Officials in western Austria say exhumations are to take place at a psychiatric hospital thought to contain the remains of Nazi victims.
The remains of 220 people are buried at a cemetery in Hall in Tyrol province.
The Nazis murdered thousands of disabled people they thought unfit to live, deeming it "euthanasia". The hospital believes many died there as part of the programme.
A planned construction project has been halted to allow a full investigation.
Some 30,000 people were killed at one psychiatric hospital alone - Schloss Hartheim, near Linz in upper Austria.
Tilak, the company responsible for the Hall hospital, said the graves contained the remains of people buried between 1942 and 1945.
There were, it added, "suspicions that the dead [were] at least partially victims" of the programme of murders the Nazis referred to as "euthanasia".
'Dark chapter'
Exhumations are to begin when the ground thaws, probably in March.
Announcing that a commission of experts would be formed shortly to investigate, Guenther Platter, governor of Tyrol province, said he had been "deeply shaken" by the discovery.
"This dark chapter of history must now be carefully brought to light," he added.
Investigators would be seeking to identify the remains and establish the cause of death, Tilak representatives were quoted as saying by Austria's Die Presse newspaper.
Hospital historian Oliver Seifert said it was already clear that not all of those buried had been victims of the Nazis.
"We know that active killing went on at other institutions in Austria... but there are no indications of this at the moment in Hall," he told Reuters news agency.
Hall Hospital remains a functioning psychiatric hospital, with beds for 500 patients.
BBC News
Wednesday, 5 January 2011
MUSLIM GROUPS OFFER TO PROTECT THREATENED COPTIC CHURCHES (Netherlands)
Three Dutch Muslim organisations have offered to help protect three Coptic churches in the Netherlands from possible terrorist attack, the Telegraaf reports on Tuesday. The names of the three churches – in Eindhoven, Utrecht and Amsterdam - are listed on a website which is considered to have links to Al Qaida. The Muslim organisations have called on all Muslims to denounce the threat. 'We are the ones who should do this because Al Qaida claims to operate in the name of Islam,' the Telegraaf quoted the organisations as saying. 'Christian Copts, ourselves and all the Dutch have a common enemy: terrorists.' Police have already taken action to increase security around the church in Utrecht and the counter-terrorism service is monitoring the situation, the paper says. The Coptic church celebrates Christmas on January 7, and the website had called for bomb attacks on targets around Europe on that date.
Dutch News
Dutch News
UKIP and BNP seek to woo voters in Oldham by-election (UK)
The leaders of both the BNP and UKIP have been campaigning in the Oldham East and Saddleworth by-election, bidding to woo disenchanted voters.
Nick Griffin, whose party came fourth in the seat at the general election, said a BNP win would boost the area.
But the UKIP leader Nigel Farage said his party wanted to "thrash the BNP in this constituency."
The poll, on 13 January, was triggered by a court ruling annulling the general election result from May.
The BNP gained 5.7% of the poll in the 2010 General Election while UKIP came fifth with 3.9% of the votes cast.
"To get the British National Party elected in a place like this would be such a huge shock to the political system without a shadow of a doubt, the government would try and pour money into the place to try and bribe voters back with their own money," said Mr Griffin.
"We're saying vote for us and finally they'll stop ignoring Oldham."
Mr Farage said: "I was absolutely determined on behalf of our party that we chose a strong candidate for the big campaign.
"I want us to thrash the BNP in this constituency, there is no room for that kind of extremism in British politics.
"With UKIP you have a party that is patriotic, proud to be British but not extreme in any way."
The election was called after an election court found that victorious MP Labour's Phil Woolas had made false statements about his Liberal Democrat opponent Elwyn Watkins.
The full list of candidates (in alphabetical order) is:
* Debbie Abrahams (Labour)
* Derek Adams (British National Party)
* Kashif Ali (Conservative)
* Peter Allen (Green Party)
* David Bishop (Bus-Pass Elvis Party)
* The Flying Brick (Monster Raving Loony Party)
* Loz Kaye (Pirate Party of the United Kingdom)
* Stephen Morris (English Democrats)
* Paul Nuttall MEP (UK Independence Party)
* Elwyn Watkins (Liberal Democrats)
BBC news
Nick Griffin, whose party came fourth in the seat at the general election, said a BNP win would boost the area.
But the UKIP leader Nigel Farage said his party wanted to "thrash the BNP in this constituency."
The poll, on 13 January, was triggered by a court ruling annulling the general election result from May.
The BNP gained 5.7% of the poll in the 2010 General Election while UKIP came fifth with 3.9% of the votes cast.
"To get the British National Party elected in a place like this would be such a huge shock to the political system without a shadow of a doubt, the government would try and pour money into the place to try and bribe voters back with their own money," said Mr Griffin.
"We're saying vote for us and finally they'll stop ignoring Oldham."
Mr Farage said: "I was absolutely determined on behalf of our party that we chose a strong candidate for the big campaign.
"I want us to thrash the BNP in this constituency, there is no room for that kind of extremism in British politics.
"With UKIP you have a party that is patriotic, proud to be British but not extreme in any way."
The election was called after an election court found that victorious MP Labour's Phil Woolas had made false statements about his Liberal Democrat opponent Elwyn Watkins.
The full list of candidates (in alphabetical order) is:
* Debbie Abrahams (Labour)
* Derek Adams (British National Party)
* Kashif Ali (Conservative)
* Peter Allen (Green Party)
* David Bishop (Bus-Pass Elvis Party)
* The Flying Brick (Monster Raving Loony Party)
* Loz Kaye (Pirate Party of the United Kingdom)
* Stephen Morris (English Democrats)
* Paul Nuttall MEP (UK Independence Party)
* Elwyn Watkins (Liberal Democrats)
BBC news
Jews Were Top Targets Of Bigots In ‘09 (USA)
As counties comply with mandatory reporting to Albany, disturbing trend emerges.
Anti-Semitic incidents made up the largest share of New York hate crimes reported in 2009, according to statistics just released by the state’s Division of Criminal Justice Services. The number of incidents involving Jewish victims also rose 15 percent from 219 in 2008 to 254.
Statistics for 2010 have not yet been compiled by the division.
Attacks against Jews amounted to 37 percent of the total, more than anti-black incidents (21 percent), attacks against gay men (12 percent) or attacks against Hispanics (6 percent) in a hateful year that saw a 14 percent increase in all bias incidents in the state, from 599 to 683.
The state’s Jewish number is higher than that of the Anti-Defamation League’s annual audit of incidents here, based on complaints to the organization, which showed 209 incidents. That year the agency decided to change its definition of anti-Semitic incidents to those specifically targeting Jews rather than including swastikas that defaced general targets.
The state figures did not break down the types of crimes directed at each group, but did list 39 swastika incidents, slightly down from 43 in 2008. The number of aggravated harassment incidents described as physical contact due to race or religion more than doubled, from 41 to 83.
The report was released as word spread this weekend of a series of threats mailed to New York City synagogues. A letter believed to originate from the same sender arrived by mail and warned of an attack on New Year’s Eve that did not materialize. Congregation Ohab Tzedek in Manhattan received one of the letters, its rabbi, Allen Schwartz, told the New York Post.
The letters are being investigated by the New York Police Department. David Pollock, associate executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York and the group’s liaison with police on security issues declined to disclose the contents of the letters to avoid inspiring copycat acts. But he said the letter was printed with the same typeface in all instances and had similar messages with different names signed.
“There is no reason to think this was an international group,” Pollock said Monday.
He added that the spike in anti-Semitic incidents shown in the state report was likely a result of anti-Zionism as well as the recession.
“I think the international vilification of Israel grants permission to carry out anti-Semitic acts,” said Pollock.
Ron Meier, director of the ADL’s New York region, said that while the data “point to how diligent the Jewish community and law enforcement community have to be” the “silver lining” is that more police departments are compiling and reporting statistics to the division of criminal justice as required by the state’s Hate Crimes Act of 2000.
“In 2008 hate crimes were reported by 35 counties, and in 2009 43 of the 62 counties reported them,” said Meier. “We are moving toward full compliance.
The ADL offers tolerance-training programs in public schools in response to bias attacks of any kind. Meier said that the “long-term trend” over the last decade shows fewer bias attacks than in previous years, but said the recent spike in such crimes, despite harsher penalties for them was perplexing.
“One piece of the puzzle is the times we are living in,” he said. “These are very difficult economic times, which causes all kinds of dislocation, which in its own way causes tensions and points of friction.”
In one of the most serious recent hate crimes against Jews, last month two teenage boys, 14 and 15, were arrested and charged with serious beating attacks against chasidic men in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. One attack left the victim, Joel Weinberger, 26, with a broken jaw, broken leg and facial injuries. Pollock said the two suspects in that case, who were apprehended after a chase following one attack and, police said, confessed to other attacks on Jews, remain in juvenile detention while awaiting trial after a judge refused to remand them to their parents.
