By PETER GOODSPEED
Like vermin in a time of pestilence, neo-Nazi groups appear to be enjoying a resurgence in a Europe plagued by increasing financial chaos and uncertainty. As Europe celebrated the 67th anniversary of V.E. Day and the defeat of Hitler’s Nazis this week, it also reeled in disbelief as an angry Greek electorate gave 7% of their votes to the neo-Nazi, anti-immigrant Golden Dawn party.
Boasting an “army of brave boys in black,” who strut the streets of rundown Greek neighbourhoods, flicking off Hitler-esque salutes and staging anti-immigration rallies around a swastika-like flag that is based on an ancient Greek decorative border called a meandros, Golden Dawn became the first far-right party to enter the Greek parliament since the collapse of a military dictatorship in 1974.
In an echo of Europe’s tortured past, Nazism, with its association with the Holocaust and horrors of the Second World War, not only survives, but in some instances is thriving.
In Greece, extremists have united the marginalized, the disenchanted and the disempowered with promises to turn the clock back to an idyllic “pure” past. (...)
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