Free fellowships

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Parade of free comrades on October 17, 2009 in Leipzig

Informally organized neo-Nazi groups describe themselves as free comradeships . They are legally non-legal associations and therefore difficult to grasp in terms of their structure and members, since z. B. in a civil case, all members would have to be named and sued.

The groups are autonomous but strongly networked with one another . They see themselves as part of the so-called " national resistance ", a kind of right united front. According to estimates by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, there are around 150 regional and supraregional camaraderie in Germany with a membership of five to twenty people each. According to the Dresden public prosecutor's office, there are around 40 free comradeships with a total of 1,800 members in Saxony alone.

Concept and organization

The concept of “free comradeships” or “autonomous comradeships” emerged in the mid-1990s, when the bans of several right-wing extremist parties and neo-Nazi organizations such as the Freedom German Workers' Party (FAP) broke away a base of the right wing (see also: List of right-wing extremist organizations banned in Germany ). Unlike parties or associations with permanent members, the comradeships are free associations, in which activists are not recorded by name in any party book or association member directory and new members are recruited from their circle of friends and through right-wing rock concerts. For these reasons, comradeship is more difficult to forbid by the state. In addition to the abandonment of an externally visible fixed organizational structure, an increased use of new communication technologies such as the so-called national info telephones and the Internet is typical for the comradeships , which allow them considerable flexibility. The comradeships essentially took over their organizational structure from the autonomous scene and the Antifa , where the concept of "organizing without organization" had existed for a long time.

The Hamburg neo-Nazi Christian Worch played an essential role in the creation and further development of the “free comradeships” . His friend and colleague Thomas Wulff (nickname: Steiner) developed the concept of the "Free Nationalists" in mid-1996, in which regional comradeships are to be united in supra-regional alliances and which he himself in an interview for the neo-Nazi newspaper Zentralorgan , a source of information and a means of dissemination of propaganda of national importance, explained as follows:

“It is an alliance structure that always comes into play when various action groups and parties are active on national and social issues in northern Germany. Above all, the name is intended to make it clear that all other national forces can enter into an alliance under this action name without having to give up their independence. "

The following supra-regional alliances currently exist in Germany:

Ideology and demeanor

Ideologically, at least some of the “free comradeships” refer to the worldview of the National Socialists , sometimes with direct reference to the Nazi era and its military and spiritual “leaders”. They refer positively to the ideology of the "political soldier". Accordingly, former Nazi symbols , some of which were modified to protect against criminal prosecution, are very popular with the neo-Nazis. Black flags are often carried during demonstrations as a symbol of “free comradeships”.

Relationship of the Free Comradeships to the NPD

Within the comradeship scene, the handling of and the demarcation from the NPD are controversial . In the eastern federal states in particular, numerous neo-Nazi cadres are also members of the NPD or its youth organization JN . The NPD in turn undertakes numerous activities to involve members of the “free comradeships”. Several important fellowship leaders have recently become party members. The neo-Nazi Thorsten Heise has now even been promoted to the party's national executive committee, where he oversees a specially set up “Free Comradeships Unit”. Before joining the NPD, Federal Managing Director Frank Schwerdt was actively involved in establishing several comradeships in the Berlin-Brandenburg area. Udo Voigt , the then national chairman of the NPD, offered the autonomous comradeships a cooperation as an interview partner in the sixth edition of the scene newspaper “Resistance”. He said here: Those who “ are working to see themselves as a system alternative and whose basis is a nationalist worldview and who want to work seriously on it, we call on to work in the NPD, ” said Voigt.

Fields of action

Parades and rallies

One of the most important fields of action of the “free comradeships” are demonstrations and rallies. According to the company's own statements, the content is rather insignificant, essentially it's about the presence on the street. Most of the demonstrations with national mobilization were and is the veteran neo-Nazi cadre and heir to millions, Christian Worch. Regional demonstrations, on the other hand, are usually registered by local cadres or NPD forces.

