What is German "civil defense"
23 November in the capital of Lower Saxony, Hanover, two demonstrations took place, opposing each other. Members and supporters of the far-right party NDP took to the streets (National Democratic Party of Germany), considered neo-Nazi in Germany, and their opponents.
The reason for the confrontation was the attacks of the NAP on journalists, Who "blackened" the name of the SS man Karl Munter, dear to neo-Nazis.
A year ago, a group of German journalists led by Julian Feldman (Julian Feldmann) released a lengthy interview with the former Unterscharführer of the SS Panzer Division "Hitler Youth" Karl Münter in the Panorama TV viewer (Karl Münter), who participated in the executions of civilians in northern France.
In an interview, Munter stated, that he doesn't regret anything and thinks, doing the right thing. According to the right, after the film he was insulted and attacked. A legal charge was brought against him, but not because of participation in executions, and for the hateful and libelous overtones, which accompanied his statements.
The program talked about, that a unit of the Hitler Youth division executed in April 1944 g. in the French town of Ask 86 hostages for undermining the German military echelon by partisans. According to Munter, “These people were themselves to blame for their death, they were not lucky ". He said about the murder of millions of European Jews: “We didn't have so many Jews at all. It has already been proven. I read, that this figure is fake, and I don't believe in it ".
Munter told, that he considers Hitler his idol, what, meeting young people, he signs autographs on swastika sheets. The charges brought against 96-year-old Munter threatened him with a prison term from 2 to 6 years, but in September he passed away, before the start of the process. The German press did not pass by the death of the accused. A number of publications appeared, provoking the anger of the NDP and its supporters. The party decided to protest the campaign and called for the condemnation of a number of media workers, posting their photo on a red background with the inscription: “They need to be framed. Stop bullying, financed by taxes ".
Neo-Nazis began collecting photos and addresses of a number of other journalists, making up your blacklists. In Hanover, a leaflet was distributed for several days with the inscription: "Revenge for Karl". Local police tried to ban neo-Nazi demonstrations, but the court rejected the ban.
The plans of the NDP, in turn, caused a violent reaction. Several organizations and initiative groups called for an anti-Nazi "counter march" against neo-Nazis. Among them were 450 journalists and editorial staff of a number of major media outlets. The Green Party has launched the slogan “Better to be colored, than brown ". The initiative was supported by the head of the government of Lower Saxony and a number of other politicians.
Persecution of journalists by right-wing radicals was in the center of attention of the participants of the "counter march". Director of the Federation of European Journalists Renata Schroeder said, what the federation has registered in the last three years 638 cases of threats, intimidation and attacks on media representatives.
23 November in Hanover, two columns marched simultaneously: NPD column, consisting of 110 participants, and a column of their opponents, numbering about 7 thousands of people. The police did not allow these convoys to cross., and no incidents happened. Anti-fascist rally calls for unification of forces in the face of old danger, re-emerging in Germany.
The media emphasize, that the public reaction to the speech of the NDP was adequate and prompt, but admit, that the situation is changing. Trade union newspaper Gave He writes: “The demonstrations of the NDP in Hanover are another step towards, to turn people's lives into hell ".
These concerns do not arise from scratch.. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Germany, for three quarters 2019 g. number of crimes, committed by right-wing extremists, rose to 14 thousand. This number includes 625 violent crimes, with physical damage 271 face and three murders.
Groups emerge in most of the federal states of Germany, advocating "order" and practicing "their own justice". Members of these groups call themselves "civil defense", and their common property is the desire to deprive the state of the monopoly on violence.
According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the purpose of "civil defense" is not to replace public justice, and intimidation of "strangers". The NDP plays a prominent role in this, which promotes the experience of "civil defense", claiming "the surrender of the rule of law and the domination of outsiders". More and more civil defense patrols appear in German cities. One of these days such a "patrol", wearing signal vests, was detained in Wolfsburg, where he distributed neo-Nazi leaflets.
Ulla Jelpke, who is responsible for internal affairs of the Left Party in the Bundestag, sounded the alarm: “We must not tolerate this, because with the appearance of such groups of stormtroopers, zones of fear are formed for dissidents and migrants ".
A photo: Tagesspiegel
Dmitri Sedov
