the remains of the house. Further, a DVD was found with images of three of the dead persons that had been taken immediately after the killings. On 13 November 2011, Holger Gerlach [ de ] , a possible fourth member of the NSU, was arrested and brought before
480-473: A Strasserite "nationalist and socialist" policy, which dissolved in 1962 due to lack of support. Other Third Reich associated groups were the HIAG and Stille Hilfe dedicated to advancing the interests of Waffen-SS veterans and rehabilitating them into the new democratic society. However, they did not claim to be attempting to restore Nazism, instead functioning as lobbying organizations for their members before
600-462: A blood and soil variation of environmentalism, which has themes in common with deep ecology , the organic movement and animal protectionism . This tendency, sometimes called " ecofascism ", was represented in the original German Nazism by Richard Walther Darré who was the Reichsminister of Food from 1933 until 1942. Following the defeat of Nazi Germany , the political ideology of
720-401: A pietà in carved and painted wood by Peter Breuer . The late Gothic church of St. Catharine has an altar piece ascribed to Lucas Cranach the elder , and is remembered because Thomas Müntzer was once pastor there (1520–22). The city hall was begun in 1404 and rebuilt many times since. The municipal archives include documents dating back to the 13th century. Early printed books from
840-602: A " Fourth Reich ". Holocaust denial is common in neo-Nazi circles. Neo-Nazis regularly display Nazi symbols and express admiration for Adolf Hitler and other Nazi leaders. In some European and Latin American countries, laws prohibit the expression of pro-Nazi, racist, antisemitic, or homophobic views. Nazi-related symbols are banned in many European countries (especially Germany ) in an effort to curtail neo-Nazism. The term neo-Nazism describes any post- World War II militant, social or political movements seeking to revive
960-767: A brief intelligence "brown scare". Later leaders of American white nationalism came to politics through the ANP, including a teenage David Duke and William Luther Pierce of the National Alliance , although they soon distanced themselves from explicit self-identification with neo-Nazism. In 1961, the World Union of National Socialists was founded by Rockwell and Colin Jordan of the British National Socialist Movement , adopting
1080-604: A clearly sympathetic view of Hitler and the publisher Ernst Zündel was deeply tied to international neo-Nazism), however, the main interest of Holocaust denial to neo-Nazis was their hope that it would help them rehabilitate their political ideology in the eyes of the general public. Did Six Million Really Die? (1974) by Richard Verrall and The Hoax of the Twentieth Century (1976) by Arthur Butz are popular examples of Holocaust denial material. Key developments in international neo-Nazism during this time include
1200-607: A consequence, some members of the nascent movement of German neo-Nazism joined the Deutsche Reichspartei of which Hans-Ulrich Rudel was the most prominent figure. Younger members founded the Wiking-Jugend modelled after the Hitler Youth . The Deutsche Reichspartei stood for elections from 1953 until 1961 fetching around 1% of the vote each time. Rudel befriended French-born Savitri Devi , who
1320-445: A depth of over 1,000 metres. In 1992 Zwickau's last coke oven plant was closed. Many industrial branches developed in the city in the wake of the coal mining industry: mining equipment, iron and steel works, textile, machinery in addition to chemical, porcelain, paper, glass, dyestuffs, wire goods, tinware, stockings, and curtains. There were also steam saw-mills, diamond and glass polishing works, iron-foundries, and breweries. In 1904
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#17327733260051440-646: A guerrilla group in Germany since the end of the far-left Red Army Faction ". Mundlos (* 1973), Zschäpe (* 1975) and Böhnhardt (* 1977) all came from the East German city of Jena . They became friends in the youth club "Winzerclub" in Jena-Winzerla, which Mundlos frequented since 1991. Here he met and became friends with Zschäpe, later also Böhnhardt. Other later supporters of the trio such as Ralf Wohlleben and André Kapke were also frequent guests of
1560-578: A homemade bomb large enough to make "a car explode". The leading suspect, B.T., was organizing the trafficking of weapons and was developing international links, in particular with the Dutch far-right movement De Nationale Alliantie . The neo-Nazi white nationalist organization Bosanski Pokret Nacionalnog Ponosa ( Bosnian Movement of National Pride ) was founded in Bosnia and Herzegovina in July 2009. Its model
1680-403: A judge at Germany's Federal Court of Justice the following day, who ordered him to be placed in police custody. The German Attorney General's Office wanted Gerlach detained on suspicion of membership in a terrorist group. However the court's investigating judge only authorized Gerlach to be detained on suspicion of supporting a terrorist organization. Gerlach was accused of renting a motorhome for
1800-533: A late World War II general known for his antisemitic and pro-Nazi stance. From 2003 to 2019, the annual event was hosted by Bulgarian National Union. Neo-Nazis in Croatia base their ideology on the writings of Ante Pavelić and the Ustaše , a fascist anti-Yugoslav separatist movement. The Ustaše regime committed a genocide against Serbs , Jews and Roma . At the end of World War II , many Ustaše members fled to
1920-818: A municipal park. Near the city are the Hartenstein area, for example, with Stein and Wolfsbrunn castles and the Prinzenhöhle cave, as well as the Auersberg peak (1019 meters) and the winter sports areas around Johanngeorgenstadt and the Vogtland. In the Old Town the Cathedral and the Gewandhaus (cloth merchants' hall) originate in the 16th century and when Schneeberg silver was traded. In the 19th century
2040-525: A neo-Spenglerian author, had written Imperium: The Philosophy of History and Politics (1949) dedicated to "the hero of the twentieth century" (namely, Adolf Hitler) and founded the European Liberation Front . He was interested more in the destiny of Europe; to this end, he advocated a National Bolshevik -esque red-brown alliance against American culture and influenced 1960s figures such as SS-veteran Jean-François Thiriart . Yockey
