Today in Jewish History: Neo-nazis in Skokie, Illinois

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In 1977, a neo-Nazi group planned to march in Skokie, Illinois, in a largely Jewish neighborhood that was home to many Holocaust survivors. It was believed that the march would be disruptive, and the city refused to allow it.

The American Civil Liberties Union came to the Nazis' support, and in 1978 a high court upheld the Nazis' right to march, on the grounds that the public display of the Nazi flag is a constitutionally protected free expression.

After winning the court battle, the Nazis decided to march in Chicago's Marquette Park instead.

In 1987, a Holocaust Monument and Museum was opened in Skokie. On the night of its dedication, the monument was desecrated with swastikas.

Jewish prayer book used as toilet paper

Haifa's police reconnaissance unit entered an apartment in their city on Saturday night only to find pages torn from a Jewish prayer book being used as toilet paper. Six suspects between the ages of 18-20 were brought before the Haifa Magistrate’s Court on Sunday morning as police requested their arrest be extended for questioning. Investigators have yet to rule out the possibility that the suspects are connected to a neo-Nazi organization. A metal swastika, spikes, drugs and computers were all confiscated by the police, though the computer can only be searched after the court issues a search warrant.

Unlike the Arabs, no Jews started rioting.

Czech neo-Nazis end march through Plzen

From CTK:

About 150-200 Czech neo-Nazis reached the namesti Republiky square where the rally was to end after a 60-minute march through the West Bohemian town of Plzen this afternoon, the police said.

However, upon an agreement with the police about one half of them will be driven by buses to the railway station and the rest will march back to the bus station from where they had left.

No incident has occurred during their march, although the neo-Nazis walked passed a rally of about 500 anti-fascists.

Anarchists pelted the neo-Nazis with empty bottles and apples.

The two groups were separated by the riot police.

The neo-Nazis' march was preceded by speeches attacking the current regime. Neo-Nazi activists accused the police and political establishment of harassing and terrorising them.

The marchers were wearing black flags and some of them covered their faces with masks.

The march was originally scheduled for January 19, one day after the 66th anniversary of the first transport of Jews from Plzen to concentration camps. The Plzen Town Hall banned the march, but a court later ruled that the ban was not invalid and that the organiser had the right to stage a new march.

Extremism experts say the march is organised by the neo-Nazi National Resistance.

Click here to see the video. The Jewish community did not receive a permit for a counter demonstration, citing concern for safety, and the Jewish community officially asked members to stay away. Despite the warnings and inclement weather, more than 500 protestors were on hand, as were more than 1,000 police.

Plzeò mayor faces dilemma as neo-Nazis plan new march past synagogue

The Czech Republic must test its own moral compass. From Cesky Rozhlas/Radio Praha:

The Czech Republic's freedom of speech and assembly laws have been tested to the full in recent months by a small but determined group of neo-Nazis. For the second time this year, the city of Plzeò in West Bohemia is bracing itself for a march by far-right radicals, and politicians are wondering whether it might not be time to prune the country's legislation to prevent such marches from going ahead.

Pavel Rödl is a man with a problem. He's the mayor of Plzeò, the regional capital of West Bohemia, home to the famous Pilsner Urquell brewery and also the second largest synagogue in Europe. On January 19th, 66 years after the first transport of Plzeò Jews to the concentration camps, a group of neo-Nazis wanted to march past the synagogue. There was an outcry, and Mayor Rödl banned the march. 1,000 police officers were deployed and people were advised to stay home. In the end a dozen or so skinheads turned up and nothing happened.

The group filed a complaint. On Friday, a court ruled the march should have gone ahead. The mayor had effectively broken the law guaranteeing free assembly. The group says it will hold another rally, on March 1st. Once again they want to march past the synagogue. Once again, Pavel Rödl has to weigh up whether to break the law.

The dilemma has sparked a debate among politicians as to whether Czech legislation should be changed to deny neo-Nazis the freedom of assembly. Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek had this to say to Czech television:

"If it's possible to hold neo-Nazi marches in this way and if the law allows them and if the law even criminalises those who have the courage to try and ban them…then clearly we have to examine the way the law is written."

