Object 21

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Object 21 was a neo-Nazi cultural association in the Austrian municipality of Desselbrunn . Austrian and German neo-Nazis belonged to the association. It was officially dissolved in 2011, but continued to exist underground until early 2013 .

history

In March 2010, supporters of Blood & Honor in the community of Desselbrunn founded the cultural association Objekt 21, which also gave the building its name. The club was officially registered by Manuel Spindler, but secretly the neo-Nazi Jürgen Windhofer, who had several criminal records, led the organization. Officially an association for the preservation and care of Austrian customs , the first illegal activities began shortly after it was founded. The seat of the association was a tenement house belonging to the father of the Austrian director Stefan Ruzowitzky . The former farm was initially used for events. Among other things, the right-wing extremist songwriter Jens Brucherseifer ( Sturmwehr ) performed there. The association consisted of a hard core of 30 people and a group of around 200 sympathizers. A criminal network began to be built up and contacts to Germany were made, including the Bavarian rocker and Thuringian neo-Nazi scene.

As early as August 2010, the building was searched by the Austrian police and extensive evidence was found. Further house searches followed, during which, in addition to propaganda material, 10 kilograms of explosives and several firearms were confiscated. Criminal activities included armed robbery , extortion, assault, kidnapping, and drug and arms trafficking. In addition, the association had contacts in the red light district and carried out attacks, including butyric acid and incendiary devices. The total damage caused by the organization is estimated to be 3.5 million euros.

At the beginning of 2011, the association was officially dissolved, but continued to exist because the public prosecutor initially did not bring any charges. In fact, it was not until early 2013 that the network was finally broken after another raid.

Prosecution

The public prosecutor's office in Wels charged seven people with belonging to the association and having committed crimes. In 2013, the seven defendants were sentenced in the first instance by the Wels Regional Court for various offenses to prison terms of between 18 months and six years. According to the jury, some of them had violated the Prohibition Act of 1947 by glorifying National Socialist ideology and thus re-engaged in National Socialist activities in accordance with this law.

In addition to Austrian people, defendants from Germany were also sentenced to prison terms. Philip Tschentscher , who comes from Hesse and is also known in the scene as a songwriter under the name "Reichstrunkenbold", was sentenced to three years in prison. Steffen Mäder is a member of the right-wing rock band SKD . He was also sentenced to three years in prison for participating in an arson attack, supporting a criminal organization and breaking and entering.

In 2016, five former members were convicted of a range of crimes dating back to 2007.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Heribert Schiedel : Object 21: Neo-Nazi meets organized crime . In: Antifascist information sheet number = 1 . 2013 ( antifainfoblatt.de ).
  2. ↑ Maik Baumgärtner and Mario Born: Raid against right-wing extremists: On the trail of German-Austrian comrades. Spiegel online , August 30, 2013, accessed June 12, 2014 .
  3. ^ A b c Hans Berger: "Object 21". Background, October 25, 2013, accessed June 12, 2014 .
  4. ↑ Maria Sterkl: Seven convictions in the case of "Object 21". derstandard.at , November 5, 2013, accessed on June 12, 2014 .
  5. ↑ Martina Renner : Judgments against object 21 . In: The Right Edge . No. 148 (May / June), 2014, pp. 16-17 .
  6. ↑ five "Object 21" members in Wels convicted in: orf.at . October 4, 2016, accessed December 7, 2019.