Germany: Racism and fascism (6)
01 January 1991
Germany: Racism and fascism
artdoc November=1995
Deaths
Man dies after fascists go "hobo bashing"
A 56-year-old homeless man has been killed in Velbert by a gang
of seven fascists, aged 16 to 24, who beat Horst Pulter up in a
park before stabbing him. All seven fascists have confessed to
a murder they described as "hobo-bashing" (Die Tageszeitung
5.2.95).
Four asylum-seekers die in Hanover fire
Four asylum-seekers died when fire destroyed their container home
in a refugee compound outside Hanover. What caused the fire is
as yet unclear (Guardian 9.1.95).
Anti-fascist kills nazi in self-defence
The police have acknowledged that an anti-fascist from Riesa,
close to Dresden, killed a nazi in self-defence. The 17-year-old
anti-fascist and his girlfriend were attacked by six nazis in a
restaurant. The nazis pursued them, attacking them when they
tried to escape in a car. In the end, the 17-year-old used a
knife in self defence (Taz 9.1.95).
Firebomb attacks on asylum centres
One person was wounded and five mobile homes housing refugees in
Neheim-Husten near Dortmund were burnt to the ground after a
firebomb attack (International Herald Tribune 3.2.95).
Anti-Semitic attacks
Nine hundred and thirty-seven anti-Semitic attacks were reported
in the first nine months of 1994, a sharp increase on government
figures reported from the previous year.
A doctor in Dusseldorf and a teacher in Nuremberg, suspected
of Holocaust-revisionist views, were recently dismissed (Jewish
Chronicle 6.1.95).
Anti-Gypsy prejudice
The Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Wuppertal has
interviewed 1,342 German university students and found that 60.4
per cent in east Germany and 37.7 per cent in west Germany
admitted hating Gypsies. This was higher than prejudice towards
any other group (Romnews no. 28, 2.1.95).
Other attacks
Far-right neighbours of a handicapped man from Ethiopia, set fire
to his wheelchair, nearly destroying his apartment, on New Year's
Eve. A similar attack happened a year ago (Frankfurter Rundschau
3.1.95).
In Rinteln, a 60-year-old homeless man nearly died when
German youths put fireworks in his trousers, socks and mouth.
The homeless man suffered severe injuries and lost his tongue
(Frankfurter Rundschau 5.1.95).
In Potsdam, a 24-year-old German man received a four-year
prison sentence for torturing and racially and sexually abusing
an Angolan man who was kept prisoner for several weeks in October
1992.
Neo-nazis left a swastika and anti-foreigner leaflets at the
office of a Hungarian doctor in Gunzburg, southern Germany.
Gunzburg was where the nazi doctor Josef Mengele lived (Guardian
7.2.95).
Fascist round-up
Two more neo-nazi parties banned
The Free German Workers' Party (FAP) has been banned and police
raids on the home of party members and the confiscation of
property authorised. The Hamburg-based National List has also
been banned by Germany's Constitutional Court (Guardian 25.2.95,
International Herald Tribune 28.2.95).
Police raid far-right targets
Police in Berlin broke up a neo-nazi rally to mark the second
anniversary of the ban on the German Alternative (International
Herald Tribune 12.1.95).
A police operation in Magdeburg, Saxony-Anhalt, directed
against 25 members of the "Wittenberg Fellowship" (another name
for the banned "Middle German Assistance"), led to the seizure
of weapons and neo-nazi propaganda (International Herald Tribune
1.12.94).
Meanwhile, nine members of the Viking Youth, banned last
November, have been charged after being arrested during a camping
trip in Weimar last July during which they shouted "Heil Hitler"
(International Herald Tribune, 3.1.95, Voice 10.1.95).
Fascists in court
Three neo-nazis, aged 19 to 20, have gone on trial, accused of
being part of a 15-member gang which attacked a Nigerian in a
town near Berlin in 1992 chanting