Skinhead party

Skinhead music

01.00.00.00

Schwartz:  In a smoky bunker in Leipzig, in what was once communist East Germany, skinheads gather for a clandestine concert.

00.20

They call it a private party to avoid prohibition, but there's no guarantee the police won't raid.

00.33

The band is Zensur. It's from the West. But it's here in the East that the right wing scene is really jumping.

00.43

Daniel Grunberg at home

Schwartz:  Daniel Grunberg hardly fits the stereotype of a right wing skinhead. The drummer of Zensur, he lives at home with his mum. They get along fine. She even drives him to work.

01.05

Daniel with blowtorch

An apprentice plumber, Daniel's doing better than many young people. He's got a job. But like many 19 year olds, he's still searching for an identity.

01.22

Daniel interview

Daniel:  It's simply related to the fact that our pride was taken away after the Second World War. We've been forbidden to say what we actually think. It's natural that every nation has its pride.  You want to defend your territory, to say what you think and to protect your family.

01.34

Band rehearsing

Song:  They gave their all when they were lying in the trenches.  They fought together...

Band member:  No, not that.

Song:  They fought together...

01.59

Schwartz:  Pride, belonging and sacrifice are popular themes in the Zensur repertoire. The band however doesn't consider itself neo-nazi, just nationalistic. As Manuel and Volker explain.

02.24

Band interview

Manuel:  Just because Germany is already considered guilty you only need to say "I'm proud to be a German" and you're right away branded a Nazi and shoved into the corner.

02.38

Volker:  Yet is there's admiration for Hitler it's only in an overall sense.

Band rehearsing

Schwartz:  The band's name, Zensur, means censorship, and they think there's far too much of it. But skinheads have become the whipping boys for a country which can't deal with its past.

03.01

Band interview

Manuel:  At our last concert in Leipzig we had only just gone on stage and played one song, when the police came in and cleared the place out in a radical fashion. They beat everybody up with batons no matter whether they were young girls or the older people who owned the house - they just beat them up.

Band in car

Thrash Music

Schwartz:  Zensur is back on the road and heading east, their fans in convoy behind them.

03.42

Thrash Music

Schwartz:  Tonight, once again, they'll take their chances playing in Leipzig.

03.54

Thrash Music

Leipzig church

Hymn singing

Schwartz:  Leipzig has long been a centre of commerce, culture and learning, renowned for its book fairs and as the place where Johann Sebastian Bach composed many of his greatest works. Even before the Berlin Wall came down, this place had energy.

04.14

gvs of Leipzig

Nine years ago, the people of Leipzig were at the forefront of the push for democracy in East Germany. They met here at St. Nicholas Church every Monday, calling for an end to the Communist regime and the reunification of their country. Today however, the hopes and excitement of that time have for many people been replaced with disillusionment and insecurity. And that has made East Germany the most fertile ground for far right extremism.

04.38

Grunau housing estate

In its day, Grunau housing estate was one of East Germany's biggest. It's still home to 100,000 people.

05.12

The rows of characterless high rises were built to encourage uniformity. They still do, only now it's the right, not the left which appears to be reaping the harvest.

05.21

Zimmerman and Schwartz

Zimmerman:  In Leipzig we have many members - with more than 300, we are the strongest branch in Germany.

Schwartz:  Mike Zimmerman is the spokesman for the Leipzig branch of the NPD, the National Democratic Party. It's Germany's oldest nationalistic party, with one of the youngest memberships. The average age is 22. Last year, their numbers here trebled.

05.41

Zimmerman:  The situation here is especially drastic and awful.

There are many unemployed in middle Germany - on average 20 per cent. Many young are unemployed - many don't receive training and wish to express their protest.

Police cars/Helicopter

FX:  Sirens

Police

Schwartz:  The NPD is not a large party. Nationwide it has no more than 6,000 members. But when they call a protest, the police turn out in force.

06.31

Police questioning man in car

It's Saturday morning in Chemnitz. And police have blocked the road coming in from Leipzig. The NPD is holding a rally, and left wing activists have vowed to disrupt it. The last time that happened in Leipzig, the rioting lasted several days.

06.49

Policeman:  We check everyone coming here,

Policeman

So that no one brings any weapons or forbidden objects that could be used to hurt people in the demonstration.

Schwartz:  The searches turn up all manner of weapons, often pistols. Any propaganda and flags which may be associated with the Third Reich are also taken away for checking.

07.28

Police with protestor

Protestor:  Police pigs! Throw out the fascists, you dirt bags! Get away from here... and go over there! Such dirt bags!

Schwartz:  In the central plaza of what was formerly Karl Marx Stadt, the mood is tense.

