Michael Pugliese
http://www.intellectualcapital.com/issues/issue366/item9093.asp
Happy Birthday, Adolf by Martin A. Lee Thursday, April 20, 2000 Comments: 37 posts
Eight hundred guests gathered in Munich's Loewnbraeukeller, one of the biggest and most famous beer halls in Bavaria, to celebrate Adolf Hitler’s birthday on April 20, 1990. To the delight of the assembly, several people wearing donkey outfits entered the premises and scampered between the tables. The masked marauders had come to mock the Nazi Holocaust. Those who accepted the fact that the Nazis killed 6 million Jews during the World War II were depicted as donkeys that would believe anything. Although blatant displays of Holocaust denial are illegal in Germany, the proprietors of the Loewnbraeukeller had made arrangements with the police not to intervene while the keynote speaker, British author David Irving, trivialized Nazi atrocities in a smarmy, joke-filled address that drew a standing ovation from the audience. A decade later, Irving made a complete ass of himself in a London courtroom, which rejected the libel suit that he had brought against American academic Deborah Lipstadt, who wrote an unflattering expose of Holocaust negationists. The judge ruled in no uncertain terms that Irving is an “active Holocaust-denier, an anti-Semite and a racist” with extensive ties to neo-Nazis in Europe and North America. White-collar skinheads Irving’s cynical attempt to relativize the Holocaust has made him a welcome speaker on numerous far-right platforms. Despite his courtroom setback, Holocaust denial screeds and other kinds of hate literature will continue to circulate like political pornography among extreme right organizations, which range from violent skinhead gangs and underground terrorist cells to mass-based electoral movements. The number of hardcore neo-fascists in Germany grew by 10% in 1999 to 9,000 and, according to government statistics, far-right violence is also on the rise. Membership in far-right political parties increased from 49,000 to 51,400 last year (but this figure does not include the 40,000 members of the extreme-right Republikaner Party). The situation is particularly troubling in economically depressed eastern Germany, where 15% to 20% of young men vote for neo-fascist parties. “To say that one third of East German youth is now prone to the extreme right is an understatement,” warns East Berlin criminologist Berndt Wagner. “The point of no return has already been reached for many. It's very depressing. It’s growing. It’s getting worse.” Even more dangerous in some ways than crazed outbursts of racist thuggery by neo-Nazi youth are what Nobel Prize-winning novelist Guenter Grass describes as the “white collar skinheads” who occupy positions of power in German government and society. These gentrified fascists have longer hair and dress in respectable suits and ties, but their bigoted worldview has much in common with violent neo-Nazi lumpen. The new poster boy The leaders of the more successful neo-fascist movements in Europe have deliberately softened their image and tailored their message to appeal to mainstream voters. Joerg Haider, the charismatic fuehrer of the Austrian Freedom Party, certainly does not conform to the stereotype of a Hollywood Nazi. He is far too cagey to advertise an explicit allegiance to the fascist creed. With Haider at the helm, the Freedom Party recently muscled its way into Austria’s national governing coalition after it won 27% of the vote. In the last elections, it emerged as the top vote-getter among the Austrian working class and people under 30 in what proved to be the strongest showing of a right-wing extremist party in Europe since World War II. Much like disgraced historian Irving, who is held in high regard within the Freedom Party, Haider has likened Winston Churchill to Hitler and equated the Nazi Holocaust with the postwar expulsion of ethnic Germans from eastern border zones. When asked if 6 million Jews had died, Haider shrugged, “If you like.” Haider’s remark about the Holocaust was in keeping with several sympathetic statements he made in reference to Hitler’s employment policies, the “decency” of the notoriously brutal Waffen SS, and how all soldiers, no matter which side they were on, had “fought for peace and freedom” during the World War II. After each so-called gaffe, the Freedom Party fuehrer flip-flopped and belatedly issued a half-hearted apology, only to make another outlandish comment soon after without actually admitting that he had said anything erroneous in the first place. Joerg Haider's friends
