Disguised Nazi symbolism
The codes of the new right
Watch the video: Disguised Nazi symbolism – the codes of the new right.
Just a few years ago, self-confessed neo-Nazis were easy to recognize: bald heads, combat boots, and clothing typical of the scene. But new right-wing trends also come with a perfidious game of confusion.
The new right appears confident. But it is not always immediately clear: who is actually right-wing? The use of is clearly regulated Nazi symbolism and Runes. For example, the following badges are punishable or conditionally punishable.
- Nazi Reich war flag
- Nazi swastika
- Triskele (sign of the 27th SS Division Langemarck, as well as the “Blood & Honor” network, which has been banned in Germany since 2000)
- SA civilian badge (used by the Nazi Sturmabteilung)
- NS-Gaudreieck (also Gauwinkel, indicated the regional district of the NSDAP/Hitler Youth)
- Dopel-Sig-Rune (also double lightning)
- SS Totenkopf
- Celtic cross (sometimes used as a symbol of the “supremacy of the white race”)
- National list (badge of a subgroup of the banned Freedom German Workers’ Party “FAP”)
- VSBD/PdA symbol (symbol of the “People’s Socialist Movement of Germany/Labor Party”, banned in 1986)
- Wolfsangel (symbol of the “Young Front” organization banned in 1982)
- Odal rune (among other things symbol of the SS division “Prinz Eugen”)
- Tyr rune (also Tiwaz rune, among other things, the symbol of an SS volunteer division)
But rights don’t always act so boldly. Often will Codes and cipher used. The 18 stands for the first and eighth letters in the alphabet – AH for Adolf Hitler. According to the procedure, the 74 stands for GD (Greater Germany), the 88 for “Heil Hitler”. 28 (BH) is for the right-wing extremist music network “Blood & Honour” is used. The German offshoot has been banned since 2000 – the code is not. The following ones are less known and used Codes*:
- 444 = DDD (Germany to the Germans)
- GNLS = Good Night Left Side
- HKNKRZ = abbreviation for “swastika”
- HFFH = Pledge of Allegiance of the neo-Nazi movement “Hammerskins forever, forever Hammerskins”
- 1919 = SS (NS Schutzstaffel)
- 84 = HD (Heil Germany)
- 19/8 = SH (Sieg Heil)
- WP/WAP = White (Aryan) Power
- H8 = “Hate” (reference to right-wing “Hatecore” music scene)
- C18 = Abbreviation for the banned neo-Nazi group “Combat 18”
- 168:1 = Reference to anti-Semitic bomb attack in Oklahoma (168 dead)
- 14 = “14 Words” (racist slogan of the US right-wing extremist David Lane)
- 1488 = combination of the “14 Words” and the Hitler salute, or the “88 principles” by David Lane
- 13/47 = “with German greeting”
In addition, several dates serve as identifiers of the right-wing extremist scene:
- 20.4. = Adolf Hitler’s birthday
- 13.2. = Allusion to the bombing of Dresden from February 13, 1945
- 17.8. = Allusion to the suicide of Hitler’s deputy Rudolf Heß on August 17, 1987
Clothing has also become a common identifier for right-wing extremists. Brands such as “Thor Steinar”, “Masterrace”, “Consdaple” and “Troublemaker” are part of the spectrum, as is the comparatively new martial arts brand “White Rex”.
Fashion labels like “Lonsdale” or “New Balance” do not have a neo-Nazi background, but were and are partly co-opted by the scene. The brands are resolutely distancing themselves.
Yellow lambda on a black background: In a hip guise comes the “Identitarian movement” Therefore. The xenophobic organization is observed by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution and provokes riotous actions. Individual members are well connected with the right-wing scene – especially in East Germany.
Flash mob-like torchlight parades, initiated among others by a now banned neo-Nazi group from Brandenburg (“Southern Brandenburg Resistance Movement”), are reminiscent of National Socialist styles.
Confusion: The “Autonomous nationalists” often use a modification of the Antifa logo (left). Elements of pop culture (“I love NS”, “I love HTLR”) have also recently been misused (“HKNKRZ” – originally an iconic shirt from the hip-hip band Run- DMC).
Right-wing populists and right-wing extremists are also increasingly using hate groups on Facebook (the now deleted page “Anonymous.Collective“Consciously acted with the name of the hacker activists from Anonymous) or disguised their concerns with campaigns on socially explosive topics. That’s the action”Death penalty for child molesters“To be attributed to the right-wing extremist milieu.
*Sources:
This article first appeared in September 2017.