Also last month, 200 gravestones at a Jewish cemetery in Flatbush, Brooklyn, were defaced or overturned.
The Jewish Week.
Anti-Semitic incidents made up the largest share of New York hate crimes reported in 2009, according to statistics just released by the state’s Division of Criminal Justice Services. The number of incidents involving Jewish victims also rose 15 percent from 219 in 2008 to 254.
Statistics for 2010 have not yet been compiled by the division.
Attacks against Jews amounted to 37 percent of the total, more than anti-black incidents (21 percent), attacks against gay men (12 percent) or attacks against Hispanics (6 percent) in a hateful year that saw a 14 percent increase in all bias incidents in the state, from 599 to 683.
The state’s Jewish number is higher than that of the Anti-Defamation League’s annual audit of incidents here, based on complaints to the organization, which showed 209 incidents. That year the agency decided to change its definition of anti-Semitic incidents to those specifically targeting Jews rather than including swastikas that defaced general targets.
The state figures did not break down the types of crimes directed at each group, but did list 39 swastika incidents, slightly down from 43 in 2008. The number of aggravated harassment incidents described as physical contact due to race or religion more than doubled, from 41 to 83.
The report was released as word spread this weekend of a series of threats mailed to New York City synagogues. A letter believed to originate from the same sender arrived by mail and warned of an attack on New Year’s Eve that did not materialize. Congregation Ohab Tzedek in Manhattan received one of the letters, its rabbi, Allen Schwartz, told the New York Post.
The letters are being investigated by the New York Police Department. David Pollock, associate executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York and the group’s liaison with police on security issues declined to disclose the contents of the letters to avoid inspiring copycat acts. But he said the letter was printed with the same typeface in all instances and had similar messages with different names signed.
“There is no reason to think this was an international group,” Pollock said Monday.
He added that the spike in anti-Semitic incidents shown in the state report was likely a result of anti-Zionism as well as the recession.
“I think the international vilification of Israel grants permission to carry out anti-Semitic acts,” said Pollock.
Ron Meier, director of the ADL’s New York region, said that while the data “point to how diligent the Jewish community and law enforcement community have to be” the “silver lining” is that more police departments are compiling and reporting statistics to the division of criminal justice as required by the state’s Hate Crimes Act of 2000.
“In 2008 hate crimes were reported by 35 counties, and in 2009 43 of the 62 counties reported them,” said Meier. “We are moving toward full compliance.
The ADL offers tolerance-training programs in public schools in response to bias attacks of any kind. Meier said that the “long-term trend” over the last decade shows fewer bias attacks than in previous years, but said the recent spike in such crimes, despite harsher penalties for them was perplexing.
“One piece of the puzzle is the times we are living in,” he said. “These are very difficult economic times, which causes all kinds of dislocation, which in its own way causes tensions and points of friction.”
In one of the most serious recent hate crimes against Jews, last month two teenage boys, 14 and 15, were arrested and charged with serious beating attacks against chasidic men in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. One attack left the victim, Joel Weinberger, 26, with a broken jaw, broken leg and facial injuries. Pollock said the two suspects in that case, who were apprehended after a chase following one attack and, police said, confessed to other attacks on Jews, remain in juvenile detention while awaiting trial after a judge refused to remand them to their parents.
Also last month, 200 gravestones at a Jewish cemetery in Flatbush, Brooklyn, were defaced or overturned.
The Jewish Week.
Van driver's racist abuse at father and daughter (UK)
A father and daughter were racially abused by a van driver who skidded around the corner of an icy Farnborough road last month.
The man, described as having a "dirty appearance", was turning from Greatfield Road into Ley Road on the morning of December 18 but was apparently driving too fast for the conditions.
At the same time, a 29-year-old woman was walking towards Ley Road to meet up with her father in his vehicle.
As the white van skidded, the father waved to his daughter to warn her about it.
But the van driver then got out of his vehicle and shouted racist abuse at the pair, who retreated into their car, fearing they might be attacked.
The suspect was described as white, aged in his late 20s, around 5ft 8in tall and of medium to stocky build.
Police said he had a "dirty" appearance, short light, brown hair and was wearing a waist-length yellow fluorescent jacket.
An older woman of stocky build was also in the van, which police said was a car-derived vehicle with orange writing on the side and a yellow beacon on its roof.
PC Mark Sumner said: "This was a totally unprovoked incident that has left the victim feeling scared and upset.
"If anyone has any information that can help us with this investigation, please get in touch.
"I’d also like to hear from anyone who saw a van driving dangerously in the area that morning."
Anyone with any information should contact PC Sumner at Farnborough police station on 101, via the Hampshire police website or call the Crimestoppers charity anonymously on 0800 555111.
Get Hampshire
The man, described as having a "dirty appearance", was turning from Greatfield Road into Ley Road on the morning of December 18 but was apparently driving too fast for the conditions.
At the same time, a 29-year-old woman was walking towards Ley Road to meet up with her father in his vehicle.
As the white van skidded, the father waved to his daughter to warn her about it.
But the van driver then got out of his vehicle and shouted racist abuse at the pair, who retreated into their car, fearing they might be attacked.
The suspect was described as white, aged in his late 20s, around 5ft 8in tall and of medium to stocky build.
Police said he had a "dirty" appearance, short light, brown hair and was wearing a waist-length yellow fluorescent jacket.
An older woman of stocky build was also in the van, which police said was a car-derived vehicle with orange writing on the side and a yellow beacon on its roof.
PC Mark Sumner said: "This was a totally unprovoked incident that has left the victim feeling scared and upset.
"If anyone has any information that can help us with this investigation, please get in touch.
"I’d also like to hear from anyone who saw a van driving dangerously in the area that morning."
Anyone with any information should contact PC Sumner at Farnborough police station on 101, via the Hampshire police website or call the Crimestoppers charity anonymously on 0800 555111.
Get Hampshire
Soldier shouted racist abuse (UK)
A serving soldier who racially abused two English people in Perth was fined £300 and ordered to pay compensation of £200 for his efforts.
William Yeaman (22) of Kestrel Way, Perth, called a female an “English whore” and yelled “fat English boy” at a youth.
Yeaman also assaulted the youth by punching him on July 10.
On Wednesday, Perth Sheriff Court heard Yeaman had attracted the attention of residents of Dunnock Park in Muirton when they heard a disturbance outside at about 11.30pm.
Two residents, both of whom were born and raised in England, went to investigate.
One of them saw Yeaman and asked him to be quiet. He then shouted back “English whore”.
Yeaman approached the woman’s home and entered the garden, standing face-to-face with a male who he called a “fat English boy” and “English t**t”.
Admitting his racist offences, he told cops: “Cos I’m in the wrong. It’s all against me, I accept that.”
Yeaman’s solicitor described the matter as a “disgraceful incident” for which the accused had since apologised.
He said the actions of Yeaman, a first offender, had been out of character.
He also told Sheriff Michael Fletcher a promotion to Lance Corporal for Yeaman was being held off until the outcome.
Yeaman was among a group of soldiers put forward for the promotion, but the only one not to have received it straight away.
He said Yeaman, an army driver involved in weapons, was currently on stand-by to go to Afghanistan in October 2011.
Perth Advertiser
William Yeaman (22) of Kestrel Way, Perth, called a female an “English whore” and yelled “fat English boy” at a youth.
Yeaman also assaulted the youth by punching him on July 10.
On Wednesday, Perth Sheriff Court heard Yeaman had attracted the attention of residents of Dunnock Park in Muirton when they heard a disturbance outside at about 11.30pm.
Two residents, both of whom were born and raised in England, went to investigate.
One of them saw Yeaman and asked him to be quiet. He then shouted back “English whore”.
Yeaman approached the woman’s home and entered the garden, standing face-to-face with a male who he called a “fat English boy” and “English t**t”.
Admitting his racist offences, he told cops: “Cos I’m in the wrong. It’s all against me, I accept that.”
Yeaman’s solicitor described the matter as a “disgraceful incident” for which the accused had since apologised.
He said the actions of Yeaman, a first offender, had been out of character.
He also told Sheriff Michael Fletcher a promotion to Lance Corporal for Yeaman was being held off until the outcome.
Yeaman was among a group of soldiers put forward for the promotion, but the only one not to have received it straight away.
He said Yeaman, an army driver involved in weapons, was currently on stand-by to go to Afghanistan in October 2011.
