Neo-Nazism in Jena

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The neo-Nazism in Jena and the regional neo-Nazi scene in the East Thuringia area have repeatedly been the subject of nationwide reports, for example about the right-wing rock festival Fest der Völker , the protests against it and the terrorist group National Socialist Underground .

history

In the DDR

By the late 1970s at the latest, there was a right-wing extremist skinhead scene in Jena , which, however, had little influence. The existence of a right-wing extremist scene in the GDR was denied by the government, but the perpetrators were closely monitored by the police and the Stasi. The district authority of the People's Police described in a document dated November 3, 1989 that the known groups of neo-Nazis concentrate mainly on the districts of Gera, Jena and Stadtroda.

“Yes, there was a strong, violent neo-Nazi milieu in Jena - after the fall of the Wall, in the great upheaval in circumstances and biographies, but also before that, in the GDR-critical scene of the seventies and eighties. Right-wing attitudes solidified from youthful defiance against the SED regime to Nazi pop culture, then to political ideology "

- Albrecht Schröter

After the turn

In the late evening of September 15, 1995 around 10:30 p.m., about 50 right-wing extremists from Jena and Rudolstadt / Saalfeld attacked the planetarium in Jena to blow up an event organized by the Kassablanca Sociocultural Youth Center. The police were able to arrest the majority of the neo-Nazis armed with baseball bats.

Brown house

The "Brown House" in Jena-Lobeda

In 2002 Ralf Wohlleben , the temporary NPD member André Kapke and the songwriter Maximilian Lemke moved into the former restaurant "Zum Löwen" in Alt-Lobeda. Lemke acquired the property through hire purchase. The office of the NPD district association Jena has also been moved there. The facility was called "House Community to the Lions" by the residents and was publicly called the "Brown House", based on the former NSDAP party headquarters in Munich. Numerous training courses and events took place there, including a. the national party conference of the NPD on December 7, 2003.

According to information from Uwe Luthardt, a short-term party and board member of the Jena NPD, who left the party in 2007, there were SS pictures and weapons storage in the rooms.

There have been multiple violent attacks from inside the house on counter-demonstrators, for example on November 9, 2002, during the Festival of Nations in 2005 and 2006.

Since 2006 the fraternity of Normannia Jena has been using the Brown House regularly for their events.

The building of the Brown House was rebuilt by the residents over the course of time without building permit and therefore evacuated by the police in 2009. Since then, events have been taking place on the property in a tent set up in the garden.

From March 2010 on websites such as Altermedia and the Thaizi-Forum or in the German voice calls for donations to finance the renovation of the house. After a lecture event with the right-wing extremist Karl-Heinz Hoffmann in the Saxon town of Hausdorf in September 2010, there was suspicion that explosives were being stored in the Brown House, which is why the police searched the building twice in September and October of that year. In 2012, the police ransacked the property again, assuming guns were walled in on the property.

Organizations

National Socialist Underground

The members of the National Socialist Underground terrorist group Beate Zschäpe , Uwe Mundlos and Uwe Böhnhardt, who came from the Winzerla district , appeared in Jena in the 1990s through criminal and violent acts. Wohlleben and Kapke had known the three members of the National Socialist Underground group since the mid-1990s.

On November 29, 2011, Wohlleben was arrested on suspicion of support by the federal prosecutor's office . He is said to have been the key figure in the hiding of his old Jena acquaintances and to have assisted in six murders by “getting a gun and ammunition in 2001 or 2002”.

Thuringian homeland security

The neo-Nazi comradeship network " Thuringian Homeland Security " (THS) was also active in Jena.

Free network Jena

The comradeship "Free Net Jena" (FN Jena) operates a website as the successor group to the "National Resistance Jena", which is connected to the national internet portal " Free Net ", founded in 2007 . The FN Jena also uses the Braune Haus as a meeting point and for events.

