When the Nazis enter town

On a makeshift stage in an old textile factory building a band finishes its song. They end with a howling triple "heil". Right next to the stage there is a stand, where one can buy, for example, sew-on "Blood and Honor" patches, vinyl records by neo-Nazi bands as well as a story book about little Vikings. The man selling the books asks for donations: he has no money, he explains, because he served several times in jail for the Nazi salute.

Last Friday and Saturday, the Neisseblick hotel in Ostritz, a tiny town situated 50 meters from the Polish border, became a right-wing extremist’s paradise as the location of the "Shield and Sword" festival ("Schild und Schwert", SS for short). Alongside performances by stars of the far-right music scene, the program featured speeches by NPD politicians, a martial arts tournament and a tattoo convent. According to the Saxon police, who carefully monitored Ostritz streets, 1.200 people attended the event.

"Shield and Sword" was overrun by participants from all over Germany as well as from Eastern European countries. Amidst the stalls with nationalist gadgets, Poles and Hungarians set up their stands, and Czech and Russian could also be heard among the festival crowd.

Polish neo-Nazis had announced they planned to participate in the festival in great numbers. Meanwhile, it turned out that they were secretly organizing their own event in nearby Dzierżoniów in Poland. Their "Night of Identity" was broken up by the Polish security services and the police on Saturday. According to the daily “Gazeta Wyborcza” the two leaders of "Club 28" are to be charged with promoting fascism and inciting hatred based on nationality and race.

According to the Polish police a few dozen Polish neo-Nazis showed up for the event. Apparently they were not bothered by the fact that the festival organizers refer to the towns on the other side of the border as “under temporary Polish administration” and the list of performers includes a musician known for ridiculing Polish nationalists.

“We want to work together with all Poles who have a nation-oriented mindset and want a Europe of homelands“, Thorsten Heise, the leader of NPD Thüringen and co-organizer of the festival announced to journalists. When asked about the fact that the festival was being organized on the day of Hitler’s birthday he assured it was just a coincidence.

A counter event called the Peace Festival was organized in the town square. On Friday afternoon Ostritz appeared completely deserted: closed stores and metal roller blinds in the windows seemed to indicate that many locals left the town for the duration of the festival or decided to stay inside throughout the weekend. In the end, the program of the counter event, which lasted until Sunday, attracted as many as 3.000 people.

“I dropped by the festival in the morning and I will come back again later“, assured a woman from Krzewina Zgorzelecka, a small village on the Polish side of the border. “I am glad that Germans want to demonstrate they do not agree with these attitudes.“

“Many of the inhabitants of Ostritz, especially the elderly, fear clashes between neo-Nazis and the radical left“, Anne, a member of one of the local associations, explained. “It is important to us to voice our protest, either in the town square, or in the meadow, where there are mostly young people.“

In the nearby meadow yet another festival took place. According to the Saxon police the "Right Does Not Rock" ("Rechts rockt nicht") event organized by the party Die Linke gathered around 800 antifascist activists. A group of several dozens came to Ostritz from Poland. Among them there were representatives of anarchist groups as well as members of the left-wing party Razem.

“I came here to protest the manifesting of Nazi attitudes“, said Stanisław, an 87 year old man, the oldest member of the Razem party, who came from Gdańsk. “I am also ashamed of Gdańsk, where a few days ago there was a demonstration organized by the National Radical Camp“ (a Polish nationalist organization).

“We want to oppose neo-Nazis taking over the town“, Jadwiga, an anarchist from Wrocław, explained. And they have practically succeeded: they are free to roam around as they please.

The neo-Nazis left the Neisseblick hotel mainly to buy alcohol: drinking was strictly prohibited on the festival grounds. Many exhibited hostile behavior towards the participants of the counter events and journalists.

“I came here to listen to music“, answered one of the few neo-Nazis who decided to acknowledge my question, a middle aged man, wearing a t-shirt with the sign “Arische Bruderschaft”.

On Saturday there were 1.800 police officers assigned to patrol the festival and its surroundings. Over 70 criminal offenses were recorded throughout the weekend. Most of these cases consisted of the use of symbols banned by the German constitution. Nineteen t-shirts and two festival banners were confiscated. There were no significant clashes between the groups participating in the events.