Perth Advertiser
Tuesday, 4 January 2011
Allow A Former Skinhead To Explain Why White Supremacists Hate (And Brutalize) Gays
Arno Michaels used to be a proud Wisconsin white supremacist. He had a "hate metal" band, Centurion, that sold some 20,000 CDs about killing blacks and Jews, and undoubtedly acted as a soundtrack to fear and torment. (It still does; there remains a following in Europe.) But last year Michaels started an organization called Life After Hate, a web mag preaching anti-violence, and wrote a book My Life After Hate. It's part of his journey from hate leader — he organized 1988's Skinfest, which attracted monsters from all over the country to Milwaukee — to, well, anti-hate leader. Now 40, Michaels has a lot of making up to do. Things changed in the 90s, when he saw his own daughter at day care playing with kids of all races. "I didn’t want her to be a victim," he told the Shepherd-Express in February. "I thought about the parents of kids I’d beaten up. They loved their kids as much as I loved mine. It really hit me how horrible I’d been. I really regretted it." Now, he says, "hate was justified by a claim of love for the white race." That's what he believed from around age 17 to 24, when he was, let's say, an active racist. But white power isn't limited to targeting non-whites. It extends to targeting non-straights. Speaking to the Wisconsin Gazette's Will Fellows, Michaels explains why anti-gay hate was simply part of the mix. It's something he knows about all too well: his first arrest was for a gay bashing, and he's personally inflicted plenty of pain on our community simply for being queer.
What was the status of gays in your hate hierarchy?
Homosexuality was seen as a sick perversion of the natural order, an unnatural and unhealthy lifestyle choice, a symptom of the sick society that Jews were scheming to bring about. White men and women who were recruited into homosexuality wouldn’t produce more white offspring, further reducing the already sputtering white birth rate. Like everything else we didn’t like, homosexuality was seen as part of the Jewish plot to take out the white race.
Along with a desire to clean up society, seeking out gay people to attack had something to do with making a statement about our own masculinity. Gay people were generally easy targets. Anytime we encountered them we would hurt them if we thought we could get away with it, sometimes even in broad daylight in crowded areas. I believe the first time I was arrested as a skinhead was for attempted gay-bashing. A friend and I were caught in the alley behind a gay bar, armed with axe handles.
In one incident, I broke a gay guy’s eye socket with my elbow when he tried to respond to the taunts of my buddies. I will be haunted by that man’s broken face till the day I die. Today, my outspoken opposition to discrimination against LGBT people is driven as much by that memory as by a zeal for human rights in a broader sense.
How did anti-gay hatred compare to race/ethnicity-based hatred?
Both types of hatred are rooted in a fear of difference. Skinheads, like other fundamentalists, seek uniformity. Just as we pointed out and belittled African lips, Asian eyes and other racial/ethnic differences, we were always vigilant for differences in sexuality. The slightest bit of femininity displayed by a male was grounds for assault.
As whites, we didn’t worry about having to prove how not-black we were. But it was always important to keep your distance from homosexuality. Any good white man worth a damn had to either have a steady girlfriend, wife or a steady wake of female conquests to prove how not-gay he was. For those guys who weren’t a hit with the ladies, being called a faggot was always a concern. They would try to establish their heterosexuality by bashing gay men, verbally and physically.
Did you ever get to know any gay people?
I did have an uncle who was gay, who was ostracized by my family. I saw him as a tormented and mean person, which I blamed on his homosexuality instead of on how he was treated because of who he was. Back then, I cited my uncle as my personal connection with the sickness of homosexuality. He died alone in a mental hospital, and my aunt later took her own life in response to the guilt she felt for betraying him. Today, I cite my uncle’s sad story as my personal connection with the sickness of intolerance.
Queerty
What was the status of gays in your hate hierarchy?
Homosexuality was seen as a sick perversion of the natural order, an unnatural and unhealthy lifestyle choice, a symptom of the sick society that Jews were scheming to bring about. White men and women who were recruited into homosexuality wouldn’t produce more white offspring, further reducing the already sputtering white birth rate. Like everything else we didn’t like, homosexuality was seen as part of the Jewish plot to take out the white race.
Along with a desire to clean up society, seeking out gay people to attack had something to do with making a statement about our own masculinity. Gay people were generally easy targets. Anytime we encountered them we would hurt them if we thought we could get away with it, sometimes even in broad daylight in crowded areas. I believe the first time I was arrested as a skinhead was for attempted gay-bashing. A friend and I were caught in the alley behind a gay bar, armed with axe handles.
In one incident, I broke a gay guy’s eye socket with my elbow when he tried to respond to the taunts of my buddies. I will be haunted by that man’s broken face till the day I die. Today, my outspoken opposition to discrimination against LGBT people is driven as much by that memory as by a zeal for human rights in a broader sense.
How did anti-gay hatred compare to race/ethnicity-based hatred?
Both types of hatred are rooted in a fear of difference. Skinheads, like other fundamentalists, seek uniformity. Just as we pointed out and belittled African lips, Asian eyes and other racial/ethnic differences, we were always vigilant for differences in sexuality. The slightest bit of femininity displayed by a male was grounds for assault.
As whites, we didn’t worry about having to prove how not-black we were. But it was always important to keep your distance from homosexuality. Any good white man worth a damn had to either have a steady girlfriend, wife or a steady wake of female conquests to prove how not-gay he was. For those guys who weren’t a hit with the ladies, being called a faggot was always a concern. They would try to establish their heterosexuality by bashing gay men, verbally and physically.
Did you ever get to know any gay people?
I did have an uncle who was gay, who was ostracized by my family. I saw him as a tormented and mean person, which I blamed on his homosexuality instead of on how he was treated because of who he was. Back then, I cited my uncle as my personal connection with the sickness of homosexuality. He died alone in a mental hospital, and my aunt later took her own life in response to the guilt she felt for betraying him. Today, I cite my uncle’s sad story as my personal connection with the sickness of intolerance.
Queerty
Trial begins for white supremacist accused of soliciting attack on Web post (USA)
 |
| William White |
The juror remembered to the minute when the call came in — at 9:34 a.m.
The voice on the other end of the phone had peppered him with questions, asking him to confirm his name, date of birth and other details. And then this: Were you on the jury that convicted Matthew Hale?
Within 20 minutes, the juror, Mark Hoffman, 46, was getting hateful texts, one after the other — although none specifically threatening him. By the end of the day, he learned that his personal information — address, phone numbers and even a photo — as well as references to his longtime partner had been posted on a Web site that identified him as a juror in the Hale case.
William White, a white supremacist from Roanoke, Va., went on trial Monday in federal court in Chicago on criminal charges that he had solicited an attack on Hoffman in a post on his Web site, overthrow.com. Prosecutors charge that White targeted Hoffman because he was the foreman on a federal jury in 2004 that had convicted Hale, a white supremacist from downstate Illinois, of plotting to kill a federal judge in Chicago.
"They wouldn't stop," Hoffman said of the texts he got on Sept 11, 2008. "I just kept breaking down in tears because they wouldn't stop."
Attorneys for White, though, told the jury that White at no point in the Web post specifically called for harm to come to Hoffman. While you might not like what he says, he has a constitutional right to say it, they contended during the first day of the trial.
"This is a man who believes in the supremacy of the white race," said one of White's attorneys, Chris Shepherd. "There's no getting around a lot of what Bill White says is downright offensive. … You don't confront bad ideas with more government censorship. You confront bad ideas with superior ideas."
Federal prosecutors, however, said White's post needs to be considered in light of other inflammatory language on his Web site, in which he called for violence against other people he considered enemies of the white race.
In his opening remarks, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Ferrara said that White knew the audience he was addressing on overthrow.com — those with similar beliefs — and that he wanted them to "pick up" on the details he posted.
"It was a call for others to act … (to) find Mark Hoffman and physically and violently hurt him," Ferrara said.
The charges against White had been tossed by a judge, but an appellate court reversed that decision and ordered him tried.
U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman, brought in from Milwaukee to preside over the trial, allowed jurors to be selected Monday without their names being publicly identified. The government had asked to protect their identities, saying jurors might fear for their own lives in light of the charges. The defense objected to the request.
Hale was convicted in 2004 of plotting the death of U.S. District Judge Joan Lefkow after she ruled against Hale in a trademark-infringement case. No attempt was made on Lefkow's life, but in an unrelated tragedy the following year, the judge's husband and mother were slain by a disgruntled litigant.
The post that White allegedly authored was titled "The Juror Who Convicted Matt Hale." It noted that Hoffman had "played a key role" in convicting Hale and referred to the juror as "gay and anti-racist."
In addition to the texts, Hoffman testified that he got a phone message that included racial and ethnic slurs.
Prosecutors pointed out to the jury Monday that White's Web site also contained a post in September 2008 that had a picture of President Barack Obama and the title: "Kill This (expletive)."