Instead of Haider, the media should scrutinize other Freedom Party members Instead of fixating on Haider’s verbal pirouettes, news media should scrutinize some of the hard-core extremists who occupy positions of influence within the Freedom Party. To cite a few examples: Haider’s adviser on cultural affairs, Andreas Molzer, was until recently the publisher of Zur Zeit, a virulently racist Vienna newsweekly, which raved about “the dogma of the six million murdered Jews” and the “epoch-making economic and political successes of the great social revolutionary,” a reference to Hitler. Markus Ertl, a Freedom Party councilor in Spittal an der Drau, claimed at a veteran’s reunion that only 74,000 people died at Auschwitz, and they were killed by Anglo-American air raids. Helmut Kowarik and Barbara Schoepfnagel, Freedom Party representatives in Vienna’s regional parliament, are also active members of the Austrian Landsmannschaft, a group that promotes Holocaust-denial and commemorates Hitler’s birthday in its newspaper. The time is right for the far right Even outside Austria, neo-fascists and right-wing extremists have reason to be pleased as they mark Hitler’s birthday anniversary this year. After wallowing in the political wilderness during the Cold War, they have posted significant gains at the ballot box and are now a force to be reckoned with in several European states. The Swiss Peoples Party scored a major electoral breakthrough, besting all contestants with 23% of the vote last October. Far-right parties have also tallied 15% or more nationwide in Norway, France and Italy. And the Vlaams Blok, another radical right-wing populist party with openly fascist roots, outpolls its rivals with more than 30% of the vote in Antwerp, Belgium’s second largest city. In Western Europe today, there are 50 million poor people, 18 million unemployed, and 3 million homeless -- and post-Communist Eastern Europe is faring much worse. Such conditions are ripe for exploitation by ultra-right-wing demagogues. Scapegoating immigrants and railing against globalization, a new breed of fascists posing as national populists has touched a raw nerve in a post-Cold War world that is still wobbling from the collapse of Soviet-bloc Communism, the reunification of Germany, major economic restructuring and fast-paced technological change. “Neo-fascism and neo-Nazism are gaining ground in many countries -- especially in Europe,” says Maurice Glele-Ahanhanzo, special rapporteur of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. Of particular concern, Glele-Ahanhanzo noted in a recent report to the U.N. General Assembly, is the “increase in the power of the extreme right-wing parties,” which are thriving in “an economic and social climate characterized by fear and despair.” Among the key factors fueling the rise of the far right, according to the U.N. report, are “the combined effects of globalization, identity crises, and social exclusion.” Even when they lose elections, neo-fascists are like a toxic chemical in the water supply of the European political landscape, polluting public discourse and pressuring establishment parties to adopt heretofore extremist positions to beat off challenges from the hard right. By the time the Austrian Freedom Party grabbed the reins of national power in February 2000, it had already seen the previous centrist governing coalition implement much of its anti-immigration and law-and-order platform. Moreover, it is increasingly difficult to discern any substantive policy differences between Haider’s minions in Austria and a growing right-wing faction within the conservative opposition in Germany, which has openly endorsed the Freedom Party. If someone with Haider’s charisma emerged on the German political scene, there is little reason to doubt that he would do rather well. Martin A. Lee is the author of The Beast Reawakens, a book about neofascism.
Related Links Follow this link to learn more about David Irving. Post election analyses reports on the Republikaner Party in Germany. An article headlined "Bonn rejects call to abandon Holocaust memorial" writer Guenter Grass is among those calling for reconsideration. The Anti-Defamation League profiles Joerg Haider. This link goes to a list of separatist movements worldwide. The United Nations is seriously concerned over evidence of an increase in racism, racial discrimination and xenophobia throughout the world.