During marches to “ memorialize heroes” in close proximity to the military cemetery in Halbe or the Rudolf Hess memorial march , “free comrades” are always represented in large numbers. On January 31, 2004 , around 1000 neo-Nazis marched in Hamburg to demonstrate against the Wehrmacht exhibition of the Hamburg Institute for Social Research on the crimes of the Wehrmacht .

Anti-Antifa work

Another focus of the range of activities is the so-called anti-antifa work. This includes the compilation of information for "enemy intelligence". Specifically, this is done by collecting and publishing names, addresses and photos of political opponents, both from individuals and from left-wing or alternative projects. The authors of these “black lists” mostly refrain from calling for the use of force , but the intention of spreading horror and preparing for acts of violence is beyond doubt. Organized anti-anti-fascist work began in the mid-1980s. Numerous comradeships and supraregional associations can be traced back to such structures. B. the Thuringian homeland security on the anti-antifa East Thuringia. Anti-Antifa work is particularly popular with Autonomous Nationalists .

Paramilitary training (military sport)

This article or the following section is not adequately provided with supporting documents ( e.g. individual evidence ). Information without sufficient evidence could be removed soon. Please help Wikipedia by researching the information and including good evidence.

Comradeships often lead so-called military sports exercises , i. H. some paramilitary exercises were carried out with sharp weapons. These generally take place in remote forest areas. The military sports group Hoffmann , which was banned in the 1980s, is a model for these activities . Often only selected neo-Nazi cadres are allowed to participate in military sports, who often consider themselves to be an elite within their scene.

Propaganda with the arguments of the political opponent

For political propaganda, the members also use themes and cues from their political opponents. Often, ecological slogans are used to advertise (“Against GM maize”), anti-church or anti-state arguments.

Political training and camaraderie evenings

Another important form of “free comradeship” action is political training and comradeship evenings. The former primarily serve to strengthen the ideological strength and indoctrination of the members and often take place in right-wing "educational institutions" such as the Collegium Humanum in Vlotho . Prominent neo-Nazis such as Christian Worch often appear here. Comradeship evenings, on the other hand, tend to take place in the premises of individual comradeships or members and generally consist of political lectures, planning of actions and musical performances e.g. B. by Nazi songwriters like Frank Rennicke .

Terrorist activity

Some members of comradeships repeatedly draw attention to themselves through acts of violence and mostly only then come into the focus of the press. Although the weapons and explosives found are reported on, the conceptual background is often ignored. Dummies of explosives and three pipe bombs with a total of 1.4 kg of TNT were found, for example, in Jena in 1998 among three members of the Thuringian Homeland Security and the "Free Comradeship" Jena. These were Uwe Böhnhardt , Uwe Mundlos and Beate Zschäpe . With the support of right-wing extremist friends, they initially managed to hide in Chemnitz. From then on they lived in illegality. As of 2000, they committed nine murders of migrants, one of a policewoman and 43 attempted murders. The right-wing terrorists called themselves National Socialist Underground (NSU). The police did not manage to get on her trail. It wasn't until 2011 that the group was discovered by accident. A fourth "comrade" blew himself up on September 28, 1998 while building a bomb in Jena. In 1998 and afterwards further weapons depots of the THS and associated comrades were discovered in Thuringia in Heilsberg near Rudolstadt and in 2004 in Weimar and in 2003 the explosives laboratory of a 19-year-old neo-Nazi in Ohrdruf . In January 2004, when the comradeship “Elbmarsch” split off in Pinneberg (Schleswig-Holstein) called “ Combat 18 Pinneberg ”, over a dozen firearms and evidence of a brisk arms trade among northern German neo-Nazis were found.

