Intelligence Services vs. Fascists
Control over nationalists in Germany is exercised by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV). The service is part of the Ministry of the Interior. Besides fighting extremists, this department is responsible for counterintelligence and the protection of state secrets. Due to its special, privileged position, the "agency" is vested with significantly greater powers than other police services. Thus, by law, the BfV may use methods, objects and tools for the secret collection of information in its work. All authorities and other federal agencies are obliged to cooperate with this organization. At the same time, to prevent violations and abuses in the all-powerful intelligence service, it is monitored by the parliament, the government, a specially created interdepartmental committee, and the internal affairs department of the Ministry of the Interior.
"The government fully understands that nationalism is a threat to democracy, an encroachment on the integrity and security of the country. Huge forces have been deployed to fight it," says Georgious Tsapanos, head of the BfV's department for protection against extremism. "Several hundred people work in this area. About a hundred work in Berlin, slightly more are at the agency's headquarters in Cologne, the rest work directly in the states. It can be said that extremism as such exists only in East Germany. There the economy is not very developed, there is a lack of jobs, and at the same time the native population protests against newcomers. Citizens do not understand why the state accepts immigrants, pays them benefits, provides housing and jobs. In reality, everything is not so simple. However, a number of nationalist-minded politicians take advantage of this situation and convince Germans that all troubles come from newcomers."
Nazis in Power
According to representatives of the German Ministry of the Interior, the most active representatives of the "far right" in both public and political life in the country are the National Democratic Party (NPD) of Germany and the German People's Union (DVU). Opposing immigrants, the NPD organized advisory centers for the unemployed and created youth centers. Through this, the national democrats managed to attract a huge number of young people. In addition, in their election platform they criticized the work of the current government in other areas, which allowed the party to gain additional votes. In the elections, NPD representatives won seats in the parliaments of Saxony, Mecklenburg, Brandenburg and Bremen.
Right-wing radicals, who are not shy about openly expressing their sympathy for the ideas of nationalism, do not hide that street fighting against immigrants is fruitless, because for every beaten one others come. For this reason, neo-Nazis rushed into power, where they have real levers of influence. It has gotten to the point where right-wing radicals openly speak of their desire to govern the country. Their immediate goal is to enter the federal parliament – the Reichstag – in 2009.
"In our criminal code there is an article for inciting ethnic hatred, a ban on the sale and wearing of nationalist symbols has been introduced. However, until recently all this worked poorly. Only about ten years ago, when the state realized the looming threat, did the fight begin," says Georgious Tsapanos. The result was a judicial reform. Judges, who previously had a liberal attitude towards nationalists, began to hand down much harsher sentences against them. Work was done with law enforcement agencies. At one time, police could easily fail to respond to a gathering of skinheads or send the case to court, qualifying it under another article. That is no longer the case. "We began to develop an agent network that allows us to keep abreast of their affairs and, accordingly, prevent neo-Nazi events and actions. Of course, there are problems among the Nazi youth – it is difficult to find a 16-17-year-old agent," says the Ministry of the Interior.
For a Swastika – to Prison
Thanks to innovations in the Criminal Code, using fascist symbols in Germany can lead to up to five years in prison. Now swastikas cannot be seen anywhere in the country, and nationalists themselves use other signs at their congresses.
In the German Criminal Code, there is no stipulation as to whether a crime was committed out of hooligan motives or motives of national hatred. From the point of view of German legislation, the victim does not care why he was beaten. However, the criteria for assessing the motive for a crime, affecting the punishment, are nevertheless pedantically tracked by law enforcement agencies and courts. "We assess the crime according to the following aspects: against whom it was committed, what motivated the act, whether nationalist slogans were shouted, why the perpetrator thought his victim was an immigrant," says Tsapanos. "If the extremist nature of the detainee's actions is confirmed, then, firstly, his data is entered into a special police catalog, and secondly, severe punishment awaits him." For example, in Germany murder carries a life sentence. However, if the convict has behaved well, his case may be reviewed after a few years and the term reduced. "If a national motive in a crime is proven, early release does not threaten the villain," says Georgious Tsapanos.