How dangerous is the phenomenon that Lee identifies? Could the far right ever gain power in countries in Europe? How can, and should, it be stopped? Below are the last ten comments in chronological order. Click here to view the full comment history. [Post your comments] [View all comments] 4/20/00 5:38:57 PM MM DReed: I thought it was the French government which has "a list of acceptable names for children!" 4/20/00 5:44:59 PM JTK Before I'll be a slave, I'll be buried in my grave, and go back to my lord and be free. But I'll have a platoon of slain enemys for an honor guard to go with me. 4/20/00 5:53:13 PM The roots of National Socialism in Germany may be found in the profound injustice of the Versailles treaty. The party itself thrived on persecution, as in the aborted Munich takeover where the fuehrer was arrested and later jailed. This aparent setback allowed him to complete his great work. Beware, degenerates, of the white man scorned. He will visit destruction upon you again. 4/20/00 6:02:20 PM MM Dreed's post is grossly overstated (if not satirical), but I have a gut feeling that it is not entirely wrong--Germans came close to taking over the world before, I don't see a reason to be sure they won't try it again. Of course, us citizens of the country that presently almost rules the world shouldn't criticize Germans too harshly for wanting to do the same. // What is dangerous about Germans is that they are so efficient and so socially conforming that they can even make a large-scale bureaucratic state work reasonably well. Americans have a real gift for ignoring idiotic orders from above and solving problems in "unapproved" ways--we get things done, but our large scale organizations exist mostly in the minds of their nominal leaders... Germans somehow make the "approved procedures" work well enough. 4/20/00 6:44:14 PM Dr. Frankenstein A German commercial plane ran into trouble some miles off the coast of Europe on a transatlantic flight. The pilot was able to bring the plane (loaded with 200 passengers) down to sea level and make a relatively good emergency landing on water with time for the passengers to exit out onto the wing surfaces. The pilot announced for all swimmers to collect on the right wing and all non swimmers to collect on the left wing. He turned to the swimmers and pointed out the direction to land. He then turned to the non swimmers and announced "Thank you for flying Lufthansa". 4/20/00 6:54:23 PM Can we get alaska air to do that? 4/20/00 8:57:11 PM Helmet Coal MM: With your theory of German conformist efficiency could you please explain why Britian, historically known for its eccentric individualism, has always had a basic hegemony over Europe and at one time controlled nearly the entire globe under the British Empire? Where is the German Empire that proves your shoddy theory that Germans are a genetically expansionist people, as if that psuedo-scientific idea has any merit at all? Spain, Potugal, Holland, Belgium, France, all seem to show more evidence of imperial expansion than does Germany. And of course, we are speaking of nations not extremely genetically different groups. Genetics show that there is very little genetic difference between European peoples, and that they are essentially all closely related. 4/20/00 8:57:54 PM Helmet Coal cont: The Germans, as a nation, however, are very protective of their ancestral lands, they, being the only European tribe to hold off the Romans during the Roman Empire's initial expansion. German resentment of the Hapsburg Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire as well the Judeo-Bolshevic Empire show more of the honorable Gemanic nature of defending their homeland against invading forces, hardly a world dominating spirit. I might add that the majority of American immigrants are of German extraction, so how does this explain your basic capitulation to DReed's fraudulent anti-German genetic scapegoatism? Considering your naive nonconformist theory of America, were Germanic genes neutralized somehow once they arrived in the states? I think you are expressing anti-Germanic propaganda as it has been piped down from the Jews for five decades, for your simplistic theories are quite obviously pure bunk. 4/20/00 9:05:22 PM Marrinon Mark Wilson: 4/20/00 2:20:39 PM- Mark Wilson "You can review last week's Hillary thread for some good summations of the many similarities between socialism and fascism." Huh? Your butt, along with Mycroft's and Mark Amerman's, was kicked well and truly by Paul Rosenberg who consummately refuted every feeble point you attempted to raise. You lack the guts to consider any idea which might threaten your worldview. You also claim to laugh at socialists. No, you self-proclaimed lover of truth, you don't laugh at socialists. You don't laugh at anything, Mark Wilson. It is obvious to anyone that your desparate and fanatical ideological obsessions reveal that you have no sense of humor whatsoever. When was the last time you really enjoyed yourself? Go out and try to have some fun. You'll feel much the better for it. 4/20/00 9:15:20 PM Helmet Coal Marrinnon: You would do well to take some of your own advice, but I suppose the liberal mind is so used to self-righteously barking commands and worshipping that carpetbagger lilith, Hillary, that to you, wallowing in your own venom is your idea of a good time. You and Janet Reno ought to party together, you go ghoul! [Post your comments] [View all comments]
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