The Radicalization of the Extreme Right
The Rallies in Charlottesville in August 2017 and Chemnitz in August 2018
In August 2017, members of multiple far-right movements rallied in Charlottesville, Virginia, with the goals of uniting the American white nationalist movement and opposing the removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee. The rally turned violent, ending with dozens of injuries and the murder of counter-protestor Heather Heyer. A year later, members of the far right movement rioted in Chemnitz, Germany, against immigrants and refugees. This seminar will give a precise view of the developments in both cases, especially on the conditions of radicalization by certain organizing groups and their specific, often violent and dangerous parts, particularly their neo-Nazi orientation. The seminar will examine three aspects of the two cases, the similarities and differences of neo-Nazi ideologies and grouping; the reaction of security institutions, especially the police, during the two events; and the public and political reactions.
Join AGI as DAAD/AGI Reserach Fellow Hajo Funke compares violent far-right movements in the United States and Germany.
Prof. Dr. Hajo Funke is a DAAD/AGI Research Fellow from October to December 2018. He has conducted studies on terrorism (NSU) from 2011-2018, was Guest Professor on Holocaust Studies and Communication at Touro College Berlin from 2007-2015, and was Chair on politics and culture at the Otto-Suhr-Institute of Political Science at Free University Berlin from 1993-2010. He served as an expert witness in the London trial David Irving vs Deborah Lipstadt (1998-2000) and in various investigation committees of state parliaments on terrorism (NSU) (2014-2016). His research focuses on Political Culture in Modern Germany; National Socialism and Post-Holocaust History; Nationalism and German and Austrian Right-wing Extremism; and Conflict Studies (especially South-East-Europe, Mid-East). Recent publications include: with Walid Nakschbandi, Deutschland. Die herausgeforderte Demokratie (2017); with Christiane Mudra, Gäriger Haufen. Die AfD: Ressentiments, Regimewechsel & Völkische Radikale (2018); Sicherheitsrisiko Verfassungsschutz (2017); Der Kampf um die Erinnerung – Nationalsozialismus, Erlösungswahn und Massenmord (forthcoming); Die andere Erinnerung (1989; as E-Book forthcoming).
