Die Unsterblichen – The Immortal Ones

Following the attacks in Oslo last week, there has been much hand-wringing and discussion on how to combat right-wing extremism in Europe.  Andrea Nahles of the German Social Democrats (SPD) has (again) called for banning the neo-Nazi NPD.  While I certainly sympathize with her views, banning the neo-Nazis would accomplish nothing.  Anders Behring Breivik is not a neo-Nazi.  The views he expresses in his manifesto are unfortunately mainstream in today's political environment.  He admires Geert Wilders in the Netherlands, an elected political leader.  He admires Henryk Broder in Germany, a respected best-selling author who is a columnist for one of Germany's most respected daily newspapers.  He admires Robert Spencer and Daniel Pipes, respected "Islam experts" in the US who frequently appear on network television.   These are not fringe figures like the pathetic leaders of the NPD.  No, they are at the center of our public discourse today.  It is telling that on page 1300 of his manifesto Breivik sees a connection between his views and those of the Republican Party in the US:

"Let us hope that the US (Democratic and Republican party) allows us, their European cultural and economical crown vassals, to liberate ourselves and deport the Muslims without them militarily intervening. We shouldn’t forget that we have many allies in the US including a sizable faction of the Republican Party. There are signals that might indicate that the US will not intervene militarily after we begin liberating ourselves in the coming decades. We must continue to work close with our US allies to prevent this from happening."

A new group has surfaced in Germany which disseminates racialist views – identical to those of Anders Behring Breivik – to young people.  The group – Die Unsterblichen ("the Immortal Ones") uses eerie face masks (available to purchase on the Internet), music from the movie "The Matrix", and organizes torchlight marches through German cities to win over youth to their vision of racial purity.  The Web site of the group outlines the group's hatred of "Democrats" and non-Germans using language that could have been lifted from Breivik:

All den skandalösen, lächerlichen, peinlichen und unsinnigen Taten der Demokraten, die wir alle tagtäglich erfahren und erahnen, ist eine Sache gemein: Sie führen in ihrer Gesamtheit zum Tod des deutschen Volkes.

(All of the scandalous, ridiculous, embarassing and stupid actions of democrats, which we must endure on a daily basis, have one thing in common: they lead in their totality to the death of the German Volk.)

Immer dann, wenn Völker dieses genetische Erbe durch die Vermischung mit anderen Völkern aufgegeben haben, sind sie in der Geschichte untergegangen. Beispiele dafür gibt es viele, man denke nur an die Griechen und Römer, die Bedeutung ihrer einstigen Reiche und ihr heutiges Dasein. Und man vergleiche die gut erhaltenen Büsten altertümlicher Herrscher mit dem Aussehen der heutigen Griechen und Italiener.

(Whenever a people or Volk have mixed their genetic heritage with other peoples they have been doomed in history.  There are many examples of this – just think of the Greeks and the Romans and compare their great empires  with their present day reality. And compare the antique statues and busts of the former masters with the physical appearance of Greeks and Italians today.) 

The mention of "gene contamination" reminds me of Thilo Sarrazin's "theory" of the "dumbing down" of German society thanks to the mixing of genes with those of Muslims with inferior intelligence. 

No, Anders Behring Breivik is no Nazi extremist.  Under different circumstances his manifesto would be a best-selling book and he would be a much sought-after guest for the talk show circuit.