Neo-Nazi Postmodern: Right-Wing Terror Tactics, the Intellectual New Right, and the Destabilization of Memory in Germany since 1989

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From the violent skinhead protests of the early 1990s to the National Socialist Underground murder spree of the 2000s and the KSK (Kommando Spezialkrfte) scandal of 2020, this book traces Germanys long struggle to suppress a resurgent and ever more terroristic far-right scene.

Esther Elizabeth Adaire analyses the electoral success of the AfD (Alternative fr Deutschland) party in 2017, the growing presence of PEGIDA on German streets, and the anti-COVID lockdown protests led by conspiracy theorist groups such as Querdenken which have taken aback liberal onlookers for whom Germanys robust culture of Holocaust consciousness is supposed to provide a panacea against neo-Nazism. Adaire examines how, since unification, the intellectual Neue Rechte has increasingly destabilized the foundations of historical memory and lesson-learning in Germany, often doing so in the pages of mainstream conservative publications.

Neo-Nazi Postmodern convincingly contends that far-right intellectuals joined by notable left-wing apostates who brought with them an anti-establishment critique borrowed from the language of postmodernism have since the early 1990s excused and justified an increasingly violent far-right youth scene, even becoming leaders of this scene themselves. The book therefore traces the development of todays German far-right throughout several stages, notable scandals, and the ongoing destabilization of memory and truth from unification onwards, showing how previously disparate groups such as neo-Nazis, Neue Rechte intellectuals, and political fringe parties merged over time. This far-right scene, Adaire adeptly demonstrates, has come to embody what the historian Walter Laqueur once dubbed Postmodern Terrorism: a mixture of cell-based terror structures, reliance on Internet technologies for organizational purposes, and the sowing of epistemic chaos via informational warfare.

Reviews

In this timely study, Esther Adaire provocatively traces the intellectual, political, technological foundations of rightwing extremism in present-day Germany. By showing how Germany's New Right is using information warfare to attack the country's liberal culture of remembrance, and by tracing how the campaign has migrated from the fringes of the neo-Nazi scene to mainstream political parties like the AfD, she convincingly underscores the perils of the present moment for German democracy. * Gavriel D. Rosenfeld, President, Center for Jewish History and Professor of History, Fairfield University, USA *
Neo-Nazi Postmodern is a valuable contribution to the study of Germanys far-right resurgence, offering a clear analysis of how the far-right weaponized historical memory and the stability of facts to successfully push and normalize its agenda It is important reading for anyone interested in the far-rights manipulation of Germanys culture of remembrance. * H-Soz-Kult *
Neo-Nazi Postmodern provides a uniquely rich and incisive analysis of violent, far-right extremism in Germany today. Esther Elizabeth Adaire traces the emergence of a combination of revanchist national socialists, new right ideologues, and other anti-government elements who, together with covert extremists entrenched in German military and law enforcement, seek to undermine that country's democratic values and return it to new form of authoritarian rule. * Professor Bruce Hoffman, Georgetown University, USA, and author of 'Inside Terrorism'. *
Neo-Nazi Postmodern is a valuable contribution to the study of Germanys far-right resurgence, offering a clear analysis of how the far-right weaponized historical memory and the stability of facts to successfully push and normalize its agenda. * H-Soz-Kult *

Author Bio

Esther Elizabeth Adaire is an intelligence analyst at a leading US law-enforcement agency. She holds a PhD in Modern European History from the Graduate Center at CUNY, USA, and has taught undergraduates at both The Cooper Union and John Jay College in New York City, lecturing in topics such as terrorism, right-wing extremism, 20th century warfare, and the history of technology.