 | You can helpexpand this article with text translated fromthe corresponding article in German. (January 2013)Click [show] for important translation instructions.
|
Nationalist Front Nationalistische Front | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Founder | Bernhard Pauli |
| Founded | 1985 |
| Banned | 1992 |
| Preceded by | Volkssozialistische Bewegung Deutschlands/Partei der Arbeit |
| Membership | 150 |
| Ideology | Strasserism Neo-Nazism |
| Political position | Far-right |
TheNationalist Front (GermanNationalistische Front) was a minorGermanneo-Nazi group active during the 1980s.
Founded in 1985 byBernhard Pauli,[1] the group, which had no more than 150 members, was characterized by its support forStrasserism rather than more usual forms ofNazism.[2] TheNationalist Front - League of Social Revolutionary Nationalists had been formed in 1982 from the ashes of the bannedVolkssozialistische Bewegung Deutschlands/Partei der Arbeit. This organisation was the basis for a merger with a number of smaller groups to form a new NF.[3]
In early 1986, the Nationalist Front experienced an internal power struggle, which ended up with a former German soldier and expelled member of theNational Democratic Party of Germany,Meinolf Schönborn, replacing Pauli as head of the party.[4]
Based primarily inBielefeld, the group had a largelyPagan membership, hostingfire rituals and similar ceremonies. The group also performedcross burnings and forged links with Dennis Mahon, the head of theWhite Knights of the Ku Klux Klan inTulsa, Oklahoma.[5]
The group also became noted for its armed wing, the National Task Force (Nationales Einsatzkommando - NEK)[6] which was set up in 1991 with the help ofOtto Ernst Remer andHerbert Schweiger. This group was blamed for a number of attacks, including burning a man to death in the mistaken belief that he was aJew and thearson of an asylum seeker hostel in Dolgenbrodt, nearBerlin.[7] Firmlyanti-Semitic, the NF was also associated withJürgen Rieger, the well-known GermanHolocaust denier who was a speaker at a number of its events.[8] Towards the end of its existence the group came under the leadership of Andreas Pohl, a formerRock Against Communism musician, who attempted to attract the samewhite power skinheads to the group that he had previously played at.[9]
Its support for the Nazis led to the group being banned by the Federal Ministry of the Interior in 1992 along with theGerman Alternative ofMichael Kühnen and theNational Offensive ofMichael Swierczek.[10] The ban came in response to an arson attack on 23 November 1992 on the home of a Turkish family inMölln, Schleswig-Holstein, with the family's deaths injecting urgency into judgements against neo-Nazi groups.[11] The group was succeeded by a number of organisations including Direct Action Middle Germany and the Social Revolutionary Workers Front, all of which were banned.
