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Swedish neo-Nazi makes Berlin new base

Published: 14 May 09 18:20 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/national/20090514-19285.html

A prominent Swedish right-wing extremist with ties to German neo-Nazis is relocating to Berlin, the Continent Europe Foundation (KES) announced on Thursday.

German intelligence agents view Patrik Brinkmann as a leading figure among right-wing extremists around the world. He founded the Continent Europe Foundation in 2004 in Sweden.

“The aim of the Continent Europe Foundation leader Patrik Brinkmann is to move to Berlin by 2010 at the latest and create a Europe-wide Internationale of nationalists in cooperation with national organisations from all European people,” the group said in a statement.

Andreas Gram, a Christian Democratic member of the Berlin state legislature, on Thursday called the latest developments in the far-right scene “worrying” and demanded more information from the domestic intelligence service on the matter.

Federal and state authorities keeping tabs on the neo-Nazi scene consider Brinkmann and his organisation to be part of a "new right" that operates internationally.

His foundation now functions as a hub for extremists from around Europe, with two functionaries from Germany’s neo-Nazi National Democratic Party (NPD) on its advisory board. It also has ties to the extremist German Peoples Union (DVU). Based in the Swedish city of Jönköping, the foundation describes itself as seeking to establish a “greater European civilization” for a “new common identity.”

Because he was ill, Brinkmann’s press spokesperson spoke Thursday on his behalf at a DVU party convention at the Brandenburg state parliament building. The two groups met to introduce their joint proposal: “For a Democratic Brandenburg and a Europe of Fatherlands.”

The DVU, which has seats in the state legislature, aims to make the “Brandenburg parliament the first German state parliament to recognise Brinkmann’s manifesto for its future European policy,” the statement said.

In July 2008, German media reported that Brinkmann had bought a €3.3-million villa in the Berlin suburb Zehlendorf, saying authorities feared the city would become a for neo-Nazi activities throughout Europe.

At the time Brinkmann issued a statement saying he had "no plans of opening a training facility of any type," calling media coverage "cruelly provoked hysteria."

In February 2009, a group of neo-Nazis – reportedly part of a German-Swedish network – brutally attacked a group of trade unionists at a motorway rest stop after the two groups had been demonstrating on opposing sides in Dresden on the anniversary of the World War II allied bombing of the city.

Lead investigators issued arrest warrants for three Swedes involved in the attack.

DPA/The Local (news@thelocal.de)

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#1
20:54 May 14, 2009 by Old Fighter
Would someone more knowledgable than I in these matters please tell me why a "prominent" Sweedish right-wing extremist would relocate to Germany in the first place and then, secondly, to the city of Berlin, of all places? Reichminister Goebbles has been dead since 1945. Thank you.
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#2
23:10 May 14, 2009 by wxman
I think perhaps if the givernment spent less time checking up on 10 or 12 neo-Nazis, and more on investigating the millions of Jihadists running around Europe destroying the culture and taking over the future would be far brighter. BTW, his name is spelled GOEBBELS.
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#3
13:08 May 15, 2009 by Rhinob
I especially like the Volvo ad running in the middle of this article. 'wxman' is absolutely right. The German government won't fight that battle, though. As if their mission has nothing to do with the security of the German populace. Europe is committing suicide, culturally. At some point the German natives will support a radical leader to clean up the mess of the current spineless population. The demographics are scary and require immediate attention if Europe is to be saved from Islam.
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#4
00:47 May 16, 2009 by alsayah
".......checking up on 10 or 12 neo-Nazis" : are u kiddin' me. I have been in germany for 5 years and every other german youth I found is a neo nazi. The face of germany that the germans are portraying, DOES NOT exist. Germans even surpass the so-called "jihadis".

Problem is that the typical german psyche (I hate foreigners: kill 'em all) has always been there. People are so stupid not to realize that it is the "foreigners" who run "dEUTSCHLAND": If it wasn't for foreigners, germany would be still in the post war slump.

you should really thank god or whatever u believe in that foreignewrs are here. as far as the so-called jihadis are concerned: THEY DONT EXIST in that many numbers.
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#5
00:43 May 17, 2009 by TheFire
@alsayah: So you've been to Germany for 5 years and everyone you met was a neo-nazi? At what time have you been here? 1940? And please tell me: Where are the "foreigners" that run Germany? And where did you met the "typical Germans" who "want to kill them all"? Sorry, but what you wrote there is nearly the biggest bunch of prejudice I ever read. It is like I would say all English are rude, loud, love football and drink beer.
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#6
12:56 May 17, 2009 by maidanac
Can someone please tell me why all these groups still exists? Why so much prejudice? Why so much stupidity together? Can you imaging how bored this planet would be if everyone look and think in the same way? Diversity is good (it's a proven fact) and by thinking different and exchanging ideas, while also respecting the other's point of view, is how we evolve and how we develop new ideas to build a better future.