Nishay Sanan, another of White's attorneys, moved through the posts Monday with Hoffman, pointing out that much of the personal information was public at the time White posted it. Sanan also repeatedly asked him whether he ever saw a direct physical threat from White in the posts.
Hoffman responded no — although he immediately answered yes when prosecutors later asked him if he still felt threatened.
Chicago Tribune
Israeli neo-Nazi leader detained
A 24-year-old Israeli suspected of leading a neo-Nazi group in Petach TIkva was detained at Ben-Gurion Airport Monday.
Dmitri Bogotich, who is believed to have led his friends in perpetrating a series of vandalistic acts and attacks against various minorities in Petach Tikva and Tel Aviv, fled Israel in 2007.
On Israel's request, an international arrest warrant was issued against Bogotich, who apparently fled to Russia before being expelled to Kirgizstan. In recent days he was arrested while traveling in the country and handed over to Israel.
Israeli police officers accompanied Bogotich on his flight to Israel and detained him upon landing in the country, proceeding to handcuff and chain him. He was later taken for an interrogation about his role in the neo-Nazi gang; eight of its members have already been convicted and are serving their sentences
Following the arrest, the commander of Israel's Central Police District, Bentzi Sau, said that "the Israel Police will reach anywhere in the world in order to nab the criminals. The citizens have someone they can count on, and the criminals have something to fear."
The affair first came to light in September 2007, after police detained eight youngsters aged 16 to 21 on suspicion of assaulting various individuals, and mostly drug addicts, homosexuals, religious Jews, punks, and foreign workers. The gang sought out its victims near Tel Aviv's central bus station and Carmel market.
Y Net News
Far-right ‘hero’ is a convicted paedophile (UK)
The far-right group launched a campaign to free Richard Price, co-ordinator of the West Midlands division of the EDL, after he was jailed last month for violent behaviour. But Price, 41, had been convicted in June 2010 of making four indecent images of children, and possessing cocaine and crack cocaine. That conviction followed an earlier arrest in 2009 for public order offences believed to have been connected with EDL marches. Police were understood to have seized and analysed his computer, leading to the discovery of sexual images of children that he had downloaded. His home was also searched and the drugs were found.
Price admitted four counts of making indecent images of children and two charges of possessing cocaine when he appeared at Birmingham Crown Court. He was banned from owning a computer for a year, given a three-year community supervision order and ordered to sign on to the sex offenders register for five years.
Price, from Quinton, Birmingham, and Collum Keyes, 23, also from Birmingham, were among 12 people arrested when they surged through police lines during a protest in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, in May 2010. When that case came to court in December, Price admitted using threatening behaviour. He was jailed for three months and given a ten-year Criminal Anti-Social Behaviour Order banning him from attending marches outside Birmingham. Keyes, who admitted disorderly conduct, was fined £150.
When Price was jailed, EDL members launched a campaign urging supporters to write to the Prime Minister and MPs to try to “win justice for Richard Price, EDL”.
The Aston Villa supporter, who has also been linked to football hooliganism, was even likened by his supporters to a modern-day John Bunyan, the Puritan Christian preacher and author of Pilgrim’s Progress who was jailed for continuing his sermons without the permission of the established Church in the 1600s.
But today’s revelation that one of the EDL’s leading members has been convicted of sex offences will come as a huge embarrassment to a group that has struggled to shrug off its reputation as a new version of the National Front.
In recent months, particularly following the political demise of the British National Party, the EDL has begun to attract more support. Its leader, who had previously used the alias Tommy Robinson, was traced by The Times and gave his first interview using his real name. Stephen Lennon has vehemently denied that the group he started in Luton, Bedfordshire, is racist, saying that it has even set up a gay and lesbian division and given a prominent role to a Sikh supporter opposed to Islamic extremists.
Supporters of the EDL had claimed that Price became a political prisoner after he, along with Keyes, was banned from organising, controlling or travelling to any open-air protest outside Birmingham for ten years. It was the first time a Criminal Anti-Social Behaviour Order, sought by Thames Valley Police in conjunction with the National Domestic Extremism Unit, had been issued to a demonstrator connected to the EDL.
Last month, a database of EDL supporters was published on the internet. Hackers had attacked the group’s database of those who had made donations to the EDL and people who had bought clothing from its merchandise wing.
The Times Online
Barry pupils help spread anti-racism message (UK)
Four Barry pupils have been congratulated after their designs were chosen for an anti-racism campaign.
Jola Krystyna Brown, Rebecca Burrows and Jade Saif were presented with certificates by Vale of Glamorgan Mayor Colin Osborne at the Civic Offices on December 14.
The fourth successful student was Amelia Holden, but she was unable to make the awards ceremony due to illness.
Jade, from St Richard Gwyn School, said: "I’m really happy about having my drawing chosen.
"I was looking at a book that described shading techniques, so I decided to draw something like that."
More than 1,000 children took part in the Schools Against Racism 2011 Calendar and Poster competition, which is organised by Cardiff-based anti-racism charity Race Equality First.
Jola (Bryn Hafren), Rebecca (All Saints) and Amelia (Cadoxton Nursery) will see their designs used in a ‘Schools Against Racism’ calendar, whilst Jade’s will be part of a poster campaign to promote race equality.
Cllr Tony Hampton, Vae Council cabinet member for education and lifelong learning, said: "I think it’s a tremendous achievement that their pictures were selected as winning designs.
"They should be very proud of themselves.
"We are all entitled to be treated equally and we can all learn from this campaign."
Each child received £50 in vouchers, with their schools also pocketing £150.
Barry & District News
Jola Krystyna Brown, Rebecca Burrows and Jade Saif were presented with certificates by Vale of Glamorgan Mayor Colin Osborne at the Civic Offices on December 14.
The fourth successful student was Amelia Holden, but she was unable to make the awards ceremony due to illness.
Jade, from St Richard Gwyn School, said: "I’m really happy about having my drawing chosen.
"I was looking at a book that described shading techniques, so I decided to draw something like that."
More than 1,000 children took part in the Schools Against Racism 2011 Calendar and Poster competition, which is organised by Cardiff-based anti-racism charity Race Equality First.
Jola (Bryn Hafren), Rebecca (All Saints) and Amelia (Cadoxton Nursery) will see their designs used in a ‘Schools Against Racism’ calendar, whilst Jade’s will be part of a poster campaign to promote race equality.
Cllr Tony Hampton, Vae Council cabinet member for education and lifelong learning, said: "I think it’s a tremendous achievement that their pictures were selected as winning designs.
"They should be very proud of themselves.
"We are all entitled to be treated equally and we can all learn from this campaign."
Each child received £50 in vouchers, with their schools also pocketing £150.
Barry & District News
Monday, 3 January 2011
The Village Where the Neo-Nazis Rule (Germany)
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.
Help is Far Away
This summer, though, neo-Nazis jumped over the fence, yelling slurs and attacking concertgoers. Police stepped in and stopped the troublemakers. But police can't always protect the Lohmeyers -- the nearest station is 12 kilometers away.
Horst Lohmeyer sits in his kitchen, bent over a map, and runs his finger along the roads and through the towns -- Gressow, Neu Degtow, Grevesmühlen. It takes a quarter of an hour to reach the nearest police station. When Krüger got married this summer, the village was inundated with several hundred right-wing extremists from Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland, including a number of high-ranking NPD politicians such as Stefan Köster, NPD party head for Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
Jamel has become a right-wing pilgrimage site -- they come from all over Europe to see the village where neo-Nazis call the shots. They celebrated Krüger's wedding until late in the night, with nationalist rock music and fireworks. The Lohmeyers lay awake in bed, frozen with fear.
Mayor Uwe Wandel is helpless in the face of the right-wing movement in his community. He sounds bitter when he talks about Jamel. "The police, the authorities, no one dares to intervene," he says. "The Nazis are laughing in our faces." Wandel says he has repeatedly asked the state government for help. The interior minister and a parliamentary delegation came by one time, he adds. "They stayed for 20 minutes, expressed concern -- then they left again."
No One Responsible
Jamel has become a lawless place, Wandel complains, and the authorities don't take decisive enough action against the right-wing extremists. He says Krüger is allowed to dump demolition waste and burn trash in the village with impunity. The head of the department of public order in nearby Grevesmühlen says higher-level officials at the district level need to tackle the problem. They in turn say the local authority is responsible for Jamel.
Krüger, meanwhile, has much bigger plans. He has been a member of the district council for the NPD since 2009 and has bought parts of a concrete factory in Grevesmühlen, which he uses for his NPD office and his demolition company. The company logo shows the outline of a Star of David being smashed; the slogan is, "We do the dirty work." Barbed wire encloses the factory premises and dogs bark. A sign above the entrance reads, "Better dead than a slave." Krüger prefers not to comment on the accusations against him. All he says is, "Nothing that's written about me is true. I don't stand a chance against the system."