Youth for Jena

The youth group "Nationale Jugend für Jena", which was independent from the party, according to the announcement of the district association, appeared from autumn 2001 by demanding a self-administered youth center from the city. On October 24, 2001, several dozen young people attended a city council meeting. On January 12, 2002, the “Youth for Jena” organized a demonstration, at which their spokesman Christian Kaiser and Ralf Wohlleben gave speeches. Wohlleben established contact with the NPD Association Greifswald, whereupon the youth distributed a reprint of the Greifswald right-wing extremist school newspaper Norddeutsches Sprachrohr to Jena schools for Jena , and based on this model they founded a school newspaper Mitteldeutsches Sprachrohr , of which at least six issues were published in the course of 2002 and by January 2006 30 issues had appeared. According to an assessment by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution in 2005, the Central German mouthpiece developed the greatest effect in communicating right-wing extremist ideologies of all newspapers distributed to Thuringian students.

National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD)

The district association of the right-wing extremist party NPD in Jena was founded in 1998 by THS member Ralf Wohlleben , who became chairman.

In terms of organization and personnel, it is linked to organizations such as the “Thuringian Homeland Security” and the “National Youth for Jena”. The seat of the NPD office in Jena-Lobeda is the so-called “Brown House”.

From 2009 the area of ​​the district association of Jena in Jena / Saale-Holzland-Kreis was expanded. While Jena was one of the Thuringian district associations with high publicity and presence in the media, hardly any public activities were recorded for 2010. Ralf Wohlleben left the party in September 2010, and the district association's website, which has existed since March 2001, is no longer accessible in 2011.

The law student Nicole Schneider (then Nicole Schäfer) was the deputy district chairwoman until 2002 . Schneider later joined the law firm H 3 in Stuttgart and Rastatt, where she represented her boss Klaus Harsch in lawsuits against Karlsruhe mayor Heinz Fenrich and Karlsruhe CDU chairman Josef Offele in 2008 , which Harsch has a political closeness had accused the NPD. After Ralf Wohlleben was arrested for alleged NSU support, Schneiders took over his defense in December 2011.

From 2004 the Thuringian NPD state chairman Frank Schwerdt took over the deputy chairmanship of the Jena district association.

In addition, in 2011 members and former members were suspected of having supported the terrorist group National Socialist Underground .

Festival of the Nations

The NPD district association has already registered the Festival of Nations for the months of June of every year from 2005 to 2015 as a rally in Jena, and expects around 500 participants each time. The events in 2005 and 2007 took place in Jena with right-wing extremist speakers, bands and visitors from Germany and other European countries, which was met with protests and counter-demonstrations. The festival of the peoples registered for 2006 in Jena had been banned; the events in 2008 and 2009 were relocated to Altenburg and Pößneck , respectively , and the festival of the peoples planned in Pößneck in 2010 was banned.

More real estate deals

In 2005, the NPD Jena offered a service for sellers of real estate to show interest in buying in exchange for a donation from a party in order to persuade the city to buy. The local council of Nerkewitz near Jena decided on a right of first refusal for two vacant lots after the NPD had announced that they wanted to acquire them for “ solstice celebrations or small meetings”.

people

Ralf Wohlleben

Wohlleben often ran for the NPD in elections and later became deputy state chairman and press spokesman for the NPD in Thuringia. From June 2000 to December 2002 he was a member of the local council of Jena-Winzerla without an NPD party mandate and was elected to the local council of Lobeda-Altstadt in 2004.

Wohlleben announced the event of a tent camp for June 2002, which was banned by the city. In addition, he registered a demonstration that took place on June 2, 2002 as the Thuringian National Youth Day and attended by around 130 right-wing extremists from Thuringia and other federal states. This event was repeated in other cities in Thuringia in the following years until 2010.

André Kapke

Together with Wohlleben and Tino Brandt, Kapke structured the construction of the Nazi scene in Jena. His main areas of activity were the free comradeship scene , organizing music events and looking after the so-called Brown House .