The "Kameradschaft Treptow" in Berlin, which was founded by Detlef Nolde , a former functionary and training manager of the FAP, proved to be particularly dangerous . Nolde took over the leadership of the comradeship until he was involved in a murder case in Berlin-Adlershof in 1997. A 1995 arson attack on the youth center "Gerard Philipe" was carried out by a member of the Treptow Comradeship. Kay Diesner also came from their ranks, seriously injuring a PDS bookseller with gunshots and killing a police officer shortly afterwards. Other comradeship members were 17-year-old Patrick Demming and 20-year-old Carsten Müller, who together built a pipe bomb, the victim of which was to become a PDS member from Treptow.

On November 9, 2003, on the 65th anniversary of the Reichspogromnacht , the Comradeship South under the leadership of Martin Wiese planned an explosive attack at the laying of the foundation stone of the Jewish cultural center on Sankt-Jakobs-Platz in Munich , which was however thwarted.

State reactions

Despite the clearly neo-Nazi and partly right-wing terrorist orientation of the groups, only a few comradeships have been forbidden due to the organizational structure: in 1995 it concerned the "Direct Action / Central Germany", the "Kameradschaft Oberhavel" (Brandenburg) on ​​August 14, 1997 and the comradeship "Hamburger Sturm “On August 11, 2000. The members of the two organizations then continued their activities largely unhindered under a new name.

So far, the "Kameradschaft Oberhavel" has been banned by the Interior Minister of Brandenburg on August 14, 1997 and the "Hamburger Sturm" association on August 11, 2000, which published a publication with the same name. In 2001, the Skinhead Comradeship Skinheads Saxon Switzerland (SSS) was banned by Saxony's Interior Minister Klaus Hardraht (CDU). At the same time the “Skinheads Saxon Switzerland - Structural Organizations” (SSS-AO) were banned, as was the comradeship “National Resistance Pirna” (NWP).

On March 9, 2005, the Berlin Senator for the Interior Ehrhart Körting founded the two neo-Nazi organizations “ Kameradschaft Tor ” (KS Tor, Berlin-Lichtenberg) including their “Girls Group” and “Berliner-Alternative-Süd-Ost” (Baso, Berlin-Treptow / Köpenick) is prohibited.

At the beginning of April 2005, the state of Brandenburg banned the neo-Nazi “ Kameradschaft Hauptvolk ” and its subdivision “ Sturm 27 ”. The Central Hesse Action Alliance dissolved itself at the end of 2004 to forestall a ban.

In April 2007 the Saxon Interior Minister banned Sturm 34 .

See also

literature

  • Andrea Röpke , Andreas Speit (eds.), Brown comradeships. The new networks of militant neo-Nazis , Ch. Links Verlag, Berlin, 2004, ISBN 3-86153-316-2
  • "Free comradeships". Information brochure from Antifa 3000, Hanover 2002.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ advance version of Constitutional Protection Report 2005 ( Memento of 4 July 2010 at the Internet Archive ) (PDF, 4.3 MB)
  2. ↑ "We just can't do it!" (tagesschau.de archive)
  3. ↑ Source: Bayerischer Rundfunk, Rechts Kameradschaften in Bayern ( Memento of the original dated November 30, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed November 26, 2011 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / on3.de
  4. ^ Bomb makers on the run, in: TAZ, March 4, 1998, p. 7 / Inland
  5. ^ Bomb maker in the right scene as a lone perpetrator, in: Ostthüringer Zeitung of May 10, 2000 / local news from Jena and the surrounding area
  6. ↑ Dangerous suspicion - investigators find explosive chemicals during raid, in: Thüringer Allgemeine from November 28, 2003, page Thuringia
  7. ↑ a b Antifa Recherche Berlin, May 2003 (PDF; 1.4 MB)
  8. ↑ Klußmann: TERRORISMUS: Explosives Klima . In: Der Spiegel . No. 52 , 1997, pp. 37-38 ( online ).
  9. ↑ Opening date: September 10th - Berliner Zeitung
  10. ↑ What are free comradeships? ( Memento of the original from November 12, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. - Inforiot @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.inforiot.de