Krüger has hired new employees in the last few months. He gets contracts from fellow members of the far-right scene, but also from local businesses. Mayor Wandel says he's appalled by how far these right-wing structures now extend. "I'm afraid of a second, third, fourth Jamel," he says.
Neo-Nazis placed a boulder at the entrance to the village. A plaque attached to the rock reads, "Village of Jamel - free, social, national." Signs next to it point the way to Hitler's birthplace ("Braunau am Inn 855 km") and to the formerly German cities of Breslau (now Wroclaw in Poland) and Königsberg (now Kaliningrad, Russia). No one has removed the rock. "We've given up on Jamel," Wandel says.
Only the Lohmeyers are left.
Spiegel
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.
Help is Far Away
This summer, though, neo-Nazis jumped over the fence, yelling slurs and attacking concertgoers. Police stepped in and stopped the troublemakers. But police can't always protect the Lohmeyers -- the nearest station is 12 kilometers away.
Horst Lohmeyer sits in his kitchen, bent over a map, and runs his finger along the roads and through the towns -- Gressow, Neu Degtow, Grevesmühlen. It takes a quarter of an hour to reach the nearest police station. When Krüger got married this summer, the village was inundated with several hundred right-wing extremists from Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland, including a number of high-ranking NPD politicians such as Stefan Köster, NPD party head for Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
Jamel has become a right-wing pilgrimage site -- they come from all over Europe to see the village where neo-Nazis call the shots. They celebrated Krüger's wedding until late in the night, with nationalist rock music and fireworks. The Lohmeyers lay awake in bed, frozen with fear.
Mayor Uwe Wandel is helpless in the face of the right-wing movement in his community. He sounds bitter when he talks about Jamel. "The police, the authorities, no one dares to intervene," he says. "The Nazis are laughing in our faces." Wandel says he has repeatedly asked the state government for help. The interior minister and a parliamentary delegation came by one time, he adds. "They stayed for 20 minutes, expressed concern -- then they left again."
No One Responsible
Jamel has become a lawless place, Wandel complains, and the authorities don't take decisive enough action against the right-wing extremists. He says Krüger is allowed to dump demolition waste and burn trash in the village with impunity. The head of the department of public order in nearby Grevesmühlen says higher-level officials at the district level need to tackle the problem. They in turn say the local authority is responsible for Jamel.
Krüger, meanwhile, has much bigger plans. He has been a member of the district council for the NPD since 2009 and has bought parts of a concrete factory in Grevesmühlen, which he uses for his NPD office and his demolition company. The company logo shows the outline of a Star of David being smashed; the slogan is, "We do the dirty work." Barbed wire encloses the factory premises and dogs bark. A sign above the entrance reads, "Better dead than a slave." Krüger prefers not to comment on the accusations against him. All he says is, "Nothing that's written about me is true. I don't stand a chance against the system."
Krüger has hired new employees in the last few months. He gets contracts from fellow members of the far-right scene, but also from local businesses. Mayor Wandel says he's appalled by how far these right-wing structures now extend. "I'm afraid of a second, third, fourth Jamel," he says.
Neo-Nazis placed a boulder at the entrance to the village. A plaque attached to the rock reads, "Village of Jamel - free, social, national." Signs next to it point the way to Hitler's birthplace ("Braunau am Inn 855 km") and to the formerly German cities of Breslau (now Wroclaw in Poland) and Königsberg (now Kaliningrad, Russia). No one has removed the rock. "We've given up on Jamel," Wandel says.
Only the Lohmeyers are left.
Spiegel
Sunday, 2 January 2011
2 FAR-RIGHT EXTREMISTS RELEASED FROM CUSTODY ON BAIL (Czech Rep.)
The Prague 1 district court has decided to release after 14 months Patrik Vondra, former chairman of the Prague branch of the disbanded ultra-right Workers' Party (DS) and Michaela Dupova, a former DS member, from custody on a 400,000-crown bail, judge Libor Vavra told CTK yesterday. Besides, they promised not to be involved in any criminal activity and they will be under the supervision of a probation officer, Vavra said. Vondrak, Dupova and another six DS activists are charged with support and promotion of movements to suppress human rights and freedoms. Vondrak, 25, and Dupova, 21, spent about 14 months in custody, since the police raids at the end of October 2009. According to state attorney Zdenka Galkova, the eight people assisted in pasting up stickers of the neo-Nazi National Resistance (NO) movement and in organising a demonstration in memory of fallen German Wehrmacht soldiers and SS members. The remaining six defendants were not in the custody.
Dupova is also charged with operating a website of the Resistance Women Unity (RWU), a women's branch of the NO, according to police, and helping organise a concert of "white power music." If found guilty, the accused extremists face up to eight years in prison since they committed crimes as members od an organised group in a very efficient way. Police consider Vondrak one of the leading and most active representatives of the neo-Nazi NO. He was also a co-founder of the Young National Democrats civic association which tried to stage a march of ultra-right radicals through Prague' Jewish quarter on November 10, 2007, the anniversary of the Kristallnacht (Crystal Night) anti-Jewish pogrom in Nazi Germany in the night of November 10, 1938. The other charged persons are Milan Hroch, former chairman of the DS regional organisation in Vysocina, Richard Lang, Filip Vavra, who invited former Grand Wizard of Ku-Klux-Klan David Duke to the Czech Republic, DS candidate in the 2008 EP elections Petr Fryc, Daniel Zavadil and Martin Vaclavek. All the defendants have pleaded not-guilty.
Prague Daily Monitor
Dupova is also charged with operating a website of the Resistance Women Unity (RWU), a women's branch of the NO, according to police, and helping organise a concert of "white power music." If found guilty, the accused extremists face up to eight years in prison since they committed crimes as members od an organised group in a very efficient way. Police consider Vondrak one of the leading and most active representatives of the neo-Nazi NO. He was also a co-founder of the Young National Democrats civic association which tried to stage a march of ultra-right radicals through Prague' Jewish quarter on November 10, 2007, the anniversary of the Kristallnacht (Crystal Night) anti-Jewish pogrom in Nazi Germany in the night of November 10, 1938. The other charged persons are Milan Hroch, former chairman of the DS regional organisation in Vysocina, Richard Lang, Filip Vavra, who invited former Grand Wizard of Ku-Klux-Klan David Duke to the Czech Republic, DS candidate in the 2008 EP elections Petr Fryc, Daniel Zavadil and Martin Vaclavek. All the defendants have pleaded not-guilty.
Prague Daily Monitor
Neo-Nazi leader may face more time in prison (USA)
As William A. White nears the end of his prison sentence, the neo-Nazi leader from Roanoke is facing the possibility of more time behind bars for his Internet aggressions.
A trial is scheduled to begin Monday in federal court in Chicago, where White is charged with using his website to encourage violence against the foreman of a jury that convicted a fellow white supremacist in 2004.
Slated to last all week, the trial comes just two weeks before White's expected release date.
Once described as one of the loudest voices in America's neo-Nazi movement, White has been serving a 2½-year sentence after his convictions in Roanoke of making threats against a bank employee in Missouri, a university administrator in Delaware and a group of apartment tenants in Virginia Beach.
The victims -- like the juror in the Chicago case -- were strangers to White and to one another, bound only by their innocent involvement in a news event or controversy that enraged the 33-year-old enough to make him bombard them with hateful e-mails, telephone calls, letters and blog posts. Most of White's outbursts were prompted by his contempt for blacks and Jews.
White argues that, even as an avowed racist, he is entitled to free speech protection.
It is a defense that has produced mixed results, depending on the individual details of each of the eight charges White has faced during his three-year battle with the federal government.
Convicted of three charges and cleared of four, White will face the final one Monday when jury selection begins in U.S. District Court in Chicago. If found guilty, he would face up to 10 years in prison.
The charge involves a Sept. 11, 2008, post that White made to Overthrow.com, a website he used to promote his white supremacy group, the now-defunct American National Socialist Workers Party, and disparage his perceived enemies.
White listed the name, address and telephone numbers of a juror who, he said, "played a key role in convicting Matt Hale," according to federal prosecutors. Hale, the former leader of the white supremacist World Church of the Creator, was convicted of soliciting the murder of a federal judge in Chicago and sentenced to 40 years in prison.
Although the post made no direct threats against the juror, prosecutors say it amounted to a solicitation of others to harm the man -- especially when taken in context with other Overthrow.com missives.
White would often list the names, home addresses and telephone numbers of his targets, along with language that prosecutors say was likely to influence his racist and potentially violent audience.
