A superb FT article on the context for the neo-Nazi or extreme nationalist fringe in Germany and those who use violence:http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/dfda3010-3...44feabdc0.html

The article asks:
What does the case reveal about the rise of the far right in the former GDR?.....the affair has also revived an equally fundamental concern: why has far right ideology gained a foothold in the former GDR, attracting young people who emerged from the wreckage of communism?
Interesting angle in:
Bernd Wagner was an East German policeman who began hunting neo-Nazis in the East in 1964, long before unification, when he was based at Berlin’s infamous police headquarters in the Alex#an#d#er#platz.....now runs an organisation called Exit from a nondescript office in east Berlin, dedicated to helping young people escape from the far-right “scene”. “We are a contact group for people who want to break with their ideology,” he says. “We’re here to help them give up.” It is not an easy task. “Don’t think these are just young people. Today’s activists are 25 to 55. They have ‘recruiters’ in the music scene, the clubs and culture scene. It’s a spider’s web right across Germany.