But comments like that are anathema even to some in Mr Topolánek's own party, the Civic Democrats. Czechs paid dearly for the freedom of speech and assembly, for so long denied them by the communists. Marek Benda is a Civic Democrat MP and son of the late dissident Václav Benda:

"I'm just really afraid that an amendment to the law would be abused – in other words that we'd end up banning more things than we should."

So it seems unlikely the law will be changed. Indeed some politicians argue the present legislation is more than adequate, if applied correctly. For now, all eyes are on Pavel Rödl and whether he'll wield his power to ban another neo-Nazi meeting on March 1st.

Ron Paul's Photo-Op with Stormfront

From Little Green Footballs from The Daily Ramble:

An LGF reader emailed this photograph, showing Ron Paul at the Values Voters Presidential Debate in Fort Lauderdale on September 17, 2007. Immediately to Paul’s left: Don Black, the owner of neo-Nazi hate site Stormfront.

And if you’re wondering where these photos came from, here’s the source: Stormfront. (Google redirect page.) They were apparently taken by Stormfront member Jamie Kelso, with a Canon PowerShot SD1000 camera.

I have no doubt that the pukey son is purposefully wearing a broad brimmed hat identical to what Orthodox Jews wear.

Neo-Nazis, anti-fascists clash in Prague's Jewish quarter

From Ynet:

Neo-Nazis trying to march through the Jewish quarter of Prague on Saturday clashed with self-proclaimed anti-fascists, and at least 80 people were arrested in outbreaks of violence around the capital. The march had been scheduled to take place just a day after the anniversary of Kristallnacht, the 1938 night of terror when the Nazis attacked synagogues and Jewish homes and businesses throughout Germany and parts of Austria.

Police also seized weapons including a gas gun, axes and sticks at scattered sites as the extremists tried to reach the Jewish quarter, police spokesman Ladislav Bernasek said.

The organizers were the Young National Democrats, which is linked to the National Resistance, a neo-Nazi group. They said their intention was to protest the deployment of Czech troops in Iraq and they pledged to defy the ban.

A gentile Russian Neo-Nazi group busted in Tel Aviv

There is no doubt that evil is like liquified mercury. It can be just one simple occurrence of itself, or it can break off into dozens of little pieces of itself and migrate so that it can expand elsewhere, and insinuate itself into the unprotected and porous seams of the civilized world. Now, it has surfaced again. Israeli police have busted a group of Israeli neo-Nazis in the Tel Aviv region and found a gun and explosives. When police raided the homes of the neo-Nazis, they found video documentation of dozens of other crimes. The group’s members had been found to regularly beat religious Jews and foreign workers in Tel Aviv. One video shows members of the group surrounding a Russian heroin addict and, after the man admits he is Jewish, beating him mercilessly, along with another man who tries to assist him. The youths are non-Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union. Although the nine arrests were made a month ago, a gag order on the case was in place until Saturday night. Police had been investigating over 20 people involved with the group ever since the vandalizing of a large synagogue in Petach Tikvah over a year ago. The neo-Nazis had painted the walls, as well as the insides of prayer books, with Nazi graffiti.

More alarming is the fact that the Anti-Defamation League, founded to protect Jews from neo-Nazi groups and anti-Semitism, released a hasty statement in Hebrew from its Israel office in defense of the neo-Nazi group. I don't know which is more dangerous.

Russia investigates report of killing by Neo-Nazis

From IHT:

The Russian authorities said Tuesday that they were investigating a video recording of what appeared to be the grisly execution of two bound and gagged young men, filmed in a forest beneath a large Nazi flag. At least one of the men was beheaded on camera as he lay in a shallow grave.

The video, which appeared Sunday on several Russian ultranationalist Web sites, circulated on the Internet with a note from a previously unknown organization that called itself the National-Socialist Party of Russia. The note announced that a "military vanguard" had begun an armed struggle against "black colonists and those who support them from the Russian government."

It demanded the expulsion from Russia of all Asians and people from the Caucasus and the granting of independence to all of the Russian republics in the Caucasus.

The note also called for the resignation of President Vladimir Putin and for the establishment of a government formed by Dmitry Rumyantsev, the leader of the National-Socialist Society, a neo-Nazi group.

It further demanded the release of Maksim Martsinkevich, the leader of Format 18, another Russian neo-Nazi group, who has been held since last month on charges of fomenting ethnic hatred and threatening violence.

It was not clear when or where the video was made.