I'm originally from Argentina, I lived in the United States for 7+ years and I'm planning to move to Germany in few months. I always had Germany as a good country but all these is worrying me. Not just for me but for the future of who could become my partner and the possibilities of having a family. I want to settle down in a good place from the social and cultural point of view.

By the way, before someone ask, I'm a physicist and research engineer who besides have completed my masters and doctoral studies in US, got postdoctoral training as well. My idea is/was to get the Habilitation (although not needed anymore) and to get a Research Group Leader position or a Jr. Professorship and so to settle down in Germany/Europe while doing research, developing new technologies, trainning new engineers and scientists and so helping to create a better society (worldwide). But i'm afraid now that I'm leaving a country that I don't like for its beligerance and segregation for another that will not welcome me or to my close ones (I know people from all around the world). :-(

Also, why to make those comments about religion? all religions share the same basic principles. They developed in different geographical and historical moments so they "tell" things in different ways, just that. Please respect to the each other.

By the way, just to give you an idea of how wrong certain people is: my first name is spanish, my middle name is arab, my last name is italian, I grew up catholic, I developed my own belives mixing them with buddhism, I was born in Argentina, I lived in the United States for 7+ years, my heritage is mainly italian and spanish with some portuguese and german components. Globalization is good. Differences are good. Education and respect for the each other is vital. Mutual understanding and open mind should be our pride. We, as humans, can do better than this, don't you think so? :-D C.O.M.
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#7
13:05 May 17, 2009 by xargon
checking up on 10 or 12 neo-Nazis,

investigating the millions of Jihadists running around Europe.
So we are pulling numbers out of our asses then.

What cultural suicide has Europe commited, you ignoramus? You sound like another one of those "under the hood" racists.
Report abuse »
#8
22:12 May 17, 2009 by chicken1900
Exactly, xargon, Yes; that is what he/she is. It's a neurosis that most Germans have. They are perfect. It's true and it is frightenting . Most of them see foreigners as primative, Surprisingly, they live from trading. He talks about mess. He meant people. This is being passed on in the mothers milk, I am living here for a while so I have to know these thiings, I am about to leave due to this reason. They would never learn, They can't understand why people see them this way, Na ya., no one is prefect,.one can produce good things but that dosn't mean that one has to know what diversity is.
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#9
22:24 May 17, 2009 by Bell the cat
I think perhaps if the givernment spent less time checking up on 10 or 12 neo-Nazis, and more on investigating the millions of Jihadists running aroun…
surely you exaggerate . . .
BTW, his name is spelled GOEBBELS.
is he a friend of yours or something?
Report abuse »
#10
00:11 May 18, 2009 by alsayah
Fukk ya'll I dont give a rat's ass about what u think. the new generation of germans is a bunch of xenophobes.......master discriminators.........try having a darker skin and you would understand....the world will see your ugly face one day......a little example of german (note thesmall 'g'- doesn't that drive u crazy?) hypocrisy would be : sympathizing with jewish people for the holocaust and giving them arms to kill innocent women and children in Palestine..............

bunch of 'in hypocrites is what u are......... go ahead : flag me as abusive if u can't face the truth.....thing is that u germans feel so fukkin' perfect when u really aren't ..................idealize americans .....do wat ever u want but every one hates u .........remember that
Report abuse »
#11
00:20 May 18, 2009 by Bell the cat
" Joined: 15.May.2009"
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#12
00:33 May 18, 2009 by alsayah
they flagged me as being so full of profanity... anyway, I almost forgot :

theFire (even the nick suggest he/she is a kkk member...but anyway,):"Where are the "foreigners" that run Germany?"

well, look around in your factories. The workers you see busting their asses for like 4,50 euros per hour just so you can have your 'in corn flakes and 'it---------the "german way", are all foreigners. While your dear compatriots are getting stoned lying at the bahnhof and living off social security............

