Thule network

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Graphic from the "Resistance" mailbox

The Thule Web was an Internet domain in the Internet as a collection point right-wing served announcements in German. The website had neo-pagan , anti-Semitic, and historical revisionism content.

The Thule-Web was intended as the successor to the Thule- Netz , which was initiated in the early 1990s as a mailbox system under the name Thule-Netz or Thule-Net by Thomas Hetzer (under the pseudonym Alfred Tetzlaff ), who was one of the first neo-pagan right-wing extremists had recognized the possibilities of electronic communication for the political networking of the new right . Other operators were Kai Dalek with "Kraftwerk BBS" and Ralf Kottcke (under the pseudonym Thorin Eichenschild ). At the end of the 1990s, the company started using an Internet portal (Thule-Web).

history

The Thule network

The network should serve the communication of various right-wing extremists throughout the country. However, the operators did not achieve their goal of sustainably coordinating the German right-wing extremist scene through this network. This was mainly due to the technology used ( mailboxes ), which at the time restricted access primarily to activists who were well versed in computer technology. The Thule network never had more than 150 users in total.

Much of the communication was often on the verge of legality. For the German security authorities, however, it was very difficult to prove to the operators and participants directly criminally relevant content: Statements that violated German law (e.g. Holocaust denial , sedition ) were concealed in such a way that everyone involved knew what was meant but it would have been difficult to prove crime in court. The use of encryption programs , especially PGP , enabled those involved to exchange views more directly.

In early 1996 the network began to fall apart due to internal disputes. At the end of 1996, the “Werwolf BBS” from Hameln disconnected from the network, and the operator committed suicide. A little later, in March 1997, the mailboxes “Elias BBS” and “Asgard BBS” were excluded. The "Elias BBS" was suspected of being operated by an agent for the protection of the constitution. The operators of the last two mailboxes, Jürgen Jost and Thekla Maria Kosche, founded their own competitor network, later called "Nordland-Netz", which was similar to the Thule mailbox network in terms of its board and topic structure. The focus of Nordland should be anti-antifa . Thekla Kosche called on Nordland to “archive and collect data” on “the left masterminds and instigators”.

According to the Süddeutsche Zeitung , Kai Dalek is said to have worked for the Bavarian State Office for the Protection of the Constitution . The Bavarian Office for the Protection of the Constitution smuggled an employee into the scene who was involved in building the so-called Thule network with financial support. He is said to have received around 800 D-Marks a month, and he also received money for his expenses, for example for the technology and operation of his hub in the Thule network. The report writes that, according to unnamed sources, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution could have paid more than 150,000 Deutschmarks over the years, based on a cautious estimate. According to the anti-fascist information, documentation and archive office in Munich , aida, Dalek is one of the “most important cadres” on the scene.

The co-founder of the Thuringian homeland security and undercover agent Tino Brandt , who worked in the NSU environment, was also a user and writer in the Thule network.

The Thule Web

However, this separation was the beginning of the end of the Thule network, and it has de facto ceased to exist since the late 1990s. The continuation of the Thule web on the Internet, which the remaining operators were striving for, was not very successful either.

See also

literature

  • Burkhard Schröder : "Neo-Nazis and Computer Networks" , Rowohlt TB-V 1995, ISBN 3-499-19912-2
  • Claudia Cippitelli, Axel Schwanebeck (Ed.): “The new seducers? Right-wing populism and right-wing extremism in the media ” , Munich: Fischer, 2004
  • Gabriele Hooffacker , Peter Lokk : Online Guide Politics and Society, Rowohlt TB, Reinbek 1997, ISBN 3-499-19863-0 .
  • Thomas Pfeiffer: “For the people and the fatherland: the media network of the right; Press, Music, Internet “ , Berlin: Aufbau-Taschenbuch-Verlag, 2002

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Martin Dietzsch and Anton Maegerle : "Liberated Zone" Thule network? , Duisburg Institute for Linguistic and Social Research , May 1997
  2. ↑ Source: apabiz, accessed June 7, 2013 .
  3. ↑ Burk's Blog: Neo-Nazis and Computer Networks
  4. ^ Mike Szymanski: NSU committee in the Bavarian state parliament: The state neo-Nazi network . In: sueddeutsche.de . November 15, 2012
  5. ^ Stefan Aust: Heimatschutz. Pantheon Verlag, 2014, ISBN 978-3-641-09641-0 ( limited preview in Google book search).