This doesn't strike me as Amazon's fault. In germany, it would be very easy to hire neo-nazis by accident, since a lot of security organizations are nazis, and their dogwhistles are really very cryptic. If I see somebody in Germany wearing a Londsale hoody, for example, I assume they are a nazi - because Lonsdale can be truncated to ]nsda[ which looks like NSDAP. They have loads of little signs and symbols like this.
Anybody who isn't german, or even isn't in the left scene (or alternately, a nazi themselves) would find it hard to keep up with all their signs.
Children all over the US get HESS toy trucks at Christmas time, sponsored by the oil company. I would have never picked up on the Nazi aspect of the security company by name alone.
I don't think Rudolf Hess is particularly popular amongst neo-nazis. He defected, after all.
Before I moved to germany, I had no idea of the scale and intensity of germany's nazi problem. In a normal country, you can hire security with the reasonable assumption that they aren't going to be nazis. In germany, you cannot. I expect a non-german did the hiring.
> I don't think Rudolf Hess is particularly popular amongst neo-nazis. He defected, after all.
Apparently he actually is a neo-Nazi icon, "appearing" somewhat prominently in the docudrama The NSU Complex about the NSU murders in Germany. Brief Googling turns up a decent answer regarding why on /r/AskHistorians[0].
tl;dr: he was a high-ranking Nazi, he was still alive in the later half of the 20th century, and it was socially and politically acceptable in West Germany to advocate his release from Spandau.
Edit / Grain of Salt: The linked post references a neo-Nazi terrorist bombing against US personnel stationed in Germany. Thus far I have been unable to find references to this event. If anyone has a link to an article in English or German, I would appreciate it greatly!
Yes, but we're talking about neo-Nazis, not the original Nazis.
The neo-Nazis have apparently glossed over his indiscretions. It's not as if cognitive dissonance is anything new considering racists have always made do dealing with their out-group, labelling the ones they deal with as "the good ones."
If you watch Daryl Davis' documentary, Accidental Courtesy: Daryl Davis, Race & America you'll get to see this first hand as Davis, a black man, befriends numerous current and former Klansmen. They, of course, are able to compartmentalize their racism and their friendship with Davis.
I believe I found some references to an attempted bombing shortly after Rudolf Hess's death.
* "Hess Death Sparks Neo-nazi Activity", Jewish Telegraphic Agency, August 24, 1987. https://www.jta.org/1987/08/24/archive/hess-death-sparks-neo... . "In Frankfurt, police arrested two young neo-Nazis who placed a bomb which did not go off in the city's central railway station."
* _Right-Wing Terrorism in the 21st Century: The 'National Socialist Underground' and the History of Terror from the Far-Right in Germany_, Daniel Koehler, Routledge, 2016. https://books.google.com/books?id=1w8xDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT211 "On August 20, 1987, two neo-Nazis were arrested after they had placed materials for a combined explosive and arson device in a locker at Frankfurt Main central station."
The latter account is sourced from p. 125 of
* _Verfassungsschutz 1987_, Bonn: Bundesministerium des Innern, 1988.
I was not able to find volumes of _Verfassungsschutz_ as far back as 1987 online.
That is somewhat surprising for me. I spent 4 months in Berlin last year (before returning to UK to look after parent with Alzheimer’s), and was mostly oblivious to that.
Still, as you said, cryptic dogwhistles.
Germany seemed like an unusual case of a country which genuinely faced up to its past, acknowledging the skeletons that all nations have in their closets when we dare look, but I guess people are the same everywhere.
No I think Germany really is far above average when it comes to honestly reckoning with historical wrongdoing. It's exactly because of this that hate groups have been pushed very deep underground, which makes them unusually cultish and cryptic.
I never realized when I was fueling up[0] I was supporting neo-Nazis /s
Even if Hess was the last name of a prominent Nazi, it's also the name of normal people. Should I no longer be allowed to use my family name because someone else with the same family name, of no relation, did something bad?
Maybe other, more reliable sources and not from 2013 would be useful! Anyone knows how this story developed? Was anything proven since? Did these practices change?
19 comments
[ 2.0 ms ] story [ 55.7 ms ] threadAnybody who isn't german, or even isn't in the left scene (or alternately, a nazi themselves) would find it hard to keep up with all their signs.
Before I moved to germany, I had no idea of the scale and intensity of germany's nazi problem. In a normal country, you can hire security with the reasonable assumption that they aren't going to be nazis. In germany, you cannot. I expect a non-german did the hiring.
Apparently he actually is a neo-Nazi icon, "appearing" somewhat prominently in the docudrama The NSU Complex about the NSU murders in Germany. Brief Googling turns up a decent answer regarding why on /r/AskHistorians[0].
tl;dr: he was a high-ranking Nazi, he was still alive in the later half of the 20th century, and it was socially and politically acceptable in West Germany to advocate his release from Spandau.
Edit / Grain of Salt: The linked post references a neo-Nazi terrorist bombing against US personnel stationed in Germany. Thus far I have been unable to find references to this event. If anyone has a link to an article in English or German, I would appreciate it greatly!
[0] - https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/4tsq1r/why_d...
The neo-Nazis have apparently glossed over his indiscretions. It's not as if cognitive dissonance is anything new considering racists have always made do dealing with their out-group, labelling the ones they deal with as "the good ones."
If you watch Daryl Davis' documentary, Accidental Courtesy: Daryl Davis, Race & America you'll get to see this first hand as Davis, a black man, befriends numerous current and former Klansmen. They, of course, are able to compartmentalize their racism and their friendship with Davis.
* "Hess Death Sparks Neo-nazi Activity", Jewish Telegraphic Agency, August 24, 1987. https://www.jta.org/1987/08/24/archive/hess-death-sparks-neo... . "In Frankfurt, police arrested two young neo-Nazis who placed a bomb which did not go off in the city's central railway station."
* _Right-Wing Terrorism in the 21st Century: The 'National Socialist Underground' and the History of Terror from the Far-Right in Germany_, Daniel Koehler, Routledge, 2016. https://books.google.com/books?id=1w8xDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT211 "On August 20, 1987, two neo-Nazis were arrested after they had placed materials for a combined explosive and arson device in a locker at Frankfurt Main central station."
The latter account is sourced from p. 125 of
* _Verfassungsschutz 1987_, Bonn: Bundesministerium des Innern, 1988.
I was not able to find volumes of _Verfassungsschutz_ as far back as 1987 online.
Still, as you said, cryptic dogwhistles.
Germany seemed like an unusual case of a country which genuinely faced up to its past, acknowledging the skeletons that all nations have in their closets when we dare look, but I guess people are the same everywhere.
Even if Hess was the last name of a prominent Nazi, it's also the name of normal people. Should I no longer be allowed to use my family name because someone else with the same family name, of no relation, did something bad?
[0] - http://www.hess.com/