Neo-Nazis Infiltrate German Police

@ASoulAFire @JaniceOCG @kbennhold reports on neo-Nazi infiltration of German police forces for @nytimes in chilling overlap of developments in that country and the U.S.  Join “If America Fails?:  The Coming Tyranny,” Thursdays at 8 pm ET, beginning January, 2022.

This is the first of two articles Dr. Karen A. Ritzenhoff shared with her honors students in a class on “Terror, Trauma and Identity” as they watched the films “BlacKkKlansman” by Spike Lee and “If Beale Street Could Talk,” based on James Baldwin’s novel, adapted by Barry Jenkins.  — LMO

Here are a few excerpts:

“Death threats linked to police computers and the discovery of far-right chat groups in police departments across Germany have fed concerns about far-right infiltration…

“Far-right extremism is resurgent in Germany, in ways that are new and very old, horrifying a country that prides itself on dealing honestly with its murderous past. This month, a two-year parliamentary inquiry concluded that far-right networks had extensively penetrated German security services, including its elite special forces…

“Policing was fundamentally overhauled in West Germany after the war, and cadets across the country are now taught in unsparing detail about the shameful legacy of policing under the Nazis — and how it informs the mission and institution of policing today…

“Still, Germany has been besieged by revelations of police officers in different corners of the country forming groups based on a shared far-right ideology…

“The 31 officers in Mr. Reul’s western state were suspended in September for sharing images of Hitler, memes of a refugee in a gas chamber and the shooting of a Black man. The unit’s superior was part of the chat, too…

“Penetrating state institutions, especially those with guns, has been part of the party’s strategy from the start.”  — Katrin Bennhold | The New York Times

READ | She Called Police Over a Neo-Nazi Threat. But the Neo-Nazis Were Inside the Police. | by Katrin Bennhold | The New York Times | 5/4/2021