NYC Letter: Mein Führer! Frohe Weihnachten!

HO! HO! HEIL!
Festive Fascism

St. Nick Scandal In Germany
IS SANTA CLAUS A NAZI?

November 30, 2006 (Spiegel) - [As reported in the German tabloid Bild] Germans shopping for Christmas trinkets have been shocked recently to discover row upon row of Santa Clauses looking to all the world as if they are giving the Hitler salute -- right arm, straight as an arrow, raised skyward. Never mind that St. Nick is carrying a bag of toys and wearing a silly red hat complete with a white pom-pom. Shoppers were sure -- these Santas were Nazis.

Readers of Germany's largest-circulation paper have reported seeing the saluting St. Nicks in a number of shops around the country. Indeed, one of Germany's largest drug stores, Rossmann, even went so far as to take the offending Santas off the shelves.

[Hat tip: Carine]

The article feigns disbelief that German shoppers would be reminded of the Hitlergruß by neat rows of saluting Santas. But perhaps these Germans know something the authors do not.

Neo-Nazis In Germany
RIGHT-WING VIOLENCE ON THE RISE

October 17, 2006 (Spiegel) - Right-wing violence in Germany is rising. According to a report in the Berlin daily Tagesspiegel, there have been 20 percent more criminal offenses committed by neo-Nazis in the first eight months of 2006 than in the same period last year. Germany's federal law enforcement agency registered 8,000 criminal offences between January and August of this year, 452 of which were violent, according to the report.

... Political pressure is growing to address right-wing extremism as a dangerous trend rather than isolated incidents.

Right-wing extremism has re-emerged as a major concern in Germany following major gains by the neo- Nazi National Democratic Party (NPD) in Mecklenburg West Pomerania's recent parliamentary elections where they carried 7.3 percent of the vote. Right wing parties now hold seats in three of Germany's state parliaments with the NPD having entered the Saxony parliament in 2004 and the German People's Union holding six seats in Brandenburg, the state which surrounds Berlin.

Anti-Semitism At German Schools
INSULTS AGAINST JEWS ON THE RISE

December 8, 2006 (Spiegel) - Berlin's state parliament lists 62 reported cases under the category "(right-wing) extremism" in its study "Indicators of Violence at Berlin's Schools, 2004/2005." That's a steep increase in comparison with the previous year, when only 39 cases were registered. The category "(right-wing) extremism" includes "anti-Semitic, racist / xenophobic and right-wing extremist remarks" by children and adolescents, in addition to remarks that "incite racial hatred or express fundamentalist / Islamist fundamentalist views."

And the surge of anti-Semitism seems to be growing. In November, Berlin's public authorities had already registered more cases of anti-Semitism than during the entire previous year. A recent study by the European Monitoring Center on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC) also criticized cases of anti-Semitism, racism and right-wing extremism at German schools.