..........does that ring any bells??? I hope not ......cos you are a german......u still thing you oughhta' have your 'in reich.......even though u are not worth 'it
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#13
00:53 May 18, 2009 by first-time-caller
EU Citizen moves from one part of EU to other part of EU. Scary alright.
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#14
08:21 May 18, 2009 by chicken1900
hey guys, try to communicate in a desent manner. This person is also a victim. I would have been the same if I was bruoght up ONLY in such a society., that I'm the best and that the only way to solve my problems is to kill people.
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#15
10:07 May 18, 2009 by trollydolly
Fukk ya'll I dont give a rat's ass about what u think. the new generation of germans is a bunch of xenophobes...master discriminators...try having a darker skin and you would understand <racist filler>
No need to try mine is already about as dark as it gets. Oh yeah and I just tried, nope I'm still not a racist. If Germans are so why don't you just off!
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#16
10:32 May 18, 2009 by cb6dba
Great, this kind of stupid right wing thinking is dragging itself into the Modern world. No longer will it be 'we are German and we hate you for not being' it will be 'we are German and you are ok as you are from Europe, the rest we hate'.

Really show them up for what they are.

At the top levels - small minded people with the unfortunate intelligence to use the right wing to try to gain power.

The low levels - stupid enough to believe that should all foreigners get kicked out they will get high paid jobs.

Shows them up for what they are, hypocrites!

@alsayah - are you going to start your own 'generalization party' because that quote in trollydolly's is one of the most incorrect pieces of shite I have ever read.

Plus, I thought not being open to debate was actually one of the rights most prominent features - they hate you and don't care what you think as you are not like them.

If it is that bad where you live, move. Save yourself the trouble.
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#17
00:10 May 20, 2009 by TheFire
OMG can you please try to calm down? Do you always talk to people like this? Maybe this is why you got problems. You should learn that not every German is the same. It's like not all English, Chinese or whatever are the same. I hate it when people say "THE Germans do this and that", "THE Germans are all like this". NO! There are SOME who are like this. Like SOME Americans are white supremacist, like SOME Left-winged people are antisemite, like SOME Muslims extremists and so on. I would never dare to talk about other people in the way YOU talk about "us Germans". But, well, why should I try to explain my point of view? I'm just a stupid German Nazi....
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#18
00:15 May 20, 2009 by hellfire99
Hey, TheFire (nice name by the way).

Here's a picture to compliment your post.

(attached image)

God: is he responsible?
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#19
00:22 May 21, 2009 by TheFire
No, my nickname has nothing to do with the KKK or burning crosses.

I don't know if God is responsible because I don't believe in God.

I am not that religious. Sorry. Furthermore I don't think that it makes sense to talk it over again with people you can't argue with because they think they have exclusive rights in their opinion.
Report abuse »
#20
00:47 May 21, 2009 by perdido
I dont think anyone accused your name of being associated with that (KKK, God). The caption is true though and a good complement ha ha. He wasnt tight with the jerk aspects they are in every corner of the world along with light/med/dark skin people.
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#21
09:34 May 21, 2009 by kato
I think perhaps if the givernment spent less time checking up on 10 or 12 neo-Nazis, and more on investigating the millions of Jihadists running aroun…
Foreigner political crimes perpetrated in Germany 2008: 1312 total (violent crimes: 113) (assault & battery alone: 63) *

Far-right political crimes perpetrated in Germany 2008: 19894 total (violent crimes: 1042) (assault & battery alone: 893) **

*- clearly concentrated on Baden-Württemberg, NRW and Berlin with 82 out of 113 violent crimes committed in these three alone.

**- spread throughout Germany, with all East German states plus Hamburg having a far higher proportion of crimes committed per 100.000 people.

Note: the "foreigner political crimes" include crimes perpetrated against other foreigner, ie. in particular foreign nationalists. With the neonazis, some 40% of all violent crimes are perpetrated against foreigners.