2160-641: A new paganism . In the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) a former member of SA , Wilhelm Adam , founded the National Democratic Party of Germany . It reached out to those attracted by the Nazi Party before 1945 and provide them with a political outlet, so that they would not be tempted to support the far-right again or turn to the anti-communist Western Allies. Joseph Stalin wanted to use them to create
2280-670: A new pro-Soviet and anti-Western strain in German politics. According to top Soviet diplomat Vladimir Semyonov, Stalin even suggested that they could be allowed to continue publishing their own newspaper, Völkischer Beobachter . While in Austria, former SS member Wilhelm Lang founded an esoteric group known as the Vienna Lodge ; he popularised Nazism and occultism such as the Black Sun and ideas of Third Reich survival colonies below
2400-696: A paramilitary wing; Combat 18 , which intersected with football hooligan firms such as the Chelsea Headhunters . The neo-Nazi skinhead movement spread to the United States, with groups such as the Hammerskins . It was popularised from 1986 onwards by Tom Metzger of the White Aryan Resistance . Since then it has spread across the world. Films such as Romper Stomper (1992) and American History X (1998) would fix
2520-685: A popular Croatian singer, was attended by 60,000 people, some of them wearing Ustaše uniforms. Some gave Ustaše salutes and shouted the Ustaše slogan " Za dom spremni " ("For the homeland – ready!"). This event prompted the Simon Wiesenthal Center to publicly issue a protest to the Croatian president. Cases of displaying Ustashe memorabilia have been recorded at the Bleiburg commemoration held annually in Austria. The government of
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#17327733260052640-585: A public airfield which takes light aircraft, and by bike along the Zwickau Mulde River on the so-called Mulderadweg. The region around Zwickau was settled by Sorbs as early as the 7th century AD. The name Zwickau is probably a Germanization of the Sorbian toponym Šwikawa , which derives from Svarozič , the Slavic Sun and fire god. In the 10th century, German settlers began arriving and
2760-497: A public perception that neo-Nazism and skinheads were synonymous. New developments also emerged on the esoteric level, as former Chilean diplomat Miguel Serrano built on the works of Carl Jung , Otto Rahn , Wilhelm Landig , Julius Evola and Savitri Devi to bind together and develop already existing theories. Serrano had been a member of the National Socialist Movement of Chile in the 1930s and from
2880-711: A red flag incorporating the Swastika under the banner of Russia for Russians . These forces came together in a last gasp effort to save the Supreme Soviet of Russia against Boris Yeltsin during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis . As well as events in Russia, in newly independent ex-Soviet states, annual commemorations for SS volunteers now took place; particularly in Latvia , Estonia and Ukraine . The Russian developments excited German neo-Nazism who dreamed of
3000-560: A series of murders of nine immigrants of Turkish, Greek and Kurdish descent between 9 September 2000 and 6 April 2006; the murder of a policewoman and attempted murder of her colleague; a 1999 bombing in Nuremberg; the 2001 and 2004 Cologne bombings ; and a series of 14 bank robberies . The Attorney General of Germany called the NSU a "right-wing extremist group whose purpose was to kill foreigners, and citizens of foreign origin". The NSU attacks have been regarded as "the most violent by
3120-565: A silenced CZ 83 handgun. As the NSU continued its attacks, authorities initially struggled to connect the murders to a single group, attributing them to organized crime, with security services blaming the Turkish mafia for the attacks. On 4 November 2011, after a bank robbery in Eisenach , Mundlos and Böhnhardt were found shot dead in a burning motorhome. Police said that the two set the vehicle on fire and killed themselves when their vehicle
3240-499: A state of shock, even though right-wing terrorism has historical roots in Germany. After the underlying ideological pattern of the crimes became known by the public, Chancellor Angela Merkel stated on 14 November 2011 that she wanted to consider a ban of the National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD) to weaken the power of extremist right-wing groups. It became known that an officer of the Hessian State Office for
3360-456: A tunnel after a rehearsal. Ilin subsequently accused Estonian police of indifference after filing the incident. When a dark-skinned French student was attacked in Tartu , the head of an association of foreign students claimed that the attack was characteristic of a wave of neo-Nazi violence. An Estonian police official, however, stated that there were only a few cases involving foreign students over
3480-477: A wave of anti-immigration populism and concerns over British national decline. Televised exposes on This Week in 1974 and World in Action in 1978, showed their neo-Nazi pedigree and damaged their electoral chances. In 1967, Rockwell was killed by a disgruntled former member. Matthias Koehl took control of the ANP, and strongly influenced by Savitri Devi, gradually transformed it into an esoteric group known as
3600-662: Is Bosnian nationalism because it secures national prosperity and social justice..." The group is led by a person nicknamed Sauberzwig, after the commander of the 13th SS Handschar. The group's strongest area of operations is in the Tuzla area of Bosnia. The primary neo-Nazi political party to receive attention in post-WWII Bulgaria is the Bulgarian National Union – New Democracy . On 13 February of every year since 2003, Bulgarian neo-Nazis and like-minded far-right nationalists gather at Sofia to honor Hristo Lukov ,
3720-545: Is a National Socialist movement in Armenia . It was founded in 2021 and supports Aryanism , Antisemitism, and White supremacy. A Belgian neo-Nazi organization, Bloed, Bodem, Eer en Trouw (Blood, Soil, Honour and Loyalty), was created in 2004 after splitting from the international network ( Blood and Honour ). The group rose to public prominence in September 2006, after 17 members (including 11 soldiers) were arrested under
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3840-686: Is casting Germany's security apparatus into public disrepute for an obvious, complete failure and is causing sarcastic comments from the press. On 2 July 2012, the President of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution , Heinz Fromm , resigned from his post shortly after it was revealed that on 12 November 2011, employees, most notably Axel Minrath (code name: Lothar Lingen), of his agency had destroyed files connected with