For example, when the case of six black youths charged with assaulting a white classmate led to a civil rights demonstration in Jena, La., White listed the defendants' addresses under the headline: "Lynch the Jena 6." White said he was making the information public "in case anyone wants to deliver justice."
Other posts expected to be presented as evidence this week include White's opinion that his ideological opponents "should be shot, rather than debated," and accounts of his self-described urge to "kill, kill, kill."
White's attorneys say that, despite his unpopular political views, there's nothing in his writings that explicitly encourages violence.
"This was not a solicitation, and it was protected by the First Amendment," attorney Nishay Sanan of Chicago said of the post about the juror in the Hale case. "That's the crux of our case."
Any mention of the First Amendment will be contested by federal prosecutors. In a motion filed last month, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Ferrara asked U.S. District Court Judge Lynn Adelman to prohibit White from invoking the First Amendment, saying he should not be allowed to testify as a lay witness on a legal matter.
"This court will instruct the jury on the appropriate legal standards for when a communication is a solicitation," Ferrara wrote. Because the right to free speech is not part of that standard, he argued, invoking the First Amendment would be "gratuitous and an appeal to emotion and sentiment."
Yet free speech has been a key part of the case from the start.
In July 2009, Adelman dismissed the charge against White, noting that he broke no laws in obtaining the publicly available address and telephone numbers of the juror. As for using passages from Overthrow.com to interpret.
Roanoke
A trial is scheduled to begin Monday in federal court in Chicago, where White is charged with using his website to encourage violence against the foreman of a jury that convicted a fellow white supremacist in 2004.
Slated to last all week, the trial comes just two weeks before White's expected release date.
Once described as one of the loudest voices in America's neo-Nazi movement, White has been serving a 2½-year sentence after his convictions in Roanoke of making threats against a bank employee in Missouri, a university administrator in Delaware and a group of apartment tenants in Virginia Beach.
The victims -- like the juror in the Chicago case -- were strangers to White and to one another, bound only by their innocent involvement in a news event or controversy that enraged the 33-year-old enough to make him bombard them with hateful e-mails, telephone calls, letters and blog posts. Most of White's outbursts were prompted by his contempt for blacks and Jews.
White argues that, even as an avowed racist, he is entitled to free speech protection.
It is a defense that has produced mixed results, depending on the individual details of each of the eight charges White has faced during his three-year battle with the federal government.
Convicted of three charges and cleared of four, White will face the final one Monday when jury selection begins in U.S. District Court in Chicago. If found guilty, he would face up to 10 years in prison.
The charge involves a Sept. 11, 2008, post that White made to Overthrow.com, a website he used to promote his white supremacy group, the now-defunct American National Socialist Workers Party, and disparage his perceived enemies.
White listed the name, address and telephone numbers of a juror who, he said, "played a key role in convicting Matt Hale," according to federal prosecutors. Hale, the former leader of the white supremacist World Church of the Creator, was convicted of soliciting the murder of a federal judge in Chicago and sentenced to 40 years in prison.
Although the post made no direct threats against the juror, prosecutors say it amounted to a solicitation of others to harm the man -- especially when taken in context with other Overthrow.com missives.
White would often list the names, home addresses and telephone numbers of his targets, along with language that prosecutors say was likely to influence his racist and potentially violent audience.
For example, when the case of six black youths charged with assaulting a white classmate led to a civil rights demonstration in Jena, La., White listed the defendants' addresses under the headline: "Lynch the Jena 6." White said he was making the information public "in case anyone wants to deliver justice."
Other posts expected to be presented as evidence this week include White's opinion that his ideological opponents "should be shot, rather than debated," and accounts of his self-described urge to "kill, kill, kill."
White's attorneys say that, despite his unpopular political views, there's nothing in his writings that explicitly encourages violence.
"This was not a solicitation, and it was protected by the First Amendment," attorney Nishay Sanan of Chicago said of the post about the juror in the Hale case. "That's the crux of our case."
Any mention of the First Amendment will be contested by federal prosecutors. In a motion filed last month, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Ferrara asked U.S. District Court Judge Lynn Adelman to prohibit White from invoking the First Amendment, saying he should not be allowed to testify as a lay witness on a legal matter.
"This court will instruct the jury on the appropriate legal standards for when a communication is a solicitation," Ferrara wrote. Because the right to free speech is not part of that standard, he argued, invoking the First Amendment would be "gratuitous and an appeal to emotion and sentiment."
Yet free speech has been a key part of the case from the start.
In July 2009, Adelman dismissed the charge against White, noting that he broke no laws in obtaining the publicly available address and telephone numbers of the juror. As for using passages from Overthrow.com to interpret.
Roanoke
Saturday, 1 January 2011
Neo-Nazi leaders Vondrák and Dupová released on CZK 400 000 bail each (Czech Rep)
The Prague 1 District Court has decided to release Patrik Vondrák, the former chair of the Prague branch of the banned Workers' Party (Dělnická strana - DS) and former DS member Michaela Dupová from custody. Presiding judge Libor Vávra told the Czech Press Agency yesterday that both have been released on CZK 400 000 bail each after promising in writing to refrain from criminal activity. Both will also be under the observation of a probation officer. Vondrák, Dupová, and six others face charges of supporting and promoting a movement aimed at suppressing human rights and freedoms.
Judge Vávra said the court had decided on 16 December to release the 25-year-old Vondrák. The decision to release Dupová, who is 21, was made on 27 December. Both had been behind bars for more than a year since police raided their homes at the end of last October. According to police, Vondrák is one of the leading and most active representatives of the neo-Nazi National Resistance (Národní odpor - NO). The prosecutor is charging the eight defendants with participating to various degrees in four separate criminal acts. They have all denied the charges.
Defendants Vondrák, Dupová, Richard Lang, Milan Hroch (former chair of the DS regional organization in Vysočina), Martin Václavek (a former DS member) and Daniel Zavadil are charged with organizing and convening a gathering and march on 6 June 2009 in Jihlava which town officials dispersed immediately after it began. The event had been announced as a commemorative march in honor of the victims of the Second World War, but its true purpose was to honor the memory of Wehrmacht soldiers who fell during the war as well as the memory of SS members. The prosecution charges Hroch and Lang with planning the event. Zavadil notified the town hall of it and Václavek was his deputy convener.
The lawsuit alleges that Lang also arranged for memorial wreaths for the event and was present for it as an organizer. Dupová, according to the file, agreed with Lang to provide drums and to produce a memorial wreath. The lawsuit also says the gathering was addressed by Herbert Schweiger, a veteran of the Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler SS division, and by Austrian nationalist Gottfried Küssel. According to the case file, Vondrák invited them both to the Czech Republic and provided them with transportation.
Dupová faces charges for two other criminal acts. According to the case file, she contributed to creating and running the website of Resistance Women Unity (RWU), which police say is the women's branch of NO. The lawsuit claims she was the website administrator and published articles by herself and others on the site. According to the state prosecutor, those texts promoted and disseminated Nazi and neo-Nazi ideology.
In addition, according to the file, Dupová is said to have contributed to organizing and holding a concert of white power music in support of neo-Nazis who had been apprehended and later sentenced. The concert took place in February 2009 in Srby (Kladno district) and was attended by about 120 people. According to the lawsuit, Dupová knew the performers and others present would be disseminating Nazi and neo-Nazi ideology during the concert and celebrating the NO. Another crime concerns allegations that Vondrák, Dupová, Lang, Petr Fryč (a DS candidate during the European Parliamentary elections) and Filip Vávra posted promotional stickers for the NO in the center of Prague on 4 December 2008.
Experts on right-wing extremism say Lang is connected to the NO, while police say Hroch has also been actively engaged in the organization. Experts also say Vávra was connected with the NO; he has most recently attracted attention for inviting former Ku-Klux-Klan leader David Duke to the Czech Republic. Vávra admitted to the court that he was a right-wing radical at the end of the 1990s, but claims to have gradually become more moderate.
Romea
Judge Vávra said the court had decided on 16 December to release the 25-year-old Vondrák. The decision to release Dupová, who is 21, was made on 27 December. Both had been behind bars for more than a year since police raided their homes at the end of last October. According to police, Vondrák is one of the leading and most active representatives of the neo-Nazi National Resistance (Národní odpor - NO). The prosecutor is charging the eight defendants with participating to various degrees in four separate criminal acts. They have all denied the charges.
Defendants Vondrák, Dupová, Richard Lang, Milan Hroch (former chair of the DS regional organization in Vysočina), Martin Václavek (a former DS member) and Daniel Zavadil are charged with organizing and convening a gathering and march on 6 June 2009 in Jihlava which town officials dispersed immediately after it began. The event had been announced as a commemorative march in honor of the victims of the Second World War, but its true purpose was to honor the memory of Wehrmacht soldiers who fell during the war as well as the memory of SS members. The prosecution charges Hroch and Lang with planning the event. Zavadil notified the town hall of it and Václavek was his deputy convener.