07.49

Around the city, 2,000 police prepare for action.

Voigt addressing crowd

Voigt:  German soldiers - German blood should only flow for German soil.

Applause

Schwartz:  Udo Voigt is the NPD's national leader. A former captain in the Germany Army, he believes in genetic superiority.

08.18

Like his party, he stands for fatherland, not foreigners. For financial independence, not European Union, and ultimately for the re-creation of a nationalist socialist state which extends east into present day Poland.

Voigt:  We know that there's one reason why we in Germany today are better off than hundred of millions all over the world. It's because of our fathers, our grandfathers - it's because of our ancestors. They cultivated Germany - they built up this country,  and over the centuries and the millennia they've defended it against all the enemies threatening it. Today we are called upon to defend Germany anew.

FX:  Applause

Archival - Hitler

Schwartz:  Today's rhetoric is chillingly reminiscent, an echo of Adolf Hitler, whose fiery mix of racism and nationalism fueled one of history's greatest crimes.

09.20

Garden outside camp

Violin Music

Schwartz:  More than half a century has passed since World War Two, but what remains of Sachsenhausen concentration camp still has the power to move.

09.42

Schwartz walking through prison

Music

Schwartz :  One hundred thousand people - Jews, Russians and other so-called enemies of the state - were exterminated here. They suffered unspeakable tortures in life and gross disrespect even after death.

10.02

Right propaganda materials

Ignorant of the past, young people make easy targets for the propaganda and anthems of the far right. And that, according to the authorities, is why German censorship is brutal.

10.18

Music clip featuring Hitler

Hitler's speech set to Techno music

10.30

Schwartz with Klaus

Klaus:  This is an album that was confiscated and forbidden last year - the Ziller Valley Turk Hunters.

10.45

Schwartz:  Klaus Farin is a Berlin based author and commentator on youth subculture.

10.54

Klaus:  Here are all the forbidden videos, computer games, records, books...

Schwartz:  He believes the government's heavy handed approach to censorship has only made skinhead music more popular, and the industry more professional, potentially more dangerous.

11.05

Klaus

Klaus:  No more publishing of hymns about Hitler or Rudolf Hess. Instead they're writing sad ballads about poor, unemployed Germans who don't get anything from the government while a refugee from another country drives his Mercedes to the welfare office - rakes in unemployment benefits, welfare money - then drives to the next town and does the same thing.

11.18

Kids playing ball

Schwartz:  That image couldn't be further from the truth.

11.43

At the asylum seekers home in Leipzig, residents have full time job just getting by.

11.51

Racist crime has risen markedly, and according to the Darweshi family from Afghanistan the climate is getting only worse.

11.59

Nouria

Nouria:  We've lived here for three years and until now we haven't been harassed - but there is harassment lately. They wanted to attack my husband. They throw stones at me. My child was threatened when he went to play football and they wanted to beat him.  All the foreigners have more problems nowadays.

Weber

Weber:  I don't think that the real threat to democracy is the teenagers who attack homes for asylum seekers, who beat up those who look and think differently - rather it's the politics and ideology which drive such acts.

12.29

Schwartz:  Ilona Weber, a long time social worker in Leipzig is writing a thesis on right wing youth. She thinks the move toward extremism only mirrors what's happening in the rest of German society.

12.50

Weber: A well known right wing extremist recently said on TV that the main political parties are more right wing than his own demands ten years ago.

13.03

Rally

Protestors:  We are marching, the national resistance!

Schwartz:  In Chemnitz, the NPD rally has broken up. While en masse, the party's supporters appear threatening, the NPD itself may not even score enough votes in the elections to enter the national parliament.

13.26

But Ilona Weber believes it's just a matter of time. That the slide to the right will continue, no matter who takes office. And that fills her with foreboding.

Protestor:  Nazis out!

13.42

Weber

Weber:  I'm simply afraid, based on the history we have experienced that we may go down a similar path. Of course I also like to think this society has enough forces to mobilise against this. But I'm not sure any more - unfortunately.

14.00

Darkened venue for band

Schwartz:  For Zensur, the party's about to begin. After a string of mobile phone calls, we've arrived at our secret destination, a small village not far from Leipzig.

14.24

Singer:  We are marching - the national resistance.  We've proven we are a force - the force for Germany.

Schwartz:  It's a rare glimpse of the underground. Outsiders are rarely trusted. I get the feeling this is more about youthful rebellion than it is about reintroducing the Third Reich. Nevertheless, I wouldn't be here if I were black.

14.47

Germany has every reason to fear extremism. But the culture of the right doesn't start here. It lies at the heart of German society. And ultimately, that's where these young people will look for their lead.

15.07

Chanting. Hiel!

Ends

15.38