On May 8th, 1945, allied forces destroyed the national socialist dream of the “Thousand-Year Reich”. The German army, including the Volkssturm’s last mobilisation, had been defeated, Hitler had taken his own life in the Führerbunker in Berlin, numerous Nazi grandees had been imprisoned or executed, any national socialist organization structures had been broken up and banned, it was time to eliminate the influence the national socialist ideology had on all parts of society. Shocked by the deep rootedness of this ideology in the German people, they should therefore be re-educated towards values of democracy and human rights.
But this plan failed. Numerous Nazis managed to escape allied prosecution, partly due to the growing conflict between the western powers and the Soviet Union. They offered their services in the fight against communism and were therefore able to reclaim their former posts in many instances. Once more they held positions as judges, re-organised intelligence services, found their place in new political parties, became part of police and administration. National socialist thinking also persisted in the German population. Therefore, a few years after the 8th of May Germany outwardly presented itself as a reformed democracy; within, however, Germany was anything but de-nazified. In the self-proclaimed antifascist “workers’ and farmers’ state” (GDR) Nazis were, at first, prosecuted more consistently and were not able to attain higher posts in state and society, but in the end they remained undisturbed. It soon became obvious that the ghost of national socialism never died, it showed its face, sometimes shyly, sometimes very obviously.
Even though both German states were, in their own ways, promoting the fight against fascism and the re-establishment of national socialism, at no point in their history were they able to deliver on these promises. Entanglements and involvements between state authorities and old, as well as new Nazis, and even clearly assuming right-wing talking points are common procedure and recently have increased even more. Furthermore, attempts at uncovering the reasons behind Germany’s turn towards national socialism were consistently sabotaged from the state as well as the population. A more in-depth dialogue was replaced by constant whining and lamenting about the burden of German guilt and the displeasure that one cannot finally forget and move on from what shall never be forgotten.
The fight against fascism and national socialism in Germany has always been a fight that has to be waged from the bottom up. It was old communists and anarchists, union activists and associations like the VVN/BdA who, towards the end of national socialism, recognized that the fight against fascism was not won and was not over. They never received support from the state and often not from society either, but rather experienced repression. Only in the 1960s did some of the students become radicalized and joined the fight for a free society and against fascism.
Despite all efforts, the fascists and national socialists succeeded in reorganising themselves beyond the old Nazis remaining in state structures. Since the 1980s, attempts have increasingly been made to take the fight against so-called guest workers and political opponents onto the streets. In addition, an active, right-wing skinhead movement led by Nazis, formed in the GDR, which is the cause of what was remembered as the “baseball bat years” in reunified Germany in the 1990s. The state did in no way oppose the openly racist mob of neo-Nazis and “normal, everyday Germans”, but instead sided with them in terms of content, while the educated middle class held candles and looked concerned. This is what civil antifascism was and is able to achieve.
However, it is clear to every thinking and compassionate person that there can only be one way to stop the fascists and national socialists growing in strength: the direct confrontation of the fascist enemy, taking up the fight for the streets and, wherever possible, to resist the fascist occupation of space. To defeat them wherever possible, to disperse their assemblies, to uncover and shut down their safe spaces, to trace their secret meetings, to infiltrate their structures, to find and publish their places of work. And furthermore: keeping alive the memory of the victims of national socialist terror, unmasking fascist ideology, unveiling its propaganda and illuminating research on the background and causes of fascism in order to understand them. It is this: autonomous antifascism. It is us.
Ever since autonomous antifascism existed, we not only had to deal with the fascist enemy, but also with the state’s repression against us, as well as with hostility from society, which rather than in neo-Nazis and fascists, see the source of problems in this time in us.
The repression becomes particularly clear in the numerous investigations against autonomous antifascists according to §§ 129 and 129a/b StGB, which on the one hand stand for extensive spying and on the other hand deliberately classify organised antifascism as a matter of criminal and terrorist groups. This criminal law and its application show that the German state and its neo-Nazis, in reaction to the autonomously organised antifascism, want to strike as hard as their codes of law will legally allow.
And today, our comrades are again imprisoned and have legal action brought against them because they are accused of having stood up against fascism. Lina has been in custody for almost two years now, following the sexist assumption of the state that she will collapse and cooperate under the pressure of the investigative authorities. According to the will of the public prosecutor, which is the same will as that of right-wing agitators, the four people who are accused, along with others, should go to prison for many years. The state, represented by the General Prosecutor’s office, presents itself in the proceedings as an advocate of peace and the freedom of speech, as a higher-level and impartial authority, taking action against a group of criminals. But this is hypocritical: it is the state that produces social strife, protecting neo-Nazis with its laws and authorities, producing and tolerating them in its own authorities. In this trial, the state is nothing more but a protector and defender of fascists and national socialists, no matter what it may be proclaiming.
Even though the Antifa Ost trial is not yet over, and the judgment is still pending, we fear that it will not conclude in favor of the accused. With this expectation, it does not matter to us whether the defendants are actually guilty of what they are accused of. After all, it is not about these specific crimes, but about the attack on autonomous antifascism and autonomous antifascists: the accused are being exposed to all and sundry in our place and representative for all of us. Their misfortune and the exhausting and paralyzing trial are supposed to show us and everyone else the consequences of an effective and autonomous defense against neo-Nazis.
It is therefore also irrelevant for the court and the public prosecutor whether the defendants committed the crimes they are being accused of or not. A behavior is being punished representatively. A behavior that we all are not supposed to show or, put differently: that we should not even show in the slightest. Antifascism, this is what shall be made clear to us, should be nothing more than a mixture of concerned and well-meaning Sunday speeches, of repression in relation to so-called right-wing „isolated cases“, which is exhausted primarily by the fact that it takes place in the media’s spotlight, of hypocritical understanding. If we do not participate in this antifascism accredited by a deeply racist state, then we are not antifascists, if we do not want to participate, we should keep out of it.
But we do not let ourselves be dulled or intimidated. We stand by the accused comrades and forsake the principle of solidarity for people who have changed sides. As long as the roots of fascism are not torn out, we will fight against it, and as long as comrades are being threatened with and harassed by the state’s repression we will be standing by their side. The current attacks from the state are so fatal because they are supposed to sow fear and uncertainty in antifascist structures, especially during a time when autonomous antifascism is this urgently important.
We want to express our persistent will to face old and new Nazis and fascism of any kind, as well as our solidarity with all prosecuted antifascists. When a verdict is pronounced in the Antifa Ost trial – no matter how it turns out – we will take to the streets in Leipzig the following Saturday and show the state, legal authorities, and the police what we think of it when comrades are harassed and thrown in prison.
Long live autonomous antifascism!
Come to the autonomous day-X protest in Leipzig on the Saturday after the pronouncement of judgement in the Antifa Ost trial!