This plan to find jobs and homes for neo-Nazis has been laughed at by a lot of people -- but not by me. -- Paul Spiegel, the president of the Central Committee for Jews in Germany (far right, with German Chancellor Schröder and other friends).

Germany 'buys off' its neo-Nazis

By Tory Molzahn
in Berlin

A GERMAN government scheme to "buy" neo-Nazis out of the far-Right political movement has attracted hundreds of calls to a special hotline.

The authorities are offering ultra Right-wingers a package of incentives worth up to £30,000 each if they agree to abandon extremist underground groups. According to the government the generous support is needed to help former radicals to escape ultra-Right factions which often use violence to force them to stay.

The dangers facing those who want to start a new life were illustrated earlier this year when the body of a 19-year-old youth was found at the bottom of a lake in Switzerland after he said he wanted to leave the neo-Nazi movement. Callers to the hotline, which opened last week, are offered cash benefits, jobs and homes to help them to build a new life, often long distances from their current homes.

They will receive counselling and advice and, if their life is thought to be in danger, will even be given a new identity after demonstrating "a concrete will to reform". Critics suggested that the programme would fail to attract anyone from the tight-knit world of the far-Right; others argued that neo-Nazis should not receive financial inducements for saying that they had rejected violent extremism.

Ulrika Schleifinger from Integra, a Berlin-based anti-racism group, said: "It's like offering a reward for being a neo-Nazi. Anyone who walks in with a skinhead cut can say 'I am a neo-Nazi and I claim my reward'."

Otto Schily, the Social Democrat interior minister who initiated the Aussteigerprogram (Exit Plan), countered: "This is not a subsidy for neo-Nazis but an attempt at weakening the Right-wing scene."

Officials emphasised that recipients would have to prove their commitment to abandon their old life permanently to qualify for help.

It is not the first time that such a scheme has been tried. Twenty years ago, West Germany faced a similar challenge from the other end of the political spectrum and members of extreme Left-wing groups such as the Red Army Faction were targeted by an opt-out programme.

The decision to launch a similar project now reflects the government's concern that it has failed to make political inroads against the neo-Nazi movement. Far-Right groups are particularly strong in the former Communist east where economic collapse has provided fertile recruiting ground for extremists. Of the 50,000 people ranked as Right-wing extremists by the German authorities, about 90 per cent are men.

Of those, 10,000 are classed as ready to use violence to further their radical beliefs. Violent crimes with a far-Right, anti-Semitic or xenophobic motivation - ranging from robbery to murder - jumped by 34 per cent last year.

The scheme is being run by the Verfassungschutz (Office for the Protection of the Constitution), Germany's equivalent of MI5, which is responsible for monitoring and investigating the neo-Nazi scene.

Fritz Stepper, a spokesman, said the response to the hotline "exceeded all our expectations". Within the first few hours, his staff had dealt with hundreds of calls, either from those seeking a way out or others expressing fears for friends and relatives.

The 24-hour confidential hotline is staffed by operators who have detailed knowledge of the far-Right and "know the way these people think", Mr Stepper said.

Neo-Nazis arrested for crimes of violence and racial prejudice are also being targeted. Officials visit them in prison to persuade them to change their ways.

Heinz Fromm, the Verfassungschutz president, welcomed the encouraging start, but gave a warning against undue optimism and stressed that there were no instant solutions for defeating the far-Right.

Paul Spiegel, the president of the Central Committee for Jews in Germany, said: "This plan to find jobs and homes for neo-Nazis has been laughed at by a lot of people -- but not by me. If it works to dissuade young people from accepting an anti-Semitic body of thought, it has to be supported."

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