However, despite all the efforts of the intelligence services in the fight against neo-Nazis, the number of incidents on ethnic grounds does not decrease: "Since 1990, about 100 people have been killed on the grounds of racial hatred. Fortunately, there have been no murders in the last two years. But immigrants are still beaten periodically," the Ministry of the Interior admits.
Vitamins against Nazism
"The problem is youth who have latched onto nationalist ideas. While the police are busy suppressing the activities of chauvinists, we are taking preventive measures," says Sven Olafobst, head of a department at the Ministry of Youth and Family. "Young people have unstable psyches, and with the right approach they are easy to manipulate."
According to sociologists, in East Germany about 40% of young people aged 15 to 20 support extremist ideas. In this regard, the government has developed a number of programs to counter nationalism. "It is always easier to take vitamins than to treat a sore throat," says Sven Olafobst. "We are concerned about the growing number of young people among neo-Nazis. We want our children to be brought up in the spirit of democracy and tolerance. We also understand that it is very difficult to dissuade a teenager who already supports extremism. Therefore, our main task comes down to preventive measures to keep young people from catching this plague."
Germany currently has a six-year federal program to combat nationalism. The state has already spent €200 million on its implementation. "The money is channeled through our department to three public organizations. Each of them has its own focus in their work. Over six years, they have conducted hundreds of various events," says the Ministry of Youth.
The largest organization is the Civitas Foundation, which operates in the former GDR states. The foundation's activists conduct educational work with young people in schools – history lessons, concerts, they talk about the horrors of fascism during World War II, bringing with them concentration camp prisoners. "There are so-called mobile units that go to a district where a conflict on ethnic grounds has just occurred. Foundation staff meet with the local population, find out the causes of the incident, and at the same time shape public opinion against nationalists," the foundation says.
In addition, Civitas actively works with local officials and businesspeople. They convince mayors not to maintain contacts with nationalists, explaining how this would negatively affect the region's economy. "There were several examples when local authorities did not listen to us, and large foreign companies simply refused to open their enterprises in their regions, fearing the fascists. To others we say, 'If there is extremism in your region, then the government won't give you money!'", says Martina Müller, adviser to the Federal Program to Combat Extremism. "We ask businessmen to refuse to rent premises to nationalists. A recent example – the NPD wanted to hold a congress in Berlin. Thanks to our work, no one rented them a venue; they had to move the meeting somewhere else."
Public organizations – Entimol and Xenos – address the problems of immigrants themselves. "There are two areas of work. First, integrating newcomers with the local population and vice versa," explains Ricarda Disla, a representative of the public organization 'Show Your Face'. "We take migrants to meet young people so that teenagers learn more about them and understand that they pose no threat. We organize excursions for schoolchildren to Berlin to enterprises where immigrants work, so that children know what hard labor foreigners do to earn a living."
The second task facing public organizations is helping newcomers who have suffered from nationalists. "This includes psychological and legal assistance. We monitor the progress of investigations into such cases, involve the media. Also, we help find jobs and, if necessary, relocate to other cities," explains Ricarda Disla. "One illustrative example. A couple of years ago, a Russian boy who moved here with his parents was beaten. Law enforcement agencies handled the case reluctantly. The Russian community was even planning to take revenge on the Nazis. We came, found out that Russians had been oppressed here for a long time. Then we demanded a thorough investigation from the prosecutor's office, as a result of which the perpetrators received 6 to 10 years in prison. Then a roundtable was organized where several dozen Russians came to the mayor. The official listened to them and solved their problems as far as possible," recalls Jens Frickmann, an employee of the Union for the Aid of Victims of Right-Wing Radical Violence.
In fighting xenophobia, Germans use quite original methods. These include, for example, a football championship between immigrants and the local population, held every Saturday in a new location; comics on the Holocaust; campaigns with banners hung in cities saying 'Don't have sex with Nazis'; television appeals recorded by pop and film stars. The most interesting thing is that the usefulness of each program is evaluated by a whole scientific institute. It is very difficult for our citizen to understand the effectiveness of anti-extremist programs on which the state spent €200 million. It is clear that it is impossible to count the number of chauvinists before and after the start of this program. Just as it is impossible to know the number of 're-recruited' nationalists and those who became true democrats and fighters for tolerance.
