As of: April 4, 2024, 2:43 p.m
By: Kilian Beck
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The head of the international networked neo-Nazi group “Combat 18” is charged. There are at least ideological connections to the NSU.
Karlsruhe - The Federal Public Prosecutor's Office has brought charges against four suspected members of the banned neo-Nazi network "Combat 18", the authority announced on Thursday (April 4). Accordingly, the four neo-Nazis are still “at large”. According to the Federal Agency for Civic Education (BpB), “Combat 18” is considered a “terrorist arm of the right-wing extremist music network Blood&Honour”. Both organizations are banned in Germany because they are classified as militant right-wing extremists. Strategically and personally, there are connections and parallels between “Combat 18” and the right-wing terrorists of the “National Socialist Underground,” who murdered ten people between 2000 and 2007.
“Key figure” from the neo-Nazi group “Combat 18”: Stanley R. from Kassel among the defendants
Among those accused before the State Security Senate of the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court is the Kassel neo-Nazi Stanley R., who became known nationwide as a “key figure” in the group after the “Combat 18” ban in 2020. R. has several previous convictions. According to research by
NDR,
R. made his account available as a “club account” for “Combat 18 Germany” before the group was banned. Accordingly, R. regularly organized concerts for the right-wing extremist scene. He also knew Walter Lübcke's murderer,
Hessischer Rundfunk
reported . Research by the
Frankfurter Rundschau
suggested in 2015 that he may have celebrated his birthday in 2006 with the NSU terrorists Uwe Böhnhardt and Uwe Mundlos. It is still unclear to this day how close R. was to the murder trio.
Young neo-Nazis stand together during a demonstration in Halbe, Brandenburg. (Archive photo) © Patrick Pleul/Zentralbild/dpa
Close ideological overlap between “Combat 18” the NSU terrorist trio and Anders Breivik
The central ideological overlap between the internationally active network “Combat 18” and the NSU is the tactic of “leaderless resistance,” for which neo-Nazis are supposed to form small underground terrorist cells. The cells are then intended to trigger a “race war” through targeted attacks on migrants. That was one of the NSU's stated goals. The BpB writes that “Blood&Honour” and “Combat 18” transferred this terror tactic from the Anglo-Saxon region to Germany. A central work in this strategy is the “Turner Diaries,” a right-wing extremist novel that was found at the NSU, the right-wing terrorist mass murderer Anders Breivik and members of the “Thuringian Homeland Security.” According to the BpB, the latter was a militant neo-Nazi group associated with the Thuringian NPD, from which the NSU emerged.
Federal Prosecutor's Office: Stanley R. is said to have networked "Combat 18" with "Knockout 51" after it was banned
According to its statement, the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office accuses Stanley R. of organizing "at least 14 conspiratorial meetings". Accordingly, the charges were brought at the beginning of March. R. continued to lead the group even after the ban and established contacts with the internationally networked, militant neo-Nazi group “Knockout 51,” which was also banned. In addition, R. organized “admission procedures” for “Combat 18”.
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Two of the co-defendants, Keven L. and Robin S., are said to have completed these exams after the ban. These consisted of “a practical test” and a “theory part with questions about National Socialism.” The fourth defendant, Gregor M., is said to have organized right-wing rock concerts and to have organized right-wing rock concerts together with Stanley R. The proceedings against the four neo-Nazis can result in fines or prison sentences of up to three years. According to its own information, the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office handed over 17 further “Combat 18” cases to public prosecutors in the federal states.
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