How do the Neo-Nazi and Skinhead movements affect the development of anti-Semitism in Germany and America?

     Neo-Nazis and White Supremacist movements have been making their way across Germany and the United States through terrorism, violence, discriminating music and the belief that there is a Jewish Conspiracy seeking to control the world. The question is WHY?!?!?!? 

     The men that you see in the photos above think that the white race is on the verge of extinction and that they are the victims of the world as opposed to "non-whites". I argue that this movement exists because they need to victimize themselves to cope with everything the white race has done to absolutely every other racial, religious, or "non-white" group in the past, even though these men are not fully aware of it. The many subcultures of the White Supremacist Skinhead movement such as Neo-Nazis, Klu Klux Klan members, Hammerskins, White Aryan Resistance, and Blood and Honour, all have a different central focus of hatred, but a common belief that the white race is the most superior race in the whole world. They conduct their society on the principle of preserving "genetic purity", which means that they will not pollute their white gene pool with other races or people of color. This foundation of their beliefs makes them feel as though violence and terrorism against "non-whites" is ok. The movement carries out the Nazi ideology of a supreme Aryan race and is linking the past to the present in doing this.

     Anti-Semitism is the driving force behind these movements and is expressed to different lengths in Germany and America. However, the common form of expression and recruitment in both countries is through music. Click hear to read a story about the seriousness of Neo-Nazi music:

http://www.voanews.com/content/shooting_neo_nazi_spotlight/1476628.html

     
WARNING: THERE ARE GROTESQUE AND OFFENSIVE IMAGES IN THIS VIDEO

This is an accurate and chilling portrayal of the skinhead culture, as opposed to this next video, which is even more horrifying. This next song displays the raw and blunt hatred of “non-whites” in a very crude way. I think that this would be something that the skin-heads would think is funny. 

This type of music creates a sense of community for the skinheads and enables them to express their beliefs while avoiding the risk of persecution and nurturing racism. These lyrics are from a Neo-Nazi band called Razzia and their song is titled "Neo-Nazi" of course. 

Lyrics to Neo-Nazi :

Dort marschieren sie wieder in Reih und Glied
Neo Nazis kämpfen für den Sieg
Sie schmieren Hakenkreuze an fast jedes Haus
Das Symbol für Völkermord und Ausländer raus
Denken ist ihn' fremd für sie kein deutscher Brauch
Faschismus baut auf ihrer Dummheit auf
Kommt ein Befehl von oben, dann führen sie ihn aus
sonts fliegen sie, aus dem Kindergarten raus
Neo Nazi - hast'n Gehirn wir ein Kind
Neo Nazi - doch Kinder sind nicht Blind
Neo Nazi - behalt deine Parolen für dich
1000 Jahre Hitler haben vollauf genügt

As hard as it is to believe, these people really do want to carry out Hitler's dream still today, and they recruit members to support their cause through lyrics such as these.

Anti-Semitism~Xenophobia

            The Neo-Nazism and anti-Semitism is much more publicly outspoken in America rather than Germany because it is illegal in Germany and it is protected under 1^st Amendment in the American Constitution. As for example you will see below a German Neo-Nazi/Skinhead taken under arrest by the German Police, for associating with propaganda from the Third Reich.

Therefore, Neo-Nazism is more of an underground movement in Germany. However, since only anti-Semitism is illegal in Germany, it has turned to Xenophobia, the hate or dislike of someone or something different. This hatred is directed towards the Turks and the eastern Europeans. Especially after the fall of the Berlin Wall, there were many new racist attacks on the Turks and the Gastarbeiter in Germany, which sparked new concerns about the resurrection of anti-Semitism and genocide. At the same time, the Muslim youth and skinhead movements are on the rise of collaborating their hatred toward Jews all over Germany, of course increasingly after the conflicts in Israel progressed.

In the United States, the story is a little bit different. American Jews identify strongly with the Holocaust. They are very connected to their roots and interested to become educated on them. However, they have the tendency to blow the concept of the Holocaust out of proportion because they associate every-day events with it. For example, they will say “He was such a Nazi today!” I didn’t realize how twisted this was until I thought about it and the interesting part it that almost none of them have no direct connection to the Holocaust or the experience of it. They have never been to Germany and therefore their imagination could not even fathom the real experience. They monitor the anti-Semitism that goes around in Germany from the Germans not the Muslims, when in reality, I think that they should take a good look at their own society. When you really think about it, is German history that different from American history?

     The following video will give you very good insight to the understanding of the lifestyle of an American Neo-Nazi Skinhead:

I think this video says a lot about the twisted ways of skinhead thought because the man in the video was raised in this way and he accepts and embraces his lifestyle for what it is. 

      Through these different ways, Neo-Nazi and Skinhead Groups have contributed to the development of anti-Semitism in both Germany and America. It is a very controversial thing to be anti-Semitic living in America, because nobody can tell you what to believe it or how, when and to what extent to express it. That is the good and bad thing about the foundation of American society. Everyone has the right to say and believe what they like, so this means that they cannot be persecuted by the government. The German government however, makes very strong efforts to keep anti-Semitic beliefs under control and not resurrect an image of the Third Reich. Nevertheless, anti-Semitism will always continue to evolve under these racist groups and cannot be stopped no matter what. 

Stay tuned for the next post on the establishment of a Jewish identity through Israel in Germany and America. 

Sources:

http://0-www.lexisnexis.com.opac.sfsu.edu/hottopics/lnacademic/?

http://www.lyricsmania.com/neo-nazi_lyrics_razzia.html

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/social_issues/july-dec12/hate_08-08.html