Right-Wing Extremists in Germany: 30000 (includes right-wing political parties with 26000 members)

Turkish Islamists in Germany : 28580 (includes Milli Görüs with 27500 members)

Arabic and Iranian Islamists in Germany: 4200 (includes Egyptian and Lebanese political parties with 2100 members)

Other Islamists in Germany: 1940 (asians, americans, converts)
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#22
12:29 May 21, 2009 by RainyDays
Call me pernickety, but by using the terms 'neo-Nazi' and 'right-wing extremist' indiscriminately the article and this debate are somewhat off the mark. Compare the article headline "Swedish neo-Nazi leader makes Berlin his new base" to the first sentence "A prominent Swedish right-wing extremist with ties to German neo-Nazis ...". I'm not saying that right-wing extremists are less worrying, but there is a difference between open identification with Nazi ideology, fighting the democratic system, allying to violent groups like the NPD does (and there has been recent further radicalisation) and a less radical party that could appeal to voters who position themselves right of conservative parties and who constitute a larger reservoir in many European countries.

Lately, the German party DVU apparently aims at playing this role at the edge of the party spectrum and gathering voters who dislike the new more militant course of the NPD, see "Die NPD bekommt Konkurrenz", Die Zeit, 10 April 2009. And guess what, Patrik Brinkmann supports the DVU.

So IMO, while not neglecting the threat of neo-Nazis and the NPD (that is however weakened by financial trouble, a 1,27 mill. ? fine), one should be aware of the potential of a European right-wing alliance with a more bourgeois-respectable face. Brinkmann's foundation has an "anti-American and pan-European" focus (the formula "Europe of fatherlands" is borrowed from Charles de Gaulle). The closer it keeps to center-right positions in the party spectrum, the larger the reservoir. But it's not like the Verfassungsschutz isn't aware of these developments, as the article points out.
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#23
13:13 May 21, 2009 by kato
Umm, the DVU is far more disrespectable than the NPD. And their staff is pretty much interchangable with certain neo-nazi groups.

There's absolutely nothing bourgeois about the DVU. It's not Germany's version of Front National, that's the NPD and the Republicans.
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#24
13:21 May 21, 2009 by RainyDays
Seems like you didn't read the "Zeit" article I linked. The DVU did have pacts with the NPD in the past, but currently appears to undergo a change. At the moment, there is no such party like Front National, Alleanza Nazionale, BNP, FPÖ in Germany with comparable numbers of voters. This could change. Not that I wish for it ...
Report abuse »
#25
13:48 May 21, 2009 by kato
The Republicans already tried it (distancing itself from neonazis), and partially succeded for a while at state level and EU level. However, by distancing themselves from neonazis, they also lost their main voter base, and couldn't make any inroads into CDU territory from the right other than a couple protest votes here and there.

There is a EU-level "loose cooperative block" of right-wing extremist parties, which basically contains Vlaams Belang, Lega Nord, FPÖ, Front National and certain (more extremist) former members of the Republicans and CDU, joined together mostly through some "Anti-Islamization" stance.

NPD and BNP/NF both represent a certain nationalist party spectrum founded in the 60s in either country, and in both cases have been pressed back into a position where they only take county-level seats. Small fry.

The "Deutschlandpakt" between DVU and NPD was a pact of necessity, in order to collect protest votes at state level on a single ballot of either party. And this pact is pretty contested within the NPD internally, especially as the protest ballots tend to swing more to the left lately - and the "Deutschlandpact" parties consistently land slightly behind even the Republicans (who refused to join) in elections.

Alleanza Nazionale has dissolved and fusioned with (blegh) Berlusconi's Forza Italia btw.
Report abuse »
#26
14:56 May 21, 2009 by Chocky
The demographics are scary and require immediate attention if Europe is to be saved from Islam.
No, illinformed halfwits who respond to scaremongering from rightwing newspapers and politicans are scary. Since the time of the crusades, 'Christian Europe' has been worrying about the continent being dominated by Islam. It's never happened before, and it's not likely to happen in the future..
Report abuse »
#27
18:27 May 21, 2009 by Steven192
They got pretty damn close quiet a few time though.Last try was probably 1683. Maybe they think it is time for another go?
Report abuse »
#28
21:07 May 21, 2009 by chicken1900
to steven, don't think about those who want to get close, think about those who are getting close. That's the' right-wing' of all sorts. reflecting for a while,...people thought at that time that help was coming. The scapegoats were gone, dosen't matter how, but at the end , alm?every country in Europe were severly damage. While attempts are NOW being made to unite the countries, the idealogy ARE increasing. I don't understand, and never will. Thank you
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