3960-522: Is considered a particular form of far-right politics and right-wing extremism. Neo-Nazi writers have posited a spiritual, esoteric doctrine of race , which moves beyond the primarily Darwinian -inspired materialist scientific racism popular mainly in the Anglosphere during the 20th century. Figures influential in the development of neo-Nazi racism, such as Miguel Serrano and Julius Evola (writers who are described by critics of Nazism such as
4080-603: Is situated in the valley of the Zwickau Mulde (German: Zwickauer Mulde ; progression: Mulde → Elbe → North Sea ), and lies in a string of cities sitting in the densely populated foreland of the Elster and Ore Mountains stretching from Plauen in the southwest via Zwickau, Chemnitz and Freiberg to Dresden in the northeast. Zwickau is the seat of the Zwickau District , the most densely populated district in
4200-662: Is the Waffen-SS Handschar Division , which was composed of Bosniak volunteers. It proclaimed its main enemies to be "Jews, Roma , Serbian Chetniks , the Croatian separatists , Josip Broz Tito , Communists , homosexuals and blacks ". Its ideology is a mixture of Bosnian nationalism , National Socialism and white nationalism . It says "Ideologies that are not welcome in Bosnia are: Zionism, Islamism, communism, capitalism. The only ideology good for us
4320-643: The Cotswold Declaration . French socialite Françoise Dior was involved romantically with Jordan and his deputy John Tyndall and a friend of Savitri Devi, who also attended the meeting. The National Socialist Movement wore quasi-SA uniforms, was involved in streets conflicts with the Jewish 62 Group . In the 1970s, Tyndall's earlier involvement with neo-Nazism would come back to haunt the National Front , which he led, as they attempted to ride
4440-876: The Audi Q4 e-tron began at the Zwickau-Mosel plant, marking the return of the manufacture of Audi badged cars in Zwickau for the first time in over 80 years. Two major industrial facilities of the Soviet SDAG Wismut were situated in the city: the uranium mill in Zwickau-Crossen, producing uranium concentrate from ores mined in the Erzgebirge and Thuringia, and the machine building plant in Zwickau-Cainsdorf producing equipment for
4560-677: The Czech Republic strictly punishes neo-Nazism ( Czech : Neonacismus ). According to a report by the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic , neo-Nazis committed more than 211 crimes in 2013. The Czech Republic has various neo-Nazi groups. One of them is the group Wotan Jugend, based in Germany. The National Socialist Movement of Denmark was formed in 1991, and was formally a neo nazi party, that would actively promote
4680-499: The Czech Republic . The core element of Zwickau's urban public transport system is the Zwickau tramway network ; the system is also the prototype of the so-called Zwickau Model for such systems. The closest airport is Leipzig-Altenburg , which has no scheduled commercial flights. The nearest major airports are Leipzig/Halle Airport and Dresden Airport , both of which offer a large number of national and international flights. In
4800-490: The Federal Office for Protection of the Constitution (BfV), Germany's domestic security agency. The BfV began cultivating informants from Germany's neo-Nazi groups in the early and mid-1990s to deal with the rise in anti-immigrant crime like the Rostock-Lichtenhagen riots of 1992. During the trial it became clear that BfV informants were aware or potentially aware of the homicides and other crimes attributed to
4920-575: The Greek Volunteer Guard ). Indeed, the revival of National Bolshevism was able to steal some of the thunder from overt Russian neo-Nazism, as ultra-nationalism was wedded with veneration of Joseph Stalin in place of Adolf Hitler, while still also flirting with Nazi aesthetics. Outside Germany, in other countries which were involved with the Axis powers and had their own native ultra-nationalist movements, which sometimes collaborated with
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5040-529: The Horch automobile plant was founded, followed by the Audi factory in 1909. In 1932 both brands were incorporated into Auto Union but retained their independent trademarks. Auto Union racing cars , developed by Ferdinand Porsche and Robert Eberan von Eberhorst , driven by Bernd Rosemeyer , Hans Stuck , Tazio Nuvolari , Ernst von Delius , became well known nationally and internationally. During World War II,
5160-553: The National Renaissance Party , including James H. Madole , H. Keith Thompson and Eustace Mullins ( protégé of Ezra Pound ) and the Liberty Lobby of Willis Carto . Rockwell, an American conservative, was first politicised in the anti-communism and anti- racial integration movements before becoming anti-Jewish. In response to his opponents calling him a "Nazi", he theatrically appropriated
5280-579: The National Socialist Movement of Denmark of Povl Riis-Knudsen and various German and Austrian figures who felt that the "National Democratic" parties were too bourgeois and insufficiently Nazi in orientation. This included Michael Kühnen , Christian Worch , Bela Ewald Althans and Gottfried Küssel of the 1977-founded ANS/NS which called for the establishment of a Germanic Fourth Reich . Some ANS/NS members were imprisoned for planning paramilitary attacks on NATO bases in Germany and planning to liberate Rudolf Hess from Spandau Prison . The organisation
5400-731: The New Order . In Franco's Spain , certain SS refugees most notably Otto Skorzeny , Léon Degrelle and the son of Klaus Barbie became associated with CEDADE ( Círculo Español de Amigos de Europa ), an organisation which disseminated Third Reich apologetics out of Barcelona . They intersected with neo-Nazi advocates from Mark Fredriksen in France to Salvador Borrego in Mexico. In the post-fascist Italian Social Movement splinter groups such as Ordine Nuovo and Avanguardia Nazionale , involved in
5520-412: The Southern Poverty Law Center as influential within what it presents as parts of "the bizarre fringes of National Socialism, past and present"), claim that the Hyperborean ancestors of the Aryans were in the distant past, far higher beings than their current state, having suffered from "involution" due to mixing with the "Telluric" peoples; supposed creations of the Demiurge . Within this theory, if