The lawsuit alleges that Lang also arranged for memorial wreaths for the event and was present for it as an organizer. Dupová, according to the file, agreed with Lang to provide drums and to produce a memorial wreath. The lawsuit also says the gathering was addressed by Herbert Schweiger, a veteran of the Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler SS division, and by Austrian nationalist Gottfried Küssel. According to the case file, Vondrák invited them both to the Czech Republic and provided them with transportation.
Dupová faces charges for two other criminal acts. According to the case file, she contributed to creating and running the website of Resistance Women Unity (RWU), which police say is the women's branch of NO. The lawsuit claims she was the website administrator and published articles by herself and others on the site. According to the state prosecutor, those texts promoted and disseminated Nazi and neo-Nazi ideology.
In addition, according to the file, Dupová is said to have contributed to organizing and holding a concert of white power music in support of neo-Nazis who had been apprehended and later sentenced. The concert took place in February 2009 in Srby (Kladno district) and was attended by about 120 people. According to the lawsuit, Dupová knew the performers and others present would be disseminating Nazi and neo-Nazi ideology during the concert and celebrating the NO. Another crime concerns allegations that Vondrák, Dupová, Lang, Petr Fryč (a DS candidate during the European Parliamentary elections) and Filip Vávra posted promotional stickers for the NO in the center of Prague on 4 December 2008.
Experts on right-wing extremism say Lang is connected to the NO, while police say Hroch has also been actively engaged in the organization. Experts also say Vávra was connected with the NO; he has most recently attracted attention for inviting former Ku-Klux-Klan leader David Duke to the Czech Republic. Vávra admitted to the court that he was a right-wing radical at the end of the 1990s, but claims to have gradually become more moderate.
Romea
Community leaders praise response to the EDL protests (UK)
Community and civic leaders have praised Bradford people for standing up to the English Defence League last summer, and urge them to sustain the unity into 2011.
The Lord Mayor of Bradford Councillor Peter Hill praised Bradford for standing up to racism during the EDL rally.
“All praise to the people of Bradford who showed those people the door,” he said. “The word ‘nimby’ has been mocked over the years, but on August 10 the people of Bradford made it respectable when they said ‘Not in my back yard’.
“It drew a line under the 2001 riots. The authorities did a terrific job, but so did the people of Bradford.”
Coun Hill called on Bradfordians to pull together for a prosperous new year.
“For 2011, I hope there’s an upturn in business and that the cuts that have to be made are not as severe as feared,” he said. “The people of Bradford have to stick together, we need to pull together as a city.” Looking back on 2011, the year he became Lord Mayor, Councillor Hill said highlights had included Royal visits by Prince Charles and Princess Anne.
“They were a one-off and a real feather in the cap of the city,” he said. “What has really stood out are all the wonderful things people are doing, things I would never have known about had I not been Lord Mayor.
“I am invited to things every day and find people hiding their light under a bushel, doing terrific work in the community. I take my hat off to them – the city would be a lot poorer without them.”
The Very Reverend Dr David Ison, Dean of Bradford Cathedral, wants people to “work at what’s really important in the light of what will happen in 2011.”
He said: “That means not trying to get lots of material things, but discovering what we’re on this earth for, and how much we still have to learn, so that we can become the people God has made us to be.
“I hope as many people as possible have a happy and prosperous 2011, and that those who have good things will use them to help people worse off than themselves.”
He added: “I hope we will care for one another, and our environment, and get to know each other better across differences of culture, race, religion, age and sexuality. Kindness is an underrated virtue – let’s have more of it in 2011. And some warm sunshine too!”
Ishtiaq Ahmed, spokesman for Bradford Council for Mosques, hopes for “a very peaceful and prosperous year” in the city.
“The work and effort that all the community have put together to resist attacks from organisations like EDL has placed Bradford in a better light and we hope that kind of unity will be sustained over the next 12 months,” he said.
“Personally, I would like to keep my energy levels up and keep working for the betterment of the community, and for the unity of all Bradfordians.
“Bradford Council for Mosques takes pride in its work with other faith communities and we want to take that partnership to another level.”
Chairman of the Yorkshire Society Keith Madeley became an MBE in the New Year Honours list, for services to the community. Mr Madeley wants to see more development in the city centre in 2011. He said: “As a Bradfordian my hope for next year would be to see more movement, in respect of the Westfield development.
“I come across people who don’t go into Bradford to shop any more, there is nothing to attract them.”
Also at the top of Mr Madeley’s 2011 wishlist is the prospect of a rail-link between the Interchange and Forster Square railway stations becoming a reality.
Mr Madeley, a former railwayman, said: “An east-west link would be great, rather than being at the end of the line.
“For me that would be a real defining moment for Bradford.”
The Telegraph & Argus
The Lord Mayor of Bradford Councillor Peter Hill praised Bradford for standing up to racism during the EDL rally.
“All praise to the people of Bradford who showed those people the door,” he said. “The word ‘nimby’ has been mocked over the years, but on August 10 the people of Bradford made it respectable when they said ‘Not in my back yard’.
“It drew a line under the 2001 riots. The authorities did a terrific job, but so did the people of Bradford.”
Coun Hill called on Bradfordians to pull together for a prosperous new year.
“For 2011, I hope there’s an upturn in business and that the cuts that have to be made are not as severe as feared,” he said. “The people of Bradford have to stick together, we need to pull together as a city.” Looking back on 2011, the year he became Lord Mayor, Councillor Hill said highlights had included Royal visits by Prince Charles and Princess Anne.
“They were a one-off and a real feather in the cap of the city,” he said. “What has really stood out are all the wonderful things people are doing, things I would never have known about had I not been Lord Mayor.
“I am invited to things every day and find people hiding their light under a bushel, doing terrific work in the community. I take my hat off to them – the city would be a lot poorer without them.”
The Very Reverend Dr David Ison, Dean of Bradford Cathedral, wants people to “work at what’s really important in the light of what will happen in 2011.”
He said: “That means not trying to get lots of material things, but discovering what we’re on this earth for, and how much we still have to learn, so that we can become the people God has made us to be.
“I hope as many people as possible have a happy and prosperous 2011, and that those who have good things will use them to help people worse off than themselves.”
He added: “I hope we will care for one another, and our environment, and get to know each other better across differences of culture, race, religion, age and sexuality. Kindness is an underrated virtue – let’s have more of it in 2011. And some warm sunshine too!”
Ishtiaq Ahmed, spokesman for Bradford Council for Mosques, hopes for “a very peaceful and prosperous year” in the city.
“The work and effort that all the community have put together to resist attacks from organisations like EDL has placed Bradford in a better light and we hope that kind of unity will be sustained over the next 12 months,” he said.
“Personally, I would like to keep my energy levels up and keep working for the betterment of the community, and for the unity of all Bradfordians.
“Bradford Council for Mosques takes pride in its work with other faith communities and we want to take that partnership to another level.”
Chairman of the Yorkshire Society Keith Madeley became an MBE in the New Year Honours list, for services to the community. Mr Madeley wants to see more development in the city centre in 2011. He said: “As a Bradfordian my hope for next year would be to see more movement, in respect of the Westfield development.
“I come across people who don’t go into Bradford to shop any more, there is nothing to attract them.”
Also at the top of Mr Madeley’s 2011 wishlist is the prospect of a rail-link between the Interchange and Forster Square railway stations becoming a reality.
Mr Madeley, a former railwayman, said: “An east-west link would be great, rather than being at the end of the line.
“For me that would be a real defining moment for Bradford.”
The Telegraph & Argus
Friday, 31 December 2010
EDL-speech rabbi calls for Chief TV debate
The rabbi who spoke at an English Defence League rally two months ago has apparently challenged Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks to a televised BBC debate on "Is Islam a religion of peace?"
Californian Nachum Shifren was the speaker at the far-right group's October rally outside the Israeli Embassy.
He called Muslims "dogs" and criticised British community leaders and rabbis for speaking out against him, saying: "To all my Jewish brothers who have called me a Nazi… I say to them they don't have the guts to stand up here and take care of business."
Now Rabbi Shifren, who lost a bid for a Californian state senate seat, claims he is planning a TV debate with the Chief Rabbi on "the Islamification of Britain, cultural Marxism in western liberalism, multiculturalism and its effect on the host society".
In an email seen by the JC, Rabbi Shifren says he has set rules for the debate structure, to be followed by the Chief Rabbi and the BBC - despite no known interest in such a programme from either party.
