January 2021

Nazi Ravensbrück camp: How ordinary women became SS torturers

“Healthy, female workers between the ages of 20 and 40 wanted for a military site,” reads the job advertisement from a 1944 German newspaper. Good wages and free board, accommodation and clothing are promised. What is not mentioned is that the clothing is an SS uniform. And that the “military site” is Ravensbrück concentration camp for women. Today the flimsy wooden barracks for the prisoners are long gone. All that remains is an eerily empty, rocky field, about 80km (50 miles) north of Berlin. But still standing are eight solidly built, attractive villas with wooden shutters and balconies. They are a 1940s Nazi version of medieval German cottages. That is where the female guards lived, some with their children. From the balconies they could overlook a forest and a pretty lake. “It was the most beautiful time of my life,” said one former female guard, decades later. But from their bedrooms they would have also seen chain-gangs of prisoners and the chimneys of the gas chamber. (…) Some 3,500 women worked as Nazi concentration camp guards, and all of them started out at Ravensbrück. Many later worked in death camps such as Auschwitz-Birkenau or Bergen-Belsen “They were awful people,” 98-year-old Selma van de Perre tells me on the phone from her home in London. She was a Dutch Jewish resistance fighter who was imprisoned in Ravensbrück as a political prisoner. “They liked it probably because it gave them power. It gave them lots of power over the prisoners. Some prisoners were very badly treated. Beaten.” (…) Ravensbrück was Nazi Germany’s largest female-only camp. More than 120,000 women from all over Europe were imprisoned here. Many were resistance fighters or political opponents. Others were deemed “unfit” for Nazi society: Jews, lesbians, sex workers or homeless women. At least 30,000 women died here. Some were gassed or hanged, others starved, died of disease or were worked to death. They were treated brutally by many of the female guards – beaten, tortured or murdered. The prisoners gave them nicknames, such as “bloody Brygyda” or “revolver Anna”.

via bbc: Nazi Ravensbrück camp: How ordinary women became SS torturers

Gedenkstätte Ravensbrück "Figuren gegen das Vergessen" von dem Künstler Stuart N.R. Wolfe.tif
Von <a href=”//commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:Stw-kunst&amp;action=edit&amp;redlink=1″ class=”new” title=”User:Stw-kunst (page does not exist)”>Stw-kunst</a> – <span class=”int-own-work” lang=”de”>Eigenes Werk</span>, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link

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#Russia-Based Neo-Nazi #Terror Leader Offers #Training To American Far Right – #TheBase

Rinaldo Nazzaro, founder of Nazi terror group the Base, is attempting to once again set up a paramilitary training network across the U.S. Amid a raging backdrop of far-right violence in the U.S., the Russia-based former leader and founder of a neo-Nazi terror group has turned his attentions to a new project: re-establishing secretive paramilitary training across the U.S. Rinaldo Nazzaro, 47, a former Pentagon contractor originally from New Jersey who is said to have worked on targeting operations with U.S. Special Forces, founded and led the Base until a nationwide FBI crackdown dismantled the organization and close to a dozen of its members were arrested for, among other things, an assassination plot and planning a mass shooting. While some of those members languish in jail, Nazzaro’s new training project is designed for a “system collapse”—neo-Nazi lingo for a potential second civil war—and seeks to unite local cells into a national patchwork of future combatants. (…) Nazzaro claims he is now on an American no-fly list, and is believed to be trying to coordinate this online and covert network of trainers and recruits to do work in firearms, battle drills, urban reconnaissance, and other paramilitary skills—even offering to pay for local training, inside the U.S.— from St. Petersburg, Russia. Nazzaro did not respond to a request for comment. The news that a former Pentagon contractor with a high security clearance is actively attempting to train new potential domestic terrorists from Russia is sure to raise concerns in American law enforcement and intelligence circles that are already suspicious of the foreign support of the violent coup attempt on Capitol Hill weeks ago.

via vice: Russia-Based Neo-Nazi Terror Leader Offers Training To American Far Right

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Watch Layne Staley #Punch a Nazi at an Alice in Chains Show – #antifa

There’s nothing worse than the guy who ruins the show for everyone. And back in 1993, Alice in Chains frontman Layne Staley laid a smackdown on an audience member who had been making Nazi hand gestures and attacking other fans in the mosh pit. The show in question took place in Stockholm, Sweden and footage of the incident recently started circulating again online, giving fans a chance to see the singer’s reaction to what he was witnessing in the crowd. The band had just finished (fittingly) performing “It Ain’t Like That” when the Staley halted the show. He made his way to the side of the stage and motioned for the man in question to make his way to the stage. Staley even helps the man up from the floor below and once he’s to his feet, the vocalist throws a punch followed by a slap before the man is pushed offstage and escorted out by security. As he returned to the mic, Staley yelled, “Fucking Nazis die.” (…) Feeling as though he had been assaulted by Staley, the man reported the band to the police. While Staley had already caught a Ferry to Finland, police met up with the rest of the group and seized their passports until Staley returned. According to the report, a brief investigation followed, which included the Nazi’s own brother siding with the band. Staley was not only released but was praised by Swedish police for his actions.

via loudwire: Watch Layne Staley Punch a Nazi at an Alice in Chains Show

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Nach Sturm auf #Kapitol – #Pentagon will offenbar gegen Rechtsextreme in eigenen Reihen vorgehen – #capitol #terror

Ersten FBI-Erkenntnissen zufolge haben sich mehrere Personen mit Verbindungen zum Militär am Sturm auf das US-Kapitol beteiligt. Laut »New York Times« reagiert nun das Pentagon. Vor gut zwei Wochen haben Anhänger des scheidenden Präsidenten Donald Trump das US-Kapitol gestürmt. Der Vorfall sorgte international für Entsetzen und löste in den USA eine Debatte über Rechtsextreme innerhalb der Armee und anderer staatlicher Sicherheitsbehörden aus. Einem Bericht der »New York Times« zufolge will das Pentagon seinen Kampf gegen Rechtsextreme und Anhänger der »White Supremacy« -Bewegung in den eigenen Reihen nun intensivieren. Zudem sollen nationale Ermittler dem Bericht zufolge klären, wie viele Armeeangehörige und Veteranen sich an der Erstürmung des Kapitols beteiligt hätten. Sechs Personen mit Verbindungen zum US-Militär identifiziert. Seit den Vorfällen am 6. Januar seien hochrangige Militärführer damit konfrontiert, dass sich ehemalige und aktive Armeeangehörige unter den Mob gemischt haben könnten, heißt es in dem Bericht weiter. Zählt man die aktiven Truppen und Reservisten zusammen, gehören dem US-Militär mehr als zwei Millionen Menschen an.

via spiegel: Nach Sturm auf Kapitol Pentagon will offenbar gegen Rechtsextreme in eigenen Reihen vorgehen

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Polizei verhaftet sechs Rechtsextreme in zwei Kantonen – #terror

Im Kanton Zürich und im Kanton Luzern sind sechs junge Erwachsene festgenommen worden. Sie sollen rechtsextremes Gedankengut verbreitet haben. Mehrere Waffen wurden sichergestellt. Die Festgenommenen sind im Sommer 2020 durch die Verbreitung von rassendiskriminierenden Inhalten in den Fokus der Polizei geraten, wie die Kantonspolizei Zürich mitteilte. Umfangreiche Ermittlungen hätten zu fünf Personen im Kanton Zürich und zu einer Person im Kanton Luzern geführt. Die sechs Schweizer im Alter zwischen 18 und 20 Jahren wurden nun in einer gezielten Aktion verhaftet. Ausserdem wurden Beweismittel sichergestellt.

via srf: Polizei verhaftet sechs Rechtsextreme in zwei Kantonen

siehe auch: Schlag gegen Neonazi-Szene – Kopf der Winterthurer Eisenjugend verhaftet. Die Polizei hat am Mittwochmorgen sechs mutmassliche Rechtsextreme verhaftet. Darunter ein 20-Jähriger aus Winterthur, Kopf der Neonazi-Zelle Eisenjugend. (…) Eszil – 20 Jahre alt, Kunststudent, Waffennarr und einer der führenden Köpfe der Winterthurer Neonazi-Szene. Bekannt wurde er als Mann hinter der Eisenjugend, einer rechtsextremen Gruppe, die von einem apokalyptischen «Rassenkrieg» träumt. Nach einem Artikel im «Tages-Anzeiger» war es im August 2020 zu einer Hausdurchsuchung bei Eszil und einem seiner Kameraden – Deckname «Rotbart» – gekommen. Dabei beschlagnahmte die Polizei mehrere Schusswaffen. Laut einem Jugendfreund besass Eszil bis dahin eine Kalaschnikow, zwei Karabiner, zwei Pistolen, ein halbautomatisches Gewehr des Typs SIG-522 und Munition.