5640-417: The World Jewish Congress on the international stage. Waldheim's record was defended by Bruno Kreisky , an Austrian Jew who served as Chancellor of Austria. The legacy of the affair lingers on, as Victor Ostrovsky has claimed the Mossad doctored the file of Waldheim to implicate him in war crimes. Some critics have sought to draw a connection between Nazism and modern right-wing populism in Europe, but
5760-532: The breakup of Yugoslavia . The split would largely be along ethnic and sectarian lines. The Germans and the French would largely back the Western Catholic Croats (Lauck's NSDAP/AO explicitly called for volunteers , which Kühnen's Free German Workers' Party answered and the French formed the "Groupe Jacques Doriot "), while the Russians and the Greeks would back the Orthodox Serbs (including Russians from Barkashov's Russian National Unity, Eduard Limonov 's National Bolshevik Front and Golden Dawn members joined
5880-399: The collapse of the Soviet Union during the early 1990s, neo-Nazism began to spread its ideas in the East, as hostility to the triumphant liberal order was high and revanchism a widespread feeling. In Russia, during the chaos of the early 1990s, an amorphous mixture of KGB hardliners, Orthodox neo-Tsarist nostalgics (i.e., Pamyat ) and explicit neo-Nazis found themselves strewn together in
6000-463: The new states of Germany . Zwickau is the seat of the West Saxon University of Zwickau (German: Westsächsische Hochschule Zwickau ) with campuses in Zwickau, Markneukirchen , Reichenbach im Vogtland and Schneeberg (Erzgebirge) . The city is the birthplace of composer Robert Schumann . Zwickau has historically been one of the centres of the German automotive industry. It is the cradle of Audi and its forerunner Horch . Horchwerke AG Zwickau
6120-415: The " Years of Lead " considered Nazism a reference. Franco Freda created a " Nazi-Maoism " synthesis. In Germany itself, the various Third Reich nostalgic movements coalesced around the National Democratic Party of Germany in 1964 and in Austria the National Democratic Party in 1967 as the primary sympathisers of the NSDAP past, although more publicly cautious than earlier groups. Holocaust denial ,
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#17327733260056240-420: The "Aryans" are to return to the Golden Age of the distant past, they need to awaken the memory of the blood. An extraterrestrial origin of the Hyperboreans is often claimed. These theories draw influence from Gnosticism and Tantrism , building on the work of the Ahnenerbe . Within this racist theory, Jews are held up as the antithesis of nobility, purity and beauty. Neo-Nazism generally aligns itself with
6360-413: The 1960s were the former concentration camp personnel prosecuted by West Germany in the Belzec trial , Frankfurt Auschwitz trials , Treblinka trials , Chełmno trials , and the Sobibór trial . However, the government had passed laws prohibiting Nazis from publicly expressing their beliefs. Neo-Nazism found expression outside of Germany, including in countries who fought against the Third Reich during
6480-667: The Black Legion. The plaque remained there for four years, until it was removed by the authorities. In 2003, Croatian penal code was amended with provisions prohibiting the public display of Nazi symbols, the propagation of Nazi ideology, historical revisionism and holocaust denial but the amendments were annulled in 2004 since they were not enacted in accordance with a constitutionally prescribed procedure. Nevertheless, since 2006 Croatian penal code explicitly prohibits any type of hate crime based on race , color , gender , sexual orientation , religion or national origin. There have been instances of hate speech in Croatia, such as
6600-402: The December 2003 anti-terrorist laws and laws against racism, antisemitism and supporters of censorship. According to Justice Minister Laurette Onkelinx and Interior Minister Patrick Dewael , the suspects (11 of whom were members of the military) were preparing to launch terrorist attacks in order to "destabilize" Belgium . According to the journalist Manuel Abramowicz, of the Resistances,
6720-403: The FPÖ won 22 percent of the vote, as well as 33 percent of the vote in Carinthia and 22 percent in Vienna; showing that it had become a force capable of reversing the old pattern of Austrian politics. Historian Walter Laqueur writes that even though Haider welcomed former Nazis at his meetings and went out of his way to address Schutzstaffel (SS) veterans, the FPÖ is not a fascist party in
6840-550: The Freedom Party and formed the Alliance for Austria's Future , was killed in a traffic accident in October 2008. Barbara Rosenkranz , the Freedom Party's candidate in Austria's 2010 presidential election , was controversial for having made allegedly pro-Nazi statements. Rosenkranz is married to Horst Rosenkranz , a key member of a banned neo-Nazi party, who is known for publishing far-right books. Rosenkranz says she cannot detect anything "dishonourable" in her husband's activities. The Armenian-Aryan Racialist Political Movement
6960-400: The Jews were created by the Demiurge and were concerned only with coarse materialism . Serrano claimed that a new Golden Age can be attained if the Hyperboreans repurify their blood (supposedly the light of the Black Sun) and restore their " blood-memory ." As with Savitri Devi before him, Serrano's works became a key point of reference in neo-Nazism. With the fall of the Berlin Wall and
7080-455: The Middle Ages, historical documents, letters and books are kept in the City Archives (e.g. Meister Singer volumes by Hans Sachs (1494–1576)), and in the School Library founded by scholars and by the city clerk Stephan Roth during the Reformation. In 1520 Martin Luther dedicated his treatise "On the Freedom of the Christian Man" to his friend Hermann Muehlpfort, the Lord Mayor of Zwickau. The Anabaptist movement of 1525 began at Zwickau under
7200-438: The NSU and that this information was not shared with local police either accidentally or purposefully. All attempts made by the victims' legal team to examine this relationship have been buried by the prosecution team as irrelevant to the scope of the murder trial. On 11 July 2018, Zschäpe was convicted of murder on ten counts and sentenced to life imprisonment. Her accomplices were convicted as follows: The release of Eminger on
7320-516: The NSU began on 6 May 2013. On trial were: On 14 May, Federal Prosecutor Herbert Diemer read out the indictment against Beate Zschäpe. Diemer accused her of involvement in 10 murders and of being a member of a group whose aim was to "commit murder and criminal acts dangerous to public safety" in order to intimidate the public and "wreak major damage to the state." The only purpose of the National Socialist Underground , said Diemer, "was to kill people." Prosecutors deliberately and repeatedly stated that
