Besseres Hannover

Besseres Hannover ("Better Hanover") was a right-wing extremist group from Lower Saxony. The group was banned in September 2012 by Lower Saxony's Interior Minister Uwe Schünemann. The ban became incontestable by order of the Federal Administrative Court of 6 January 2014.[1] It also became known nationwide through the "Abschiebär", a character who appeared in propaganda videos and at various events in Germany.

History

The association had been under observation by the Lower Saxony security authorities since the end of 2008. It consisted of a loose association from Hanover and the surrounding area. Thirty club members were known to the authorities, including a former chairman of the NPD in Hannover.[2] They participated in various far-right demonstrations and events. As "immortals", the right-wing extremists pulled torches through Hanover-Kleefeld in the summer of 2011;[3] a participant could be assigned by the police of the Besseres Hannover grouping. Their statements appeared on Internet sites (also with music download offers), in the magazine Bock – The mouthpiece of the counterculture, which was distributed to schools, as well as in leaflets, banners and stickers in public spaces. Above all, in the area around the Altenbekener Damm underground station, used daily by several thousand students, they repeatedly posted a variety of mostly xenophobic stickers. During the CEBIT exhibition in 2012, a large banner was hung over the Messeschnellweg. The core of their propaganda was the fight against "alienation" and democracy, with statements such as "The Democrats bring us national death!". The organization's modern action-oriented concept deliberately targeted young right-wing extremists.

In December 2011, an advertising figure, the Abschiebär, was introduced. Several bear costumes were used in various campaigns of the association. In self-produced short films, which were available on various video portals, people living in Germany with a migration background were invited to return to their countries of origin. In the best-known film, a Turkish kebab shopper in south Hanover was unknowingly involved as an actor. Because the bear actor in another scene raises his arm in a Nazi salute, the public prosecutor's office in Hanover has initiated proceedings for "use of marks of unconstitutional organizations" (§ 86a StGB). A member of Better Hanover sent emails with the linked video to various Lower Saxony politicians, including the Lower Saxony Minister of Integration Aygül Özkan.[4][5][6][7] At the open day of Schwerin Castle in June 2012, the parliamentary faction of the NPD appeared together with the Abschiebär.

The association worked together with the Thiazi Forum, the Hanoverian right-rock band Nordfront and the Brandenburg Spreelichtern.

The association was described in July 2012 by the Lower Saxony Ministry of the Interior as "the most active neo-Nazi grouping in Lower Saxony". Their ban on the formation of a criminal organization (§ 129 StGB) took place on 25 September 2012. Between the beginning of the observation in 2008 and the ban in 2012, a total of 24 criminal cases related to Better Hannover against known or unknown persons were initiated, mostly propaganda. As a "formative club mark" any public use of the Abschiebären was prohibited.[8][9][10][11]

Due to the ban, the website of the association was turned off, and its official Twitter account blocked. In this case, the social network first made use of its ability to block profiles only in a specific country (country-specific shutdown).[12]

Attorney Udo Vetter filed a lawsuit against the ban order on behalf of a former member.[13] The action was dismissed by the Oberverwaltungsgericht Lüneburg by judgment of 3 September 2013. The appeal was denied. By order of the Federal Administrative Court of 6 January 2014, which dismissed the complaint against the refusal to approve the revision of 7 November 2013, the prohibition has become final. A former member has to answer in 2015 in the district court of Springe in respect of several attacks on party offices, damage to a kebab and to a plaque for a synagogue destroyed by the Nazis.[14]

Abschiebär

The Abschiebär was the national project of the action Besseres Hannover against the current foreign infiltration in the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG). The Abschiebär is an always smiling brown bear of human size, which is clothed only with a white Leiberl. He also appeared on the Day of the German Future 2012 in Hamburg.

References
  1. Announcement of the state of Lower Saxony on the unassailability of the ban on the "Better Hanover" association and call for creditors dated 18 February 2014 (Bundesanzeiger, 26 February 2014)
  2. "Opfer wussten nichts von Nazi-Video". HAZ – Hannoversche Allgemeine (in German). Archived from the original on 8 March 2016. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
  3. "Neonazis provozieren mit Aktionen in Hannover". HAZ – Hannoversche Allgemeine (in German). Archived from the original on 4 September 2017. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
  4. "Opfer wussten nichts von Nazi-Video". HAZ – Hannoversche Allgemeine (in German). Archived from the original on 8 March 2016. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
  5. "Neonazis schicken Drohmail an Ministerin Özkan". HAZ – Hannoversche Allgemeine (in German). Archived from the original on 5 September 2017. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
  6. "Rechtsradikale stören Schorsenfest der SPD". HAZ – Hannoversche Allgemeine (in German). Archived from the original on 12 January 2017. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
  7. "Polizei identifiziert rechtsextremen Mail-Schreiber". Der Tagesspiegel Online (in German). 21 December 2011. ISSN 1865-2263. Archived from the original on 19 October 2016. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
  8. "Schünemann verbietet "Besseres Hannover"". HAZ – Hannoversche Allgemeine (in German). Archived from the original on 3 February 2017. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
  9. ""Besseres Hannover" | Nds. Ministerium für Inneres und Sport". www.mi.niedersachsen.de (in German). Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
  10. "Innenminister Schünemann verbietet die rechtsextremistische Vereinigung "Besseres Hannover" | Nds. Ministerium für Inneres und Sport". www.mi.niedersachsen.de (in German). Archived from the original on 21 November 2015. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
  11. "Rechtsextreme Gruppe in Niedersachsen verboten". Der Tagesspiegel Online (in German). 25 September 2012. ISSN 1865-2263. Archived from the original on 27 December 2017. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
  12. "Country-specific blocking: Twitter blocks neo-Nazi account". t3n Magazin. 18 October 2012. Archived from the original on 21 October 2012.
  13. ""Besseres Hannover" klagt gegen Verbot". HAZ – Hannoversche Allgemeine (in German). Archived from the original on 6 April 2018. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
  14. "Verfahren gegen Rechtsextreme: Propaganda und Gewalt". Die Tageszeitung: taz (in German). 8 January 2015. ISSN 0931-9085. Archived from the original on 17 February 2016. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
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