Slightly less than three minutes long, the video begins with scenes of the countryside and the title, "Operation of the National-Socialist Party of Russia to arrest and execute two colonists from Dagestan and Tajikistan." For a date, it lists only 2007.

The video then shows two terrified dark-skinned men kneeling in the forest under a Nazi flag. Each man speaks through a gag in accented Russian, saying only, "We were arrested by National Socialists." One has been bound with heavy tape, the other with rope.

One of their captors shouts "Glory to Russia!" and then lunges forward and decapitates one of the men with what appears to be a large knife. Heavy metal music plays throughout.

Later, the second captive is shown kneeling, head lowered. The bolt of a gun is heard to slam closed. The prisoner is shot in the head and falls face down into a grave.

The video ends with two men in camouflage uniforms and black masks giving the Nazi salute.

Videotaped beheadings and executions, a gruesome propaganda tool used by insurgents by Iraq, have a history in Russia that predates the Iraq war.

Chechen separatists have been accused of beheading captured Russian soldiers since the first Chechen war, in 1994, and recordings of such grisly acts have circulated in markets in the Caucasus for years.

Vandals defile ancient Jewish cemetery in S. Czech Republic

A Jewish cemetery has been desecrated in a southern Czech town, police said Friday. Spokeswoman Hana Moltasova said in a statement that 23 tombstones were overturned at the cemetery in Pisek, 100 kilometers south of Prague. Five of the tombstones were broken, she said. The cemetery, dating back to the 19th century, is no longer used for burials, and was opened to the public in 1993 after renovations. Two weeks ago, vandals defiled a Holocaust memorial at a Berlin train station, where tens of thousands of Jews were once shipped to Nazi concentration camps.

'YOU JEWISH PIG'

Germany, like Islam, still hasn't evolved. From Spiegel Online:

They were two teams of 14-year-olds. But that didn't seem to matter. Right-wing fans rained anti-Semitic and racist insults down on a youth-league game in Eastern Germany last month. Police are investigating, but it's far from an isolated incident.

The Ascension Day holiday was to be a big day for the football community in Wurzen, a small town of 15,000 near Leipzig in former Communist-ruled East Germany. The local junior league had a match scheduled with a team from the industrial city of Chemnitz, formerly known as Karl-Marx-Stadt and located near the Czech border.

A number of fans had found their way to the stadium and by the time the whistle blew for kick-off, they were in high spirits, swilling beer and chanting supporters' songs. The usual horde of young neo-Nazi skinheads and xenophobes were in the stands, looking for trouble.

Then the taunts began. The fans struck up a welcoming chorus for the visiting junior soccer team: "We'll build a subway from Chemnitz to Auschwitz..." You "Fiji pigs," they yelled at two 14-year-olds who were subbed in. You "foreigner pigs!" They made monkey noises every time they touched the ball. They also targeted the 14-year-old goalkeeper from the visiting team: "Jewish pig, go fuck your Jewish mother," they yelled.

The crowd didn't just target the visitors. A linesman flagged an offside call, earning him a torrent of abuse including: "Get it right, Jew, or we'll come and pull your foreskin off."

Despite a number of attempts by the referees to get the crowd under control, the insults continued.

Click here to read the rest of the article.

Today in Jewish History - Sivan 24

Sponsored by Aish.com:

In 1977, a neo-Nazi group planned to march in Skokie, Illinois, in a largely Jewish neighborhood that was home to many Holocaust survivors. It was believed that the march would be disruptive, and the city refused to allow it. The American Civil Liberties Union came to the Nazis' support, and in 1978 a high court upheld the Nazis' right to march, on the grounds that the public display of the Nazi flag is a constitutionally protected free expression. After winning the court battle, the Nazis decided to march in Chicago's Marquette Park instead. In 1987, a Holocaust Monument and Museum was opened in Skokie. On the night of its dedication, the monument was desecrated with swastikas.

Taiwan's Nazi Movement

I always thought it was hypocritical of the U S to endorse a sovereign "Palestinian" state -- but shun Taiwan’s claim to independence. But if this new emergence of Nazism in Taiwan continues to contaminate itself from within, then the Taiwanese don't deserve a state any more than the fake "Palestinians" do. From Der Spiegel:

A Nazi organization which promotes a fascist ideology of national unity and strength, and reveres Adolf Hitler, is seeking official status in Taiwan -- much to the fury of Jewish groups.