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#17327733260057440-399: The NSU case immediately after their role in the murders became public and the agency itself had received a formal request from the German Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) to forward all information relevant to these crimes. Two more resignations of the presidents of the State Offices for the Protection of the Constitution in Thuringia and Saxony followed suit. The first trial against
7560-671: The NSU, which Böhnhardt and Mundlos went on to use in the murder of police officer Michèle Kiesewetter in Heilbronn . On 24 November 2011, agents from the German federal GSG 9 special police arrested André Eminger in Grabow. Eminger is suspected by the Attorney General of Germany to have produced a propaganda movie mocking the victims of the serial murders and claiming responsibility for the previously unknown NSU. The discovery that all these mysterious and unsolved high-profile crimes were committed in cold blood by one obscure, previously unknown "Nationalsozialistischer Untergrund" terror group, that went unnoticed for 13 years, plunged Germany into
7680-411: The National Front's Rock Against Communism project which was meant to counter the SWP 's Rock Against Racism . The most significant music group involved in this project was Skrewdriver , led by Ian Stuart Donaldson . Together with ex-BM member Nicky Crane , Donaldson founded the international Blood & Honour network in 1987. By 1992 this network, with input from Harold Covington , had developed
7800-414: The Nazi government operated a satellite camp of the Flossenbürg concentration camp in Zwickau which was sited near the Horch Auto Union plant. The Nazi administration built a hard labour prison camp at Osterstein Castle . Both camps were liberated by the US Army in 1945. On 1 August 1945 military administration was handed over to the Soviet Army. The Auto Union factories of Horch and Audi were dismantled by
7920-440: The Protection of the Constitution was inside the Internet café while its Turkish owner was killed by the NSU terrorists in 2006 in Kassel. This security agent (Andreas Temme) openly held right-wing views, and in his home village he was known by the nickname "Little Adolf". He has since been transferred to an administrative post (outside and unrelated to the agency). On 23 February 2012, an official state ceremony in commemoration of
8040-419: The SRP favoured the Soviet Union over the United States. In Austria , national independence had been restored, and the Verbotsgesetz 1947 explicitly criminalised the NSDAP and any attempt at restoration. West Germany adopted a similar law to target parties it defined as anti-constitutional; Article 21 Paragraph 2 in the Basic Law , banning the SRP in 1952 for being opposed to liberal democracy . As
8160-442: The Salesian Oratory in Poznań , known as the Poznań Five [ pl ] or five of the 108 Blessed Polish Martyrs of World War II , were imprisoned in Zwickau, before being executed in Dresden. A subcamp of the Flossenbürg concentration camp was located in Zwickau, whose prisoners were mostly Poles and Russians, but also Italians, French, Hungarians, Jews, Czechs, Germans and others. On 17 April 1945, US troops entered
8280-432: The Second World War, and sometimes adopted pan-European or "universal" characteristics, beyond the parameters of German nationalism . The two main tendencies, with differing styles and even worldviews, were the followers of the American Francis Parker Yockey , who was fundamentally anti-American and advocated for a pan-European nationalism , and those of George Lincoln Rockwell , an American conservative . Yockey,
8400-401: The Soviets; Auto Union relocated to Ingolstadt , Bavaria, evolving into the present day Audi company. In 1948 all large companies were seized by the East German government. With the founding of the German Democratic Republic in 1949 in East Germany, post-war reconstruction began. In 1958 the Horch and Audi factories were merged into the Sachsenring plant. At the Sachsenring automotive plant
8520-589: The Third Reich but were not technically German-style National Socialists, revivalist and nostalgic movements have emerged in the post-war period which, as neo-Nazism has done in Germany, seek to rehabilitate their various loosely associated ideologies. These movements include neo-fascists and post-fascists in Italy; Vichyites, Pétainists and "national Europeans" in France; Ustaše sympathisers in Croatia ; neo- Chetniks in Serbia; Iron Guard revivalists in Romania ; Hungarists and Horthyists in Hungary and others. The most significant case on an international level
8640-753: The West, where they found sanctuary and continued their political and terrorist activities (which were tolerated due to Cold War hostilities). In 1999, Zagreb's Square of the Victims of Fascism was renamed Croatian Nobles Square , provoking widespread criticism of Croatia's attitude towards the Holocaust . In 2000, the Zagreb City Council again renamed the square into Square of the Victims of Fascism . Many streets in Croatia were renamed after
8760-616: The aesthetic elements of the NSDAP, to "own" the intended insult. In 1959, Rockwell founded the American Nazi Party and instructed his members to dress in imitation SA -style brown shirts, while flying the flag of the Third Reich. In contrast to Yockey, he was pro-American and cooperated with FBI requests, despite the party being targeted by COINTELPRO due to the mistaken belief that they were agents of Nasser's Egypt during
8880-492: The automobile industry. The former VEB Sachsenring manufacturing site was acquired by Volkswagen in 1990 and has since been redeveloped as an engine and transmission manufacturing facility. Nowadays the headquarters of Volkswagen-Saxony Ltd. (a VW subsidiary) is in the northern part of Zwickau. Audi together with the city of Zwickau operates the August Horch Museum in the former Audi works. In 2021, production of
9000-482: The city and the nearby Ore Mountains . Zwickau is the birthplace of the composer Robert Schumann . The house where he was born in 1810 still stands in the marketplace. This is now called Robert Schumann House and is a museum dedicated to him. The histories of the Audi and Horch automobile factories are presented at the August Horch Museum Zwickau . The museum is an Anchor Point of