At the same time, real indicators are not so optimistic. The number of crimes committed on ethnic grounds is growing, which the Germans themselves do not hide. Officials talk about upcoming elections to local parliaments, but preliminary data indicate that the level of voter support for the NPD is still rising.
The problem remains
"Huge amounts of money are spent on the fight, but the state noticed the problem too late," believes Jens Frickmann. "Of course, there are some successes in the fight, but victory is far off. Every week in East Germany several foreigners are beaten. Only a few seek help from the police – some people do not know how to behave in such situations, others are afraid they might be deported from the country."
According to Frickmann, recently journalists covering the topic of nationalism published a collection of articles about all crimes against foreigners, and it turned out that about 60% of cases are simply unknown to the police: 'There are many complaints against law enforcement agencies, despite the reforms. For example, in early November in a Berlin suburb, extremists beat up well-known journalist Andrea Röpke, who became popular due to her publications on neonazism,' says Jens Frickmann. – She informed the police about her upcoming trip to a nationalist meeting, but they did not come. Noticing the journalist, the extremists ran after her. She tried to hide in a supermarket, but they caught up with her, knocked her down, and beat her. According to some reports, one of the attackers is a member of the Saxon parliament.'
According to experts studying neonazism in Germany, the right-wing extremist movement in the country will grow in the near future. 'There are many prerequisites for this. The slowed economic development in East Germany – more and more companies are closing their plants here and moving them, for example, to China; hence social problems emerge. Germans do not believe in democracy,' Frickmann believes. 'The NPD has managed to convince the local population that foreigners cost Germany too much money, take jobs, and that there are many Islamists and terrorists among them. Nationalism is getting younger. The NPD and its sympathizers believe they are doing the right thing by fighting for the purification of Germany.'
An open enemy is better than a secret one
While in other countries nationalist parties are officially banned, in Germany an organization like the NPD successfully participates in elections under the slogan 'Germany for Germans.' Under the wing of this party is a huge number of young people who, feeling protected by the party, attack foreigners. In such a situation, it is completely logical to ask: why in a Western country where the problem of right-wing extremism is acute, is this association not banned, and its members not prosecuted for inciting ethnic hatred?
'In Saxony, the party has more than 3,000 members from 29 districts, and in 26 of them they have their own headquarters. Specially trained people work with young people, luring them into the ranks of the NPD. Compared to 2004, in 2005 the number of crimes based on ethnic animosity increased from 915 to 2,300,' honestly said one of the officials of the Dresden administration. However, he immediately explained: 'We should not ban them. We need a legal organization that we can fight against. If we ban them, the situation could get out of control. Right-wing extremists could go underground, and dozens of similar organizations would appear.'
At the same time, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution admits that their agents work in the NPD, thanks to which they control the situation. However, several years ago the government and the Bundestag already raised the issue of banning the NPD, but during the trial it turned out that about a third of the party leadership consists of agents of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, who, in order to avoid being exposed, themselves actively organized NPD events and committed illegal acts. After that, the scandal was hushed up, and the deputies never returned to this topic.
'The problem of nationalism in Germany, it seems to me, is because people do not have truthful information about foreigners. Now Germans think that foreigners take their jobs, bring their relatives here, trade in weapons and drugs,' says the Commissioner for Foreigners of the state of Brandenburg, Iness Shugeshpreda. 'Recent polls have shown that the native population is convinced, firstly, that about 30-40% of citizens in Germany are foreigners, and secondly, they believe that the state spends huge amounts of money on their settlement. This is not true. Now we are starting a large-scale propaganda program. We will explain the situation of foreigners in our country.'
According to officials, the federal government sets a migration quota for each state. For example, in Brandenburg there are only 49,000 foreigners, which is 3.5% of the local population. The majority of foreigners are so-called Russian Germans and Turks.
'The life of these people is not easy,' says Ms. Shugeshpreda. 'Most foreigners, especially those who came to Germany as refugees, live in hostels for months while the reason that forced them to leave their homeland is checked.' By law, all potential candidates for official refugee status are not allowed to leave the territory where they are registered. Although the state pays them a small allowance, and their children are allowed to go to school. If a person is recognized as a refugee, he is obliged to attend German language courses and look for work. At the same time, as German officials note, a refugee can only get a job that is not claimed by an EU citizen. In other words, foreigners in Germany get only menial work.