Right-Wing Extremism: The Village Where the Neo-Nazis Rule

[one...two...tree 2,762]

By Maximilian Popp

Hitler salutes in the street and firing practice in the forest: Neo-Nazis have taken over an entire village in Germany, and authorities appear to have given up efforts to combat the problem. The place has come to symbolize the far right's growing influence in parts of the former communist east.

Horst and Birgit Lohmeyer have been working on their life's dream for six years, renovating a house in the woods near Jamel, a tiny village near Wismar in the far northeastern German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Birgit Lohmeyer writes crime novels, her husband is a musician, and both try to pretend everything is normal here in Jamel.

It wasn't easy to find their new home. The Lohmeyers spent months driving out to the countryside every weekend, heading east from where they lived in Hamburg, but most of the houses they saw were too expensive. Then they came across the inexpensive red brick farmhouse in Jamel. Slightly run-down, but not far from the Baltic Sea, the house sits surrounded by lime and maple trees, near a lake. The Lohmeyers knew that a notorious neo-Nazi lived nearby -- Sven Krüger, a demolition contractor and high-level member of the far-right National Democratic Party (NPD). What the Lohmeyers didn't know was that other neighbors felt terrorized by Krüger. He and his associates were in the process of buying up the entire village.

Jamel is an example of the far-right problem that has plagued Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania for years. The rural region, once part of communist East Germany, has a poor reputation in this regard -- the NPD, which glorifies the Third Reich, has been in the state parliament since 2006 and neo-Nazi crimes are part of daily life. In recent months, a series of attacks against politicians from all the democratic parties has shaken the state. Sometimes hardly a week goes by without an attack on another electoral district office, with paint bombs, right-wing graffiti and broken windows.

Norbert Nieszery, leader of the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) in the state parliament, calls it an "early form of terror." Nieszery's own office windows have been smashed twice. State Interior Minister Lorenz Caffier of the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) says he has registered a "new level" of right-wing extremist violence. He believes the NPD is trying to raise its profile through aggressive behavior ahead of state parliament election in September. One local mayor requested police protection after receiving repeated right-wing threats. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Germany's domestic intelligence agency, has warned that the NPD is becoming increasingly influential in local municipalities and that the neo-Nazis are trying to entrench themselves in daily life.

Mounting Concern About Far-Right Influence

Nowhere have they succeeded as well as in Jamel. If the right-wing extremists left, the village would be empty. Jamel is no longer just a problem at the regional or federal state level -- even Berlin is growing concerned about the situation.

SPD member Wolfgang Thierse, vice president of Germany's federal parliament, the Bundestag, visited the village a few months ago. He spent half an hour in the Lohmeyers' living room and promised to support them in their fight against the neo-Nazis. So far, nothing has changed. Jamel has come to symbolize the fact that there are places in Germany where right-wing extremists can do virtually whatever they want.

When the Lohmeyers moved here in 2004, they started to fix up their country house and to make contact with the neighbors -- although not with the neo-Nazi Krüger. But they were sure right-wing extremists wouldn't be the only people in Jamel.

Only gradually did they realize just where they had ended up. Plaster crumbled from many of the houses in the village and one roof had collapsed completely. Beer bottles, car tires and gas canisters were littered behind the bus stop. There were metal fences surrounding some properties and attack dogs strained against their chains in the front yards. No one bothered to remove the swastika scribbled on the sign at the entrance to the village.

Children Giving Hitler Salute

There were young men with shaved heads and army trousers in the village and Nazi rock music could be heard from across the fields on the weekends. Shots sounded from the woods, where the neo-Nazis practiced their shooting -- police later found bullet casings in trenches there. When the Lohmeyers walked through the village, children raised their hands in the Nazi salute.

Krüger has shaped the village. He grew up here, with a father who was known as a right-wing radical and who used to make his son salute each morning in the snow. Young Krüger was an outsider at school, an acquaintance remembers, and didn't find friends until he joined the skinhead scene. As a young man, he incited right-wing thugs to attack a campsite and spent time in pre-trial detention on suspicion of burglary. Still, for a long time, the Krügers were the only neo-Nazis in the village.

"Now," says Horst Lohmeyer, "they see Jamel as a 'nationally liberated zone'" -- a neo-Nazi term for places foreigners and those of foreign descent must fear to tread. The extremists took over the village in just a few years. They now own seven of the 10 houses and have driven out anyone who couldn't come to terms with them. They battered down doors and broke windows, slashed tires, flew the German imperial war flag and celebrated Hitler's birthday. In the 1990s, they stuck dead chickens on one family's garden fence with the warning, "We'll smoke you out."

The village emptied and Krüger encouraged his right-wing friends to buy the available houses. Few others dared to venture into Jamel anymore. Neo-Nazis greeted one couple that wanted to move there with "Piss off" -- and the couple's house burned down shortly before they planned to move in. One new property owner dared to set foot in the village only accompanied by police.

The Lohmeyers have made it their life's work not to let themselves be driven out of Jamel. Each year, they host a rock festival on a field behind their house. Governor Erwin Sellering of the SPD has been patron of the festival since 2009. Police fence in the area and guard the entrance, and in past years, things remained largely calm.

more...

http://www.spiegel.d...,737471,00.html

[MikelanNida 28]

thanks for this post, these terrorists are for the most part not talked about even here in america, they seem to escape media attention unlike other groups.

