BERLIN, April 20 (UPI) -- The German government is planning new measures to combat the rising influence of neo-Nazis in the wake of a brutal attack on a black German in the eastern city Potsdam.
"We recognize we have a special challenge posed by right-wing extremism and that we have to give an appropriate answer," deputy government spokesman Thomas Steg said at his daily press briefing. "Especially in the younger generation there is certainly a bigger than average danger posed by right-wing extremists."
The remarks come as police are still searching for leads in the attempted killing of Ermyas Mulugeta, 37, a German of Ethiopian descent. At least two individuals beat and kicked the family father nearly to death. Rewards amounting to about $18,500 have been offered for information leading to the attackers' arrest.
Merkel was shocked by the attack and condemned it as "abominable, brutal and inhuman," Steg said, adding the chancellor wanted to make sure her government's program against right-wing extremism would continue. That program is worth $23.5 million, and up for extension in a parliamentary decision due for this year.
Merkel's right-left grand coalition also aims to use the funds to combat left-wing extremism, and a more recent phenomenon, violent Islamism. As a result, there may be some reshuffling of resources that could hurt the right-wing extremism program, observers fear.
Germany's neo-Nazi problem most viciously reared its ugly head in the early 1990s, when bald-headed young men in jackboots marched through the cities, asylum seekers' homes burned, and right-wing parties reported massive member gains.
While the latest crime is no sign of a revival of those terrible days, Germany still has an active right-wing extremist scene, and that problem is partly home grown, said Hajo Funke, extremism expert at Berlin's Free University.
"Politicians and the public in the past years have repeatedly ignored and played down the high level of willingness of eastern German youth to commit racist violence," Funke Thursday told United Press International. "We must not take money from prevention programs that have worked, that would be the wrong signal."
There are currently 41,000 right-wing extremists active in the country, of whom 10,000 are deemed to be violent neo-Nazis or skinheads, according to an estimation from Germany's security agency, the Verfassungsschutz. In several eastern German states, including in Brandenburg, where Mulugeta was attacked while he waited at a bus stop, the neo-Nazi scene is flourishing. Here, Germany's re-unification has led to mass unemployment, with rates going up to as much as 30 percent.
People there lived for decades without meeting foreigners, apart from Soviet soldiers or exotic exchange students from communist allies Cuba and China. In the cities of Halle, Leipzig and Jena, foreigners have become scapegoats for the post-communist problems the area suffers from. However, only a few foreigners actually live there.
"Often, it's simply a question of lacking affection in the family, and a lack of perspective for the future," Funke said.
The neo-Nazi scene knows and exploits that in a quite sophisticated way, by portraying themselves as white-bred, gentle caretakers of society: The right-wing party NPD organizes child festivals and recruits at schools by handing out free CDs.
"They have become much more flexible, and more often, the strategy works," Funke said.
This summer's FIFA Soccer World Cup, when some 1.5 million fans from all over the world are expected to flock to Germany, is seen by the neo-Nazi scene as a chance to stage major publicity stunts. They are expected to try and organize marches through former Nazi strongholds, such as Nuremberg and Berlin, where several matches and the final will be played.
For Nuremberg, where Iran's national team will play Mexico on June 11, neo-Nazis have announced they will march as a sign of solidarity with Iranian hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who in the past has drawn international criticism for his blatant anti-Semitic remarks. His calls for Israel to be "wiped off the map" have led Ahmadinejad to earn questionable popularity with Germany's right-wing scene.
In Potsdam, the site of the most recent attack, hundreds of people gathered on Wednesday night in a church to pray for Mulugeta, who still is in a coma fighting for his life.
Jann Jakobs, the city's mayor has called for a rally to be held Friday to show solidarity with the victim and his family.
The rally, he said, would be a chance to express "our angriness and enragement over this crime."
