Bavarian Police Battle Protesters at Reunion of Nazi SS

Police fired water cannon and tear gas Saturday at rioters who screamed “Nazis out!” and hurled rocks, firecrackers, paint and eggs at a hotel where veterans of the Nazi SS were holding a reunion.

A thousand policemen in full riot gear ringed the Hotel Krone, where the former SS soldiers were meeting, and fought street battles with up to 400 demonstrators for over half an hour in this Bavarian Alpine resort.

At least eight people, four police and four demonstrators, were hurt, Bavarian Interior Ministry spokesman Joachim Schweinoch said. There were 24 arrests.

The protesters failed to reach the hotel but broke all its windows with rocks and beer bottles and splattered its facade with egg yolks and paint. They threw the same missiles at police and trashed the hotel square, ripping up pavement stones and picket fences and smashing shop windows.

The violence overshadowed a peaceful anti-Nazi demonstration at a nearby ski-racing field. About 5,000 people came in buses from all over West Germany to attend the rally, sponsored by the German Trade Union Federation and other groups. They outnumbered the populace of Nesselwang, which is about 3,000.

People from the rally stopped the rioting by walking between police and rioters, pleading through megaphones for violence to end.

Fighting later broke out between demonstrators and about 20 neo-Nazis, and police with clubs stormed the crowd to break it up.

Police succeeded in clearing the perimeter of the hotel, but officers on the scene said they would stay put in case the demonstrators came back.

The SS veterans apparently continued with their weekend meeting despite the violence.

About 600 people, SS veterans and their wives, have been at the hotel since Friday evening. The troopers were from the 1st and 12th Tank divisions of the Waffen SS, the combat arm of the Adolf Hitler’s elite force. Police said the hotel owner was also a former member of the Waffen SS.

Schweinoch said about 100 demonstrators are believed to be traveling agitators who had caused trouble at protests during the recent seven-nation economic summit in Bonn.

After the midday riot, some demonstrators stayed outside the hotel chanting, “Nazis out!” and “Never again!” but the scene was peaceful.

Then, in late afternoon, neo-Nazis appeared and began trading insults with other demonstrators, many of whom were dressed in “punk” attire, sporting Mohawk haircuts or wearing black leather jackets and masks.

Among speakers at the peaceful rally was Camille Senon, a survivor of the massacre carried out by the Waffen SS in the French town of Oradour on June 10, 1944, in which 642 people were killed.

“I came here especially to protest against this reunion. I want the children of France and Germany to know the horrible destiny of the children of Oradour and I want them to avoid such a destiny,” she said.

The few SS veterans who ventured out of the hotel before the violence began defended their reunion. Most said they had volunteered for the SS.

Georg Lenz, 68, a former lieutenant, said most of the veterans present had fought against the Russians in World War II.

“I crossed into Poland on Sept 1, 1939 (the day World War II started), and I fought until May 8, 1945 (when Germany surrendered),” Lenz said.

“I am very proud to have been a member . . . , grateful to have taken part in such wonderful event. These are all lies, we never carried out any massacres. We made one mistake, we should have been as cruel as people claim we were.

“All we want to do is sit down peