Neue Reich

by Michael Schmidt

Since the reunification of Germany in the fall of 1989, the world has witnessed the widespread and terrible growth of racial, xenophobic, and fascistic outbursts throughout the country. Though widely reported in newspapers and magazines, this movement has thus far been too volatile for a sustained analysis to be possible. But now, after more than four years of investigation and research, Michael Schmidt - a German filmmaker and journalist - has produced the first thorough account of the neo-Nazis, both as a political force and as individuals. In the process, and at no small risk to his own safety, he has uncovered the extent of their network, their connections to similar organizations throughout the world and to mainstream German politics, as well as the ambivalent tolerance manifested toward them by the justice system, the police, and the media. In extensive personal interviews, Schmidt allows the principal figures of the extreme right to express their views directly; and he explores