Der Spiegel: Shock Mom and Dad: Become a Neo-Nazi
German young people, faced with liberal parents who are tolerant about sex, drugs and rock and roll, are increasingly rebelling by turning to right-wing extremism. Neo-nazi fashion, music and ideology have become an ever important part of German youth culture.
[T]hey wear something they call the secret insignia of the right-wing scene: New Balance shoes. The “N” on the shoes is supposed to stand for “national,” something that would never occur to mothers. They download songs by bands like Störkraft (Disturbing Force) and sport closely-cropped hair. And instead of making them outcasts in their school, their music and their haircuts are even considered hip in German schools these days.
Quietly and persistently, a new youth culture has developed in both the eastern and western parts of Germany. It’s Germanic and xenophobic and potentially explosive.
While the German government does its best to ban neo-Nazi demonstrations at memorials for victims of the Nazis, right-wing extremism is gaining new adherents in schools, concert venues and at youth gatherings. The “nationalist mood” has become “chronic and wide-spread” in former East Germany, says Bernd Wagner, an expert on extremism. But young people in these areas are unlikely to encounter many foreigners there. According to a current study by the Bavarian State Office for Political Education, their right-wing extremism is a protest — even a revolt — against the West’s more liberal, middle-class values.
Dennis blogg 