He demands that the debate should not be moderated or edited, with no "extraneous commentary." He adds: "The programme should not be advertised or announced using such inflammatory labelling as 'far-right 'extremist.' i.e. not served up in terms that suit the Marxist-Islamist agenda of the BBC.
"This is strictly a bout between two combatants from which the listener and viewer may draw their own conclusions." He also requests that no audience be present at the debate to avoid "Trotskyist structures."
No-one from the Chief Rabbi's office was available for comment.
The JC
Californian Nachum Shifren was the speaker at the far-right group's October rally outside the Israeli Embassy.
He called Muslims "dogs" and criticised British community leaders and rabbis for speaking out against him, saying: "To all my Jewish brothers who have called me a Nazi… I say to them they don't have the guts to stand up here and take care of business."
Now Rabbi Shifren, who lost a bid for a Californian state senate seat, claims he is planning a TV debate with the Chief Rabbi on "the Islamification of Britain, cultural Marxism in western liberalism, multiculturalism and its effect on the host society".
In an email seen by the JC, Rabbi Shifren says he has set rules for the debate structure, to be followed by the Chief Rabbi and the BBC - despite no known interest in such a programme from either party.
He demands that the debate should not be moderated or edited, with no "extraneous commentary." He adds: "The programme should not be advertised or announced using such inflammatory labelling as 'far-right 'extremist.' i.e. not served up in terms that suit the Marxist-Islamist agenda of the BBC.
"This is strictly a bout between two combatants from which the listener and viewer may draw their own conclusions." He also requests that no audience be present at the debate to avoid "Trotskyist structures."
No-one from the Chief Rabbi's office was available for comment.
The JC
Thursday, 30 December 2010
German far-right parties announce merger
Two cash-strapped German far-right parties said on Thursday that they have agreed to merge ahead of an election-heavy year when voters in seven of the country's 16 states go to the polls.
The German National Democratic Party (NPD) and the smaller German People's Union (DVU) said that their leaders had signed an agreement on Wednesday creating the new party, "NPD - The People's Union", from January 1.
"What we have achieved is the creation of one strong and unified right-wing party," NPD leader Matthias Faust said in a statement.
"The election in Saxony-Anhalt (in eastern Germany) in March will show that it will be easier in future to bring national policies into (state) parliaments.
"The subsequent domino effect will bring further successes for the national opposition."
Earlier this year Germany became engulfed in a debate about immigration sparked by a book by a central banker who said Europe's biggest economy was being made "more stupid" by poorly educated and unproductive Muslim migrants.
NPD officials welcomed the book, which became a best-seller. Polls showed considerable sympathy for some of its arguments, leading to fears that a populist party with a charismatic leader could win considerable support.
But neither the NPD nor the DVU, which have been beset by major financial problems and falling membership, have appeared to benefit and neither party has ever had any seats in the federal parliament.
The NPD, formed in 1964, has six seats in the regional parliament of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and eight in Saxony, both in the depressed former communist east of the country where unemployment and poverty rates are high.
The DVU, created by millionaire Gerhard Frey in 1971, has one seat in the parliament of the western city state of Bremen. It says it has around 4,000 members while the NPD was estimated in 2009 to have 6,000-7,000.
Voters go the polls in Hamburg in February, in Saxony-Anhalt, Baden-Wuerttemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate in March, in Bremen in May and in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Berlin in September.
Expatica
The German National Democratic Party (NPD) and the smaller German People's Union (DVU) said that their leaders had signed an agreement on Wednesday creating the new party, "NPD - The People's Union", from January 1.
"What we have achieved is the creation of one strong and unified right-wing party," NPD leader Matthias Faust said in a statement.
"The election in Saxony-Anhalt (in eastern Germany) in March will show that it will be easier in future to bring national policies into (state) parliaments.
"The subsequent domino effect will bring further successes for the national opposition."
Earlier this year Germany became engulfed in a debate about immigration sparked by a book by a central banker who said Europe's biggest economy was being made "more stupid" by poorly educated and unproductive Muslim migrants.
NPD officials welcomed the book, which became a best-seller. Polls showed considerable sympathy for some of its arguments, leading to fears that a populist party with a charismatic leader could win considerable support.
But neither the NPD nor the DVU, which have been beset by major financial problems and falling membership, have appeared to benefit and neither party has ever had any seats in the federal parliament.
The NPD, formed in 1964, has six seats in the regional parliament of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and eight in Saxony, both in the depressed former communist east of the country where unemployment and poverty rates are high.
The DVU, created by millionaire Gerhard Frey in 1971, has one seat in the parliament of the western city state of Bremen. It says it has around 4,000 members while the NPD was estimated in 2009 to have 6,000-7,000.
Voters go the polls in Hamburg in February, in Saxony-Anhalt, Baden-Wuerttemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate in March, in Bremen in May and in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Berlin in September.
Expatica
Youth fire brigade volunteers spark Nazi salute scandal
Youth fire volunteers in North Rhine-Westphalia are caught in a neo-Nazi scandal after they were photographed giving a Hitler salute, media reported Thursday.
The youths in the city of Gladbeck have twice been snapped giving the salute, consisting of an outstretched right arm, in front of cameras, daily Bild reported.
One incident happened during a fire brigade camp in the Recklinghausen district and the other during a group holiday in Austria.
Fire Department chief Josef Dehling told Bild: “It is an absolute shock. These explicit photos shook me. The pictures are a catastrophe for us. Such ideas don’t belong here – not now, now ever.”
The pictures were taken in 2008 but have just now come to light. One was a picture of at least seven youths lined up on a balcony giving the salute during a week-long holiday in the Austrian town of Wagrain, near Salzburg.
“An older youth pushed the others into giving the pose,” Dehling said.
The 19-year-old has since left the fire service.
A second picture, from the camp in Coesfelder, Recklinghausen, shows several older youths, two of whom were camp leaders, giving the salute.
“It will certainly have severe consequences,” Dehling said. “Nothing is being swept under the carpet here. We immediately went on the offensive, asked the youths and their parents come in here and had a talk with them.”
Dehling insisted there was not an ingrained Nazi problem in the region’s fire service.
“But it would not be enough just to shrug it all off as a bad joke. We won’t put up with right-wing extremist ideas and we will now explain this to the youths in conversations and lectures.”
Police and state authorities were also involved in educating the youths, he said.
The Local Germany
The youths in the city of Gladbeck have twice been snapped giving the salute, consisting of an outstretched right arm, in front of cameras, daily Bild reported.
One incident happened during a fire brigade camp in the Recklinghausen district and the other during a group holiday in Austria.
Fire Department chief Josef Dehling told Bild: “It is an absolute shock. These explicit photos shook me. The pictures are a catastrophe for us. Such ideas don’t belong here – not now, now ever.”
The pictures were taken in 2008 but have just now come to light. One was a picture of at least seven youths lined up on a balcony giving the salute during a week-long holiday in the Austrian town of Wagrain, near Salzburg.
“An older youth pushed the others into giving the pose,” Dehling said.
The 19-year-old has since left the fire service.
A second picture, from the camp in Coesfelder, Recklinghausen, shows several older youths, two of whom were camp leaders, giving the salute.
“It will certainly have severe consequences,” Dehling said. “Nothing is being swept under the carpet here. We immediately went on the offensive, asked the youths and their parents come in here and had a talk with them.”
Dehling insisted there was not an ingrained Nazi problem in the region’s fire service.
“But it would not be enough just to shrug it all off as a bad joke. We won’t put up with right-wing extremist ideas and we will now explain this to the youths in conversations and lectures.”
Police and state authorities were also involved in educating the youths, he said.
The Local Germany
Auschwitz sign theft: Swedish man jailed
Anders Hoegstroem, a former neo-Nazi leader, admitted theft under a plea bargain last month and will be moved to Sweden to serve his sentence.
The infamous sign was stolen in December last year and recovered in three pieces three days later.
The judge in Krakow also jailed two Poles for up to two-and-a-half years.
One of the pair, named as Andrzej S, apologised in court for the offence, Polish media report.
The 5m (16ft) wrought-iron slogan which translates as "Work sets you free" is a potent symbol of many of the Nazi-era atrocities. During the Nazi Holocaust, 1.1 million people - most of them Jews - were murdered at Auschwitz.
The sign has since been repaired although it now hangs in the Auschwitz museum and has been replaced by a replica at the entrance to the former death camp.
Three other Poles were given prison terms earlier this year for the theft which was thought to have been ordered by another Swede still at large. So far, no evidence of other individuals has come to light.
Hoegstroem, 34, who was detained in Sweden in February had at first denied involvement in stealing the sign but later changed his plea.
On being told the verdict, he said he accepted the court's decision. He is now likely to be returned to Sweden in a week's time.
BBC News
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