9120-473: The city centre there are three museums: an art museum from the 19th century and the houses of priests from 13th century, both located next to St. Mary's church. Just around the corner there is the Robert-Schumann museum. The museums offer different collections dedicated to the history of the city, as well as art and a mineralogical, palaeontological and geological collection with many specimens from
9240-482: The city in a south to north direction. It enters Zwickau between Zwickau-Cainsdorf and Zwickau-Bockwa, and leaves at Zwickau-Schlunzig near the Volkswagen plant, and is spanned by 17 bridges within the city. The Silver Road , Saxony's longest tourist route, connects Dresden with Zwickau. Zwickau can be reached by car via the nearby Autobahn s A4 and A72 , the main railway station ( Zwickau Hauptbahnhof ), via
9360-825: The city of Glauchau . Zwickau is home to the University of Applied Sciences Zwickau , with about 4,700 students and two campuses within the boundaries of Zwickau. Dr. Martin Luther School (German: Dr. Martin Luther Schule ) is a grade 1–4 school of the Evangelical Lutheran Free Church in Zwickau. The first freely elected mayor after German reunification was Rainer Eichhorn of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), who served from 1990 to 2001. The mayor
9480-631: The city's economy was driven by industrial coal mining and later by automobile manufacturing. During World War II , in 1942, a Nazi show trial of the members of the Czarny Legion [ pl ] Polish underground resistance organization from Gostyń was held in Zwickau, after which 12 members were executed in Dresden , and several dozen were imprisoned in Nazi concentration camps , where 37 of them died. In May 1942, five Polish students of
9600-468: The city. They withdrew on 30 June 1945 and handed Zwickau to the Soviet Red Army . Between 1944 and 2003, the city had a population of over 100,000. A major employer is Volkswagen which assembles its ID.3, ID.4 and ID.5 models, as well as Audi and Cupra EV's in the Zwickau-Mosel vehicle plant. Coal mining is mentioned as early as 1348. However, mining on an industrial scale first started in
9720-586: The claim that six million Jews were not deliberately and systematically exterminated as an official policy of the Third Reich and Adolf Hitler, became a more prominent feature of neo-Nazism in the 1970s. Before this time, Holocaust denial had long existed as a sentiment among neo-Nazis, but it had not yet been systematically articulated as a theory with a bibliographical canon. Few of the major theorists of Holocaust denial (who call themselves " revisionists ") can be uncontroversially classified as outright neo-Nazis (though some works such as those of David Irving forward
9840-460: The compact Trabant cars were manufactured. These small cars had a two-cylinder, two-stroke engine. The car was the first vehicle in the world to be industrially manufactured with a plastic car body. The production of the Trabant was discontinued after German reunification, but Volkswagen built a new factory in the nearby Mosel area to the north of the city and Sachsenring is now a supplier for
9960-563: The core trio in their decade-long underground life and provided them with money, false identities and weapons. Unlike other terror groups, the NSU had not claimed responsibility for their actions. The group's existence was discovered only after the deaths of Böhnhardt and Mundlos, and the subsequent arrest of Zschäpe. So far, the following crimes have been attributed to the NSU: the National Socialist Underground murders ,
10080-457: The day of the verdict received applause from the Nazis present in the court. Simultaneously, 10,000 people protested all over Germany against the limited solution of the NSU's crimes and the state's involvement, against the low verdicts for the terrorists and the police's racist investigations against the victims' families. Neo-Nazi Final solution Parties Neo-Nazism comprises
10200-577: The discovery of silver in the Schneeberg in 1470. Because of the silver ore deposits in the Erzgebirge, Zwickau developed in the 15th and 16th centuries and grew to be an important economic and cultural centre of Saxony. Its nine churches include the Gothic church of St. Mary (1451–1536), with a spire 285 ft (87 m) high and a bell weighing 51 tons . The church contains an altar with wood carvings, eight paintings by Michael Wohlgemuth and
10320-449: The early 19th century. The coal mines of Zwickau and the neighbouring Oelsnitz-Lugau coalfield contributed significantly to the industrialisation of the region and the city. In 1885 Carl Wolf invented an improved gas-detecting safety mining-lamp. He held the first world patent for it. Together with his business partner Friemann he founded the "Friemann & Wolf" factory. Coal mining ceased in 1978. About 230 million tonnes had been mined to
10440-460: The early days of neo-Nazism, he had been in contact with key figures across Europe and beyond. Despite this, he was able to work as an ambassador to numerous countries until the rise of Salvador Allende . In 1984 he published his book Adolf Hitler: The Ultimate Avatar . Serrano claimed that the Aryans were extragalactic beings who founded Hyperborea and lived the heroic life of Bodhisattvas , while
10560-663: The extremists of the radical right have always had as its aim to "infiltrate the state mechanisms," including the army in the 1970s and the 1980s, through Westland New Post and the Front de la Jeunesse . A police operation, which mobilized 150 agents, searched five military barracks (in Leopoldsburg near the Dutch border, Kleine-Brogel, Peer , Brussels (Royal military school) and Zedelgem ) as well as 18 private addresses in Flanders . They found weapons, munitions, explosives and
10680-536: The government and the two main political parties (the conservative CDU/CSU and the Nazis' one-time archenemies, the Social Democratic Party ) Many bureaucrats who served under the Third Reich continued to serve in German administration after the war. According to the Simon Wiesenthal Center , many of the more than 90,000 Nazi war criminals recorded in German files were serving in positions of prominence under Chancellor Konrad Adenauer . Not until
10800-505: The ideology of Nazism in whole or in part. The term 'neo-Nazism' can also refer to the ideology of these movements, which may borrow elements from Nazi doctrine, including ultranationalism , anti-communism , racism, ableism , xenophobia , homophobia , antisemitism , up to initiating the Fourth Reich . Holocaust denial is a common feature, as is the incorporation of Nazi symbols and admiration of Adolf Hitler . Neo-Nazism