The emergence of a Nazi group in Taiwan that reveres Adolf Hitler and advocates curbing immigration has been condemned by an international Jewish human rights organization.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center on Tuesday hit out at the National Socialism Association of Taiwan (NSA) on Tuesday for championing the former Nazi dictator. "In the global interconnected world we live in, it is unacceptable anywhere to seek to promote the policies and images of Hitler and Nazi Germany as worthy of emulation," Simon Wiesenthal Centrer Associate Dean Rabbi Abraham Cooper said in a statement.

The year-old NSA is seeking the status of a non-governmental organization from the Taiwanese authorities and plans to hold its inaugural convention this coming Saturday. The controversial association has around 1,000 members, mostly of college age, who use their Web site to publicize their extremist views. The Web site is emblazoned with a Nazi swastika and says the group's ranks are reserved for people "who do not dislike Hitler."

One contributor to the Web site's discussion forum advocates policies on immigrant workers that bring to mind the German National Socialists' final solution. "If foreign laborers have children in Taiwan the government must exterminate them," the blogger writes. He adds: "In order to stop our genetic stock from further deterioration, strict monitoring and cruel punishments are called for."

Another contributor to the online blog writes: "What Hitler meant by 'superior race' is superior cultural content and not biological phenotype." Other members of the NSA have posted photos of themselves on the Internet posing in German army uniforms.

Taiwan, which has a population of 23 million, currently hosts about 300,000 immigrant workers, most of them from neighboring countries in South-East Asia. The self-styled NSA leader, 23-year-old Yue Shu-ya, thinks that Taiwan could learn useful lessons from the Führer's welfare state model. "We want to study Hitler's good points, not study his massacres," he said. "It has nothing to do with Naziism."

Shyeah, riiight. Another ignorant stooge emerges from its underground cavern. For more information on Taiwan's Nazi Party, click here.

A large Taiwanese advertisement showing a cartoon of a smiling Adolf Hitler supporting German-made electric space heaters with the English translation of "Declare war on the cold front!" printed across the top hangs on the wall of a popular subway station in Taipei, Taiwan.
Photo: AP

Smoke bomb thrown into Jewish kindergarten in Berlin

From EJP:

A tragedy was avoided on Sunday after a smoke bomb, thrown through a window of a Jewish kindergarten in Berlin, failed to ignite. However, the school, located in a northwest neighbourhood of the German capital, was not spared by the spray painting of swastikas, other Nazi symbols and anti-Semitic phrases, such as “Auschwitz,” “Juden Raus” (Jews, get out) and “Sieg Heil”, on its outer walls, as well as on toys that had been lying around in the school’s playground. A police spokesman said the attack did not cause serious damage or endanger children or staff at the school. Berlin’s Interior Minister Ehrhart Körting condemned the attack as a "cowardly act" and called it “a particularly brutal one…one that had taken anti-Semitic acts to a new dimension”.

Holocaust Memorials defiled by neo-Nazis

From Times Online:

The German authorities were preparing for criticism from the Jewish community after it was revealed that a Holocaust memorial in Berlin was being used as a public lavatory by tourists and by neo-Nazi sympathisers.

The disclosure, in a Berlin newspaper, will trigger a new debate about how the Holocaust should be remembered in Germany. One argument against building the monument -- that consists of 2,700 concrete slabs resembling Jewish gravestones -- was that it would become a target of anti-Semitic vandals. The managers of the memorial, which attracts 3.5 million visitors a year, have tried to play down the scandal. 'This just belongs to the teething problems of any new monument", Uwe Neumaerker, of the Memorial Foundation, said.

The German Government has been aware of the problem since the monument was completed in May 2005 but has tried to maintain a silence for fear of encouraging more vandalism. The defacing of Jewish memorial areas in Germany by followers of the far Right has become a widespread problem that is acknowledged rarely. On the eve of Holocaust Day at the weekend a group of youths set fire to a restored railway carriage -- symbolising the deportation of the Jews -- in Lower Saxony.

In the eastern German port of Stralsund, concrete was poured over a memorial for a Jewish family, the Keibel-Cohns. A court in Frankfurt an der Oder, on the Polish border, sentenced three youths to between nine and 14 months jail this month for urinating on a Jewish memorial.