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Fight #Trump Like He’s a #Terrorist Leader, National Security Experts Say

Fears emerge about law enforcement complicity and securing Joe Biden’s inauguration. In the aftermath of the violent insurrection against Congress on Jan. 6, many national security experts were stunned by what looked like a catastrophic failure to prepare by law enforcement agencies, foremost the Capitol Police. But the idea that the broad assault came as a surprise defied credulity, and concerns quickly focused on whether the attacks by enraged mobs of pro-Trump rioters were more orchestrated than was generally understood. For several weeks before the siege, the national security community was “swimming in threat intel” about far-right Trump partisans with potentially dangerous plans, a senior US law enforcement official told me. Some of the threats metastasized online. According to a social media analysis cited in the New York Times, the phrase “Storm the Capitol” was mentioned 100,000 times across various platforms in the 30 days preceding the attack. Violent far-right extremist groups exchanged ideas about concealing weapons and using guerilla tactics to target political enemies. On Twitter, President Trump himself spent weeks inciting violence focused specifically on Jan. 6, the day Congress would certify Joe Biden’s election victory. The day prior to the attack, a FBI field office in Virginia issued a stark internal warning about extremist talk of going to “war” in Washington, including individuals sharing a map of the Capitol complex. Further reporting since the insurrection has heightened concerns about the failure of law enforcement leadership, according to interviews with current and former national security officials. Among the mob and those who invaded the Capitol there was widespread use of two-way radio communications, tactical gear, chemical munitions, and what law enforcement officials believe may have been a diversionary planting of pipe bombs. Particularly grim was the participation by some police officers and ex-military personnel in the siege. Did agency leaders installed by Trump or who were sympathetic to his lies about the 2020 election look the other way from looming danger on their radar? (…) But what about sympathies for Trumpism among those with security responsibilities? Last August, former FBI special agent Michael German authored a report for the Brennan Center for Justice focused on the unknown extent but clear existence of extremist views among American law enforcement. “The continued presence of even a small number of far-right militants, white supremacists, and other overt racists in law enforcement has an outsized impact on public safety and on public trust in the criminal justice system and cannot be ignored,” German wrote. There has also been mounting evidence that police officers around the country have been caught up in apocalyptic pro-Trump conspiracy theories stemming from the dangerous QAnon movement, which Trump last fall refused to disavow even after it had been designated by the FBI as a domestic terrorism threat.

via mother jones: Fight Trump Like He’s a Terrorist Leader, National Security Experts Say

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“Querdenker” diskutierten vor Demo in Wien “Übernahme des Parlaments”

In Chats wurde über radikale Pläne von “Hardlinern” beraten. Staatsschützer sehen eine “gefährliche Zeit”, das Innenministerium prüft auch einen Einsatzleiter der Polizei. In internen Nachrichtengruppen der “Querdenker”-Szene wurden vor der Corona-Demo am Samstag in Wien radikale Pläne gewälzt. Das zeigen Sprach- und Chatnachrichten, die vom antifaschistischen Presseservice Wien veröffentlicht wurden. Überlegt wurde, die Demo mehrere Tage lang laufen zu lassen; von Reihen der “Hardliner” sei eine “Übernahme des Parlaments” angedacht worden. (…) Deshalb griff die Szene für die Aktionen vom vergangenen Samstag beim Anmelden der Demos auf bislang unbescholtene Personen zurück. Eine davon zeigte sich danach von den Umsturzplänen und dem Aufmarsch von Neonazis und anderen Rechtsextremen entsetzt. “Das alles auf meinen Namen! Ich hab Kinder!”, beschwerte sie sich in internen Chats. Fotos zeigen, dass am Samstag amtsbekannte, gewaltbereite Hooligans an der Demo teilnahmen. Mitgeführt wurden Messer, Pfefferspray und Handschellen. Einige trugen verstärkte Schlaghandschuhe, Tarnanzüge oder paramilitärische Abzeichen. “Es ist eine “gefährliche Zeit, in der die Lage schnell kippen kann”, warnt man beim Staatsschutz auf Nachfrage des STANDARD. “Fantasien von der Machtübernahme haben extremistische Gruppen immer im Keller geschmiedet. Aber jetzt kann es auch zur Umsetzung kommen.”

via standard: “Querdenker” diskutierten vor Demo in Wien “Übernahme des Parlaments”

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