10920-590: The inspiration of the " Zwickau prophets ". After Wittenberg, it became the first city in Europe to join the Lutheran Reformation . The late Gothic Gewandhaus (cloth merchants' hall), was built in 1522–24 and is now converted into a theatre. The city was seriously damaged during the Thirty Years' War . The old city of Zwickau, perched on a hill, is surrounded by heights with extensive forests and
11040-551: The native Slavs were Germanized. A trading place known as terretorio Zcwickaw (in Medieval Latin ) was mentioned in 1118. The settlement received a town charter in 1212, and hosted Franciscans and Cistercians during the 13th century. Zwickau was a free imperial city from 1290 to 1323, but was subsequently granted to the Margraviate of Meissen . Although regional mining began in 1316, extensive mining increased with
11160-530: The nazi ideology in Denmark. The party did not gain any political influence, and were regarded as a failed political project by neo nazi expert Frede Farmand. Long time party leader Johnni Hansen was replaced by Esben Rohde Kristensen in 2010, which resulted in a large amount of party members leaving the party. While the party never has been formally dissolved, there has been very little activity from its core member since 2010. Former neo nazi Daniel Carlsen formed
11280-464: The new reality and had no interest in constructing a "neo-Nazism". However, during the 1949 West German elections a number of Nazi advocates such as Fritz Rössler had infiltrated the national conservative Deutsche Rechtspartei , which had five members elected. Rössler and others left to found the more radical Socialist Reich Party (SRP) under Otto Ernst Remer . At the onset of the Cold War ,
11400-535: The polar ice caps. With the onset of the Cold War , the allied forces had lost interest in prosecuting anyone as part of the denazification. In the mid-1950s this new political environment allowed Otto Strasser , an NS activist on the left of the NSDAP, who had founded the Black Front to return from exile. In 1956, Strasser founded the German Social Union as a Black Front successor, promoting
11520-624: The post- World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazi ideology . Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and racial supremacy (often white supremacy ), to attack racial and ethnic minorities (often antisemitism and Islamophobia ), and in some cases to create a fascist state . Neo-Nazism is a global phenomenon, with organized representation in many countries and international networks. It borrows elements from Nazi doctrine, including antisemitism, ultranationalism , racism , xenophobia , ableism , homophobia , anti-communism , and creating
11640-675: The previous two years. In November 2006, the Estonian government passed a law banning the display of Nazi symbols . The 2008 United Nations Human Rights Council Special Rapporteur's Report noted that community representatives and non-governmental organizations devoted to human rights had pointed out that neo-Nazi groups were active in Estonia—particularly in Tartu—and had perpetrated acts of violence against non-European minorities. The neo-Nazi terrorist organization Feuerkrieg Division
11760-522: The prominent Ustaše figure Mile Budak , which provoked outrage amongst the Serbian minority. Since 2002, there has been a reversal of this development, and streets with the name of Mile Budak or other persons connected with the Ustaše movement are few or non-existent. A plaque in Slunj with the inscription "Croatian Knight Jure Francetić " was erected to commemorate Francetić, the notorious Ustaše leader of
11880-636: The radicalisation of the Vlaamse Militanten Orde under former Hitler Youth member Bert Eriksson . They began hosting an annual conference; the "Iron Pilgrimage"; at Diksmuide , which drew kindred ideologues from across Europe and beyond. As well as this, the NSDAP/AO under Gary Lauck arose in the United States in 1972 and challenged the international influence of the Rockwellite WUNS. Lauck's organisation drew support from
12000-669: The ruling party, Nazism, was in complete disarray. The final leader of the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP) was Martin Bormann . He died on 2 May 1945 during the Battle of Berlin , but the Soviet Union did not reveal his death to the rest of the world, and his ultimate fate remained a mystery for many years. Conspiracy theories emerged about Hitler himself , that he had secretly survived
12120-487: The same camp. They were united by opposition to the influence of the United States, against the liberalising legacy of Mikhail Gorbachev 's perestroika and on the Jewish question , Soviet Zionology merged with a more explicit anti-Jewish sentiment. The most significant organisation representing this was Russian National Unity under the leadership of Alexander Barkashov , where black-uniform clad Russians marched with
12240-489: The scope of the trial was only to determine the level of complicity that Zschäpe and her fellow defendants had with the crimes the NSU stands accused of. It is the prosecution's opinion that Zschäpe, Mundlos, and Böhnhardt were the only members of the NSU despite strong evidence against the trio thesis. One of the more controversial subjects to come to light during the NSU murder trial was the level of cooperation and support that neo-Nazi informants and organizations received from
12360-452: The small national party Party of the Danes in 2011, which officially rejected nazism, but were none the less categorized as such by professor in politics Peter Nedergaard. It was dissolved in 2017 after its founder Daniel Stockholm announced retirement from politics. In 2006, Roman Ilin, a Jewish theatre director from St. Petersburg , Russia, was attacked by neo-Nazis when returning from
12480-458: The traditional sense, since it has not made anti-communism an important issue, and it does not advocate the overthrow of the democratic order or the use of violence. In his view, the FPÖ is "not quite fascist", although it is part of a tradition, similar to that of 19th-century Viennese mayor Karl Lueger , which involves nationalism , xenophobic populism, and authoritarianism. Haider, who in 2005 left
12600-485: The two are not widely regarded as interchangeable by most academics. In Austria, the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) served as a shelter for ex-Nazis almost from its inception. In 1980, scandals undermined Austria's two main parties and the economy stagnated. Jörg Haider became leader of the FPÖ and offered partial justification for Nazism , calling its employment policy effective. In the 1994 Austrian election ,