[luckytxn 2,263]

Wow. This is not going to end well.

[Obama 2012 1,714]

This is such a hack piece.... Instead of saying Neo-Nazis like they should throughout, they spend most of the time calling it the "far-right."

A pure liberal retard hit piece is all this is.

On the article though, if a bunch of village idiots wants to live how they are living, let them... Arrest them if they are causing damage in public, etc.. but if they want to live the way they live, then who really cares?

[The_Dude 1,142]

This is such a hack piece.... Instead of saying Neo-Nazis like they should throughout, they spend most of the time calling it the "far-right."

A pure liberal retard hit piece is all this is.

Sorry Paul, but nazism is a form of facism, which is far-far-right. But really, had they gone the extra mile and referred to it as far-far right, or a step further, would it have mattered? It is about as absurd as you, and your ilk calling liberals commies or socialists.

[Obama 2012 1,714]

Sorry Paul, but nazism is a form of facism, which is far-far-right. But really, had they gone the extra mile and referred to it as far-far right, or a step further, would it have mattered? It is about as absurd as you, and your ilk calling liberals commies or socialists.

Fascism is hardly "right wing" if you understand anything about it. It's a very independent ideology when you try and base it on our normal political spectrum. It's very much mixed of right and left wing ideas, eventhough some people find it "cute" to label is extreme to the right.

[The_Dude 1,142]

Fascism is hardly "right wing" if you understand anything about it. It's a very independent ideology when you try and base it on our normal political spectrum. It's very much mixed of right and left wing ideas, eventhough some people find it "cute" to label is extreme to the right.

Paul, i'm sorry, but i'll take the word of scholars over your opinion there. It is a far right ideology.

[james&olya 1,121]

Sorry Paul, but nazism is a form of facism, which is far-far-right. But really, had they gone the extra mile and referred to it as far-far right, or a step further, would it have mattered? It is about as absurd as you, and your ilk calling liberals commies or socialists.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Neo-Nazis have taken over an entire village in Germany...

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern has a neo-nazi issue for sure (as do other states in former East Germany) but this sounds a bit more dramatic than it really is. An entire village? That's a lot, isn't it? Well, until you realize that this "entire village" is 10 houses of which 8 appear to remain standing and habitable. One of those is occupied by a non-neo nazi couple and the remaining seven have idiots living in them. That's bad for sure but this "taken over an entire village" line is a bit too dramatic here.

Ironically, Jamel is a small, run-down, insignificant village at the very end of a dead-end road. It's fitting that the far right picked a place like that, isn't it?

[Obama 2012 1,714]

Paul, i'm sorry, but i'll take the word of scholars over your opinion there. It is a far right ideology.

Despite what you may think, a lot of 'economic' policy, education, and health care in Fascism comes from left-wing/populist idealisms, not right-wing. While a lot of social tendencies do tend to lean 'right' --- Gun laws for Fascists lean left-wing as well as fascists believe in an unarmed society is much easier to control.

As I said, if you understand anything about typical fascism, then there's no way anyone could call it 'extreme right' when looking at the entire picture.

[The_Dude 1,142]

Despite what you may think, a lot of 'economic' policy, education, and health care in Fascism comes from left-wing/populist idealisms, not right-wing. While a lot of social tendencies do tend to lean 'right' --- Gun laws for Fascists lean left-wing as well as fascists believe in an unarmed society is much easier to control.

As I said, if you understand anything about typical fascism, then there's no way anyone could call it 'extreme right' when looking at the entire picture.

Paul, you are talking about aspects of it, but not the dogma or ideology. Despite what you may think, facism is a far right ideology. Maybe you'll get it if I put it into pictures.

[Obama 2012 1,714]

Paul, you are talking about aspects of it, but not the dogma or ideology. Despite what you may think, facism is a far right ideology. Maybe you'll get it if I put it into pictures.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Sorry Paul, but nazism is a form of facism, which is far-far-right. But really, had they gone the extra mile and referred to it as far-far right, or a step further, would it have mattered? It is about as absurd as you, and your ilk calling liberals commies or socialists.

Nazism (Nationalsozialismus, National Socialism; alternatively spelled Naziism)

Sorry, Robbie. Socialism belongs on the left.

[Obama 2012 1,714]

Nazism (Nationalsozialismus, National Socialism; alternatively spelled Naziism)

Sorry, Robbie. Socialism belongs on the left.

here:

for everyone - http://the-classic-liberal.com/are-fascists-right-wing/ -

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

This is such a hack piece.... Instead of saying Neo-Nazis like they should throughout, they spend most of the time calling it the "far-right."

A pure liberal retard hit piece is all this is.

On the article though, if a bunch of village idiots wants to live how they are living, let them... Arrest them if they are causing damage in public, etc.. but if they want to live the way they live, then who really cares?

Not to worry. The Communist party is still welcome at all Obama sponsored rallies. Huh.... didn't the commies kill more people than the Nazis?