German government celebrates “unity day” under the shadow of renewed neo-fascist movement
By
Johannes Stern
4 October 2018
On Wednesday, the German state celebrated the 28th anniversary of the unification of East and West Germany on October 3, 1990. The event was met with honeyed phrases by politicians about a “united, democratic Germany.” But these words could not hide the fact that the danger of fascism is returning to Germany 85 years after Hitler’s seizure of power.
For the first time since the founding of the post-war Federal Republic of Germany, a far-right party is represented in the Bundestag (federal parliament), which maintains close relations with militant neo-Nazis. And on Monday, the federal prosecutor’s office ordered the arrest of seven members of a radical right-wing terrorist group called “Revolution Chemnitz.” In addition to attacks on foreigners and left-wingers, they are accused of having planned an armed “action” for the Day of German Unity and of seeking to foment a radical right-wing uprising.
According to the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office, the defendants made intensive efforts to obtain firearms. A month ago, they were involved in the riots and protests in Chemnitz, where neo-Nazi thugs hunted down foreigners on the streets, made the Hitler salute and attacked a Jewish restaurant. A bloody attack on immigrants in a Chemnitz Park on September 14 was a test run for an “action” on German Unity Day, said the Attorney General.
In addition to Chemnitz, neo-Nazi marches took place in Köthen and Dortmund in recent weeks, reminiscent of the darkest period in German history. Unlike the 1930s, the Nazis today are not a mass movement, but a hated minority. But that does not make them any less dangerous.
Above all, they derive…