Neo-Nazi Extortion

Spiegel Online has published a story about how Germany's neo-Nazis have learned to exploit their repugnance.

The small town of Kirchheim an der Weinstrasse, not far from the Rhine River in western Germany faced an uproar after neo-Nazis offered an exorbitant amount to purchase a failing bar at the edge of town that they announced would be turned into a training centre for the far-right NDP party.

The townsfolk were up in arms which seems to be just what the neo-Nazis were after. Kircheimers demanded that their town council buy the property to keep the neo-Nazis out. Fully half the town's population signed a petition demanding action.

The town council kept their nerve, defeating the idea by a vote of 14-3. It turns out that was just what the neo-Nazis did not want to hear. They never had the money to buy the property anyway, they just wanted to scare the town into buying them off. Now they're scrambling to find a way to back out of their offer.

It'd all be sort of funny if this was an isolated incident but it's not:

"German domestic intelligence officials see a disturbing pattern emerging. They warn that often, the neo-Nazis are only feigning interest in the properties in order to drive the price up. The result is more money for the property owner and -- as part of the deal -- more money in the party's treasury.

"The pattern is always the same. Once the right extremists have found a likely property, they do everything they can to be indiscrete. Most often, they send out well-known activists from the brown scene to make sure their intentions are well publicized. In the case of Kirchheim an der Weinstrasse, it was Uwe Meenen, local NPD party leader and part of a group that would like to see the creation of the 'Fourth Reich.'"

"Bruch, the state's interior minister, does see a risk that at some point, the right extremists won't actually be bluffing. But as a rule, it looks as though property sellers could be working hand in hand with the neo-Nazis: The purchase price is driven up by the fear of having right-wingers in the neighborhood and the profit is then split between them."