12720-452: The uranium mines and mills of East Germany. Uranium milling ended in 1989, and after the unification the Wismut machine building plant was sold to a private investor. Zwickau is bounded by Mülsen , Reinsdorf , Wilkau-Hasslau , Hirschfeld ( Verwaltungsgemeinschaft Kirchberg ), Lichtentanne , Werdau , Neukirchen , Crimmitschau , Dennheritz ( Verwaltungsgemeinschaft Crimmitschau ), and
12840-462: The use of the phrase Srbe na vrbe! ("[Hang] Serbs on the willow trees!"). In 2004, an Orthodox church was spray-painted with pro-Ustaše graffiti. During some protests in Croatia, supporters of Ante Gotovina and other at the time suspected war criminals (all acquitted in 2012) have carried nationalist symbols and pictures of Pavelić. On 17 May 2007, a concert in Zagreb by Thompson ,
12960-401: The victims was broadcast live from Berlin; a nationwide moment of silence was observed and flags were flown at half-mast. Various German politicians from all parties unanimously urged for a parliamentary enquiry committee, which has now begun digging deeply into the details of what is widely regarded as one of the biggest scandals concerning national security in modern German history. The affair
13080-545: The war and fled to South America or elsewhere. The Allied Control Council officially dissolved the NSDAP on 10 October 1945, marking the end of "Old" Nazism. A process of denazification began, and the Nuremberg trials took place, where many major leaders and ideologues were condemned to death by October 1946, others committed suicide. In both the East and West, surviving ex-party members and military veterans assimilated to
13200-448: The years 2000 and 2007, the NSU perpetrated a series of racially motivated murders throughout Germany , leaving ten people dead and one wounded. Among their victims, most of them were ethnic Turks , though the victims also included one ethnic Greek and one ethnic German policewoman. Most of their victims included Turkish small business owners. The NSU's modus operandi often involved executing victims in daylight at close range with
13320-633: The youth club. Mundlos had been part of the East German skinhead scene since the late 1980s. While many in their peer group did not fully embrace the right-wing scene, the trio radicalized so much that in 1993 they, among others, were banned from the Winzerclub. To protest the ban they painted swastika symbols on the walls of the club. 1994/95 Mundlos was called up to the Bundeswehr , where he was disciplined multiple times for infractions. Between
13440-614: Was a proponent of Esoteric Nazism . In the 1950s she wrote a number of books, such as Pilgrimage (1958), which concerns prominent Third Reich sites, and The Lightning and the Sun (1958), in which she claims that Adolf Hitler was an avatar of the God Vishnu . She was not alone in this reorientation of Nazism towards its Thulean -roots; the Artgemeinschaft , founded by former SS member Wilhelm Kusserow, attempted to promote
13560-458: Was also fond of Arab nationalism , in particular Gamal Abdel Nasser , and saw Fidel Castro 's Cuban Revolution as a positive, visiting officials there. Yockey's views impressed Otto Ernst Remer and the radical traditionalist philosopher Julius Evola . He was constantly hounded by the FBI and was eventually arrested in 1960, before committing suicide. Domestically, Yockey's biggest sympathisers were
13680-597: Was elected. The most recent city council election was held on 9 June 2024, and the results were as follows: The city is close to the A4 (Dresden-Erfurt) and A72 (Hof-Chemnitz) Autobahn s. Zwickau Hauptbahnhof is on the Dresden–Werdau line , part of the Saxon-Franconian trunk line , connecting Nuremberg and Dresden. There are further railway connections to Leipzig as well as Karlovy Vary and Cheb in
13800-615: Was found and operates in the country, with some members of the Conservative People's Party of Estonia having been linked to the Feuerkrieg Division. Zwickau Zwickau ( German pronunciation: [ˈtsvɪkaʊ] ; Upper Sorbian : Šwikawa ; Czech : Cvikov or Zvíkov ; Polish : Ćwików ) is the fourth-largest city of Saxony , Germany, after Leipzig , Dresden and Chemnitz , with around 88,000 inhabitants,. The West Saxon city
13920-406: Was found. The service pistol ( HK P2000 ) of murdered police woman Michèle Kiesewetter was also discovered in the motorhome. Some hours later on the same day, the flat in Zwickau where the trio had lived under false identities, was set on fire, and an explosion occurred. Beate Zschäpe is suspected of having committed the arson. She later turned herself in on advice from her lawyer. Police found
14040-677: Was founded there in 1904 and was renamed to Audiwerke Zwickau AG in 1909. Zwickau was also the seat of VEB Sachsenring (now Sachsenring GmbH), which produced East Germany 's most popular car, the Trabant , in Zwickau. Since 1990, there is a large Volkswagen plant in Zwickau-Mosel . The 167-kilometre (104-mile)-long Zwickau Mulde River, originating in Schöneck/Vogtl. in the Western Ore Mountains , traverses
14160-522: Was officially banned in 1983 by the Minister of the Interior. During the late 1970s, a British subculture came to be associated with neo-Nazism; the skinheads . Portraying an ultra-masculine, crude and aggressive image, with working-class references, some of the skinheads joined the British Movement under Michael McLaughlin (successor of Colin Jordan ), while others became associated with
14280-449: Was originally chosen by the city council, but since 1994 has been directly elected. Dietmar Vettermann , also of the CDU, served from 2001 until 2008. He was succeeded by Pia Findeiß of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), who was in office until 2020. The most recent mayoral election was held on 20 September 2020, with a runoff held on 11 October, at which Constance Arndt (Bürger für Zwickau)
14400-865: Was the election of Kurt Waldheim to the Presidency of Austria in 1986. It came to light that Waldheim had been a member of the National Socialist German Students' League , the SA and served as an intelligence officer during the Second World War. Following this he served as an Austrian diplomat and was the Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1972 until 1981. After revelations of Waldheim's past were made by an Austrian journalist, Waldheim clashed with
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