Election results

Right-wing extremist parties in Jena achieve average results in elections.

choice Constituency Political party Country result Constituency result
State election in Thuringia 1990 Jena West DSU 3.3% 2.9%
State election in Thuringia 1990 Jena East DSU 3.3% 3.0%
State election in Thuringia 1990 Jena West REP 0.8%
State election in Thuringia 1990 Jena East REP 0.8%
State election in Thuringia 1990 Jena West NPD 0.2%
State election in Thuringia 1990 Jena East NPD 0.2%
State election in Thuringia 1994 Jena 1 REP 0.5% 1.1%
State election in Thuringia 1994 Jena 2 REP 0.5% 1.5%
State election in Thuringia 1999 Jena 1 DVU 3.1% 1.9%
State election in Thuringia 1999 Jena 2 DVU 3.1% 2.0%
State election in Thuringia 1999 Jena 1 NPD 0.2% 1.2%
State election in Thuringia 1999 Jena 2 NPD 0.2% 1.8%
State election in Thuringia 1999 Jena 1 REP 0.8% 1.3%
State election in Thuringia 1999 Jena 2 REP 0.8% 1.4%
State election in Thuringia 2004 Jena 1 NPD 1.6% 1.2%
State election in Thuringia 2004 Jena 2 NPD 1.6% 1.8%
State election in Thuringia 2004 Jena 1 REP 2.0% 1.3%
State election in Thuringia 2004 Jena 2 REP 2.0% 1.4%
State election in Thuringia 2009 Jena 1 NPD 4.3% 1.9%
State election in Thuringia 2009 Jena 2 NPD 4.3% 2.4%
State election in Thuringia 2009 Jena 1 REP 0.4% 0.3%
State election in Thuringia 2009 Jena 2 REP 0.4% 0.5%

In the city council of Jena far-right politicians were never represented (as of February 2012). Right-wing extremist candidates were only successful in individual cases at the district level.

Protest actions

For years there have been protests against right-wing extremism in Jena.

Protests against the festival of the peoples

After the NPD district association organized a Rudolf Hess memorial march through downtown Jena in 2007, resistance arose against the festival of the peoples planned for 2007, at which 3,000 citizens blocked the concert. The event was then held in Altenburg in 2008 . Protesters from Jena also traveled there by bus and supported the citizens of Altenburg in their blockade. The pastor of the Junge Gemeinde Stadtmitte , Lothar König, has played an important role in dealing with the right-wing extremist scene for decades.

Rock 'n' Roll Arena Jena

Peter Maffay in concert

As a sign of the protest against the terror group NSU, a benefit concert with the title "Rock 'n' Roll Arena Jena - For the Colorful Republic of Germany" took place in Jena on December 2nd, 2011. The patrons, Jena's Mayor Albrecht Schröter (SPD), Prime Minister Christine Lieberknecht (CDU) and the parliamentary leader of the Greens in the Bundestag, Jürgen Trittin welcomed 50,000 visitors. The artists were Udo Lindenberg , Julia Neigel , Clueso , the band Silly and Peter Maffay .

Declaration on dealing with right-wing extremism

In a joint statement on November 23, 2011, the city council and the mayor of the city made clear their determination to continue fighting right-wing extremism. The declaration honors the previous measures against right-wing extremism: the “Round Table for Democracy”, alliances and networks against the law and the initiative “Municipalities against right-wing extremism” as well as the prevention of a number of neo-Nazi marches.

