german rock singer jailed-Nazi

taken from the Times today.
I think in a way it is a shame that you can't buy nazi era militaria in Germany due to the Anti-Fascism/nazi ban that is in place- I did collect a lot of nazi militaria on the black market though, eg daggers, badges of military units etc (the eagle and swastica are banned in germany-even from Musuems in order to stop Nazis from reviving their movement)- in the end it is history.

Court cracks down on band that glorified SS
By Roger Boyes



GERMANY has stepped up a campaign against the sinister world of neo-Nazi rock music by sentencing a right-wing band leader to more than three years in jail for writing lyrics that glorified the SS and insulted foreigners and Jews.



The 40-month jail term for Michael Regener, 38, the founder of the group Landser, was the toughest handed down on a far-right singer, and is intended to establish firm boundaries on racial hate crimes.

“This is the first time that a band has been found to be a criminal organisation,” Joachim Lampe, the state prosecutor, said. Far-right groups have been invoking the right to free speech to defend their music and dodge Germany’s strict laws against abusing foreigners or praising the Nazi past. Suspended sentences were also passed on the band’s bass player, Andre Möhricke, 25, and its drummer, Christian Wenndorff, 27.

The band Landser — a colloquial word for a wartime infantry man — was originally called Final Solution. It specialises in provocative lyrics. The music is loud and heavy and some of the words that directly breach the law on racial harassment can barely be heard.

But the texts, particularly those written by Regener, are privately printed and are widely circulated in schools. The German authorities are worried that Regener could develop a cult following — hence the unusually sharp sentence.

Regener’s lyrics have sometimes been linked to physical crimes. Three skinheads, sentenced for the killing of an African student in Dessau, were chanting words from the Landser song, Sturmführer, before attacking the man. The song recalls the murderous exploits of a grandfather in the SS.

A typical lyric reads: “Africa for the apes, Europe for the whites, stuff the apes down the toilet.”

The band members call themselves “terrorists with electric guitars”. One of their songs has a chorus announcing: “Let’s get the enemy, bombs on Israel.”

The songs are recorded in Berlin cellars or across the border in Poland. The recordings are then pressed in the United States — a country not bound by strict anti-race crime legislation — and are shipped back to Europe via Sweden. Distribution used to be conducted by a group called Blood and Honour, which has been outlawed by the German Government as part of its crackdown on underground music.

Other distribution channels have since sprung up and the authorities estimate that more than a million neo-Nazi compact discs are in circulation. Groups such as Landser are a focal point for young neo-Nazis who are bored by political speechmaking.

The bands often change their names to make it easier to rent a pub or a concert venue for the night. A few non-political songs will feature in the bands’ repertoire to muddy the waters for police informers.

The crackdown on neo-Nazi bands comes at a time of heightened anxiety within the European Union over the rise in anti-Semitism. The EU is sponsoring a conference on the subject in February.

i am not surprised, he should have been imprisoned long ago

agreed

i'm not condoning nazi-ism in anyway at all here but in the end it's an opinion, a very extreme one but still just an opinion.

I think what they stand for is disgusting at the very best but it is still their own opinion and u can't pick and choose when the term "everyones entitled to free speech" is applicable.

thats true in its essence.... and a very difficult topic but in this case its in the law (whether thats right or wrong) and that should be respected too...

just trying to make people think out of the box on this one., its too easy just to shoot people like this down straight away without really thinking about it.

if u can bash stuff like guantanamo and anti terrorism holding measures then u can't really say that this is OK to do.

i know exactly what you mean, jim. don't defend yourself! i agree with you completely. Its just ... its such a difficult question

i know choc it would just be too easy to gety jumped on on this one. i don't have a problem with lockign people up who deserve it and i think most of the guys being held in guantanamo and across the world without a trial date deserve it but these guys havent actually done anything apart from express their extreme opinion publically.

someone battered a black guy chanting one of their songs? if i go out and mug a granny today singing living on a prayer will Jon be held responsible?

by the way shuggy if ur ever down glasgow at the weekends i remember seeing a stall int he barras last year that had alot of military memorabilia and im prettys ure they had alot of german stuff too.

Much as I abhor their message, they don't deserve legal punishment due to their beliefs. No one should be jailed or fined for saying what they think. Makes me wonder how the government in Germany got so big (and arrogant?) as to think it has a right to control what people say. Sure, its the law. Laws can be wrong. And no, I'm not saying that shouting "fire" in a crowded theater should be legal, I'm saying that abrasive, racist lyrics should be covered under free speech. They won't arrest people for singing "I love Israel, isn't the war in Iraq great" but they'll jail people for singing that Israel should be bombed. Wow.

Adrian