See also

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Matthias Quent : The extreme right in Thuringia: Development of the neo-Nazi scene
  2. ↑ a b OTZ from December 1, 2011: Inside views of the right-wing extremist scene
  3. ^ Fraternities in Thuringia (PDF; 159 kB), answer of the Thuringian Ministry of the Interior of July 1, 2011 to the small inquiry 1402
  4. ↑ Thuringian State Office for the Protection of the Constitution: Constitutional Protection Report Free State of Thuringia 2003 (109 pages pdf; 714 kB), Erfurt 2003, page 25
  5. ^ People like to sing the Horst Wessel song , Spiegel , February 25, 2009
  6. ↑ Thomas Stridde: Going on a demo with rake: Some "Wohlleben-Episoden" from Jena , Thüringer Landeszeitung, November 30, 2011
  7. ^ A b Uwe Müller and Marc Neller: Wehrsportgruppen-Hoffmann in the sights of the investigators , Welt , November 27, 2011
  8. ↑ Thuringia: Andre Kapke , blog ART.NordThüringen
  9. ^ Information from Uwe Luthardt in the TV show Maybrit Illner , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3z9YhDgpmE
  10. ↑ Thuringian State Office for the Protection of the Constitution: Constitutional Protection Report Free State of Thuringia 2010 ( Memento of the original of September 27, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (114 pages pdf; 2.1 MB), Erfurt 2010, page 38 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.thueringen.de
  11. ↑ Walled-in weapons: LKA Thuringia searches neo-Nazi meeting place In: spiegel.de from June 6, 2012
  12. ↑ http://www.express.de/panorama/nazi-trios--die-heimat-des-hasses,2192,11172258.html
  13. ↑ Rainer Erb: The supporters. Brandenburg State Center for Political Education
  14. ↑ Press release Federal Court of Justice of November 29, 2011: Further arrests in connection with the investigation against members and supporters of the terrorist organization "National Socialist Underground (NSU)"
  15. ↑ Thuringian State Office for the Protection of the Constitution: Constitutional Protection Report Free State of Thuringia 2010 ( Memento of the original of September 27, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (114 pages pdf; 2.1 MB), Erfurt 2010, page 53 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.thueringen.de
  16. ↑ TV report, Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk, 2005, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEDHcg7rJQw , 1: 10-1: 22
  17. ^ NPD Jena: Board of Directors ( Memento from January 25, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  18. ↑ Thuringian State Office for the Protection of the Constitution: Constitutional Protection Report Free State of Thuringia 2009 (119 pages pdf; 874 kB), Erfurt 2009, page 20
  19. ↑ Thuringian State Office for the Protection of the Constitution: Constitutional Protection Report Free State of Thuringia 2010 ( Memento of the original of September 27, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (114 pages pdf; 2.1 MB), Erfurt 2010, page 28 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.thueringen.de
  20. ↑ Meinrad Heck: Von Rechts Wegen ( Memento of the original from January 9, 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. , Context: weekly newspaper , December 8, 2011 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.kontextwochenzeitung.de
  21. ↑ man without surname , Ka-News.de , May 30th 2008
  22. ↑ Law firm Harsch und Kollegen: Press release in the case of the arrested Ralf W., December 14, 2011 ( Memento of the original from January 24, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.kanzlei-harsch.de
  23. ↑ Registration of annual or regular neo-Nazi meetings and events (3 pages pdf; 159 kB), small request from MPs König (Die Linke) and response from the Thuringian Ministry of the Interior, Thuringian State Parliament, May 2, 2011
  24. ↑ Stephan Braun, Alexander Geisler, Martin Gerster: Strategies of the right-wing extremists, background analysis answers , VS-Verlag, 2009, page 257
  25. ↑ Axel Hemmerling, TV report, Thüringen Journal , Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oR82aqySSN8
  26. ↑ Thuringian State Office for the Protection of the Constitution: Verfassungsschutzbericht Freistaat Thüringen 2002 (116 pages pdf; 675 kB), Erfurt 2002, pp. 18–21
  27. ↑ Results from the regional returning officer online
  28. ↑ Right-wing extremist terror: Visit to Jena: “Not here!” In the online edition of the Tagesspiegel from November 27, 2011 and right-wing extremism Not here !: Jena of all places: A visit to the hometown of the right-wing murderers on time online from November 25th 2011
  29. ↑ Concert in Jena: 50,000 rock against the right. Spiegel Online , December 3, 2011, accessed April 21, 2013 .
  30. ↑ Text of the declaration ( Memento of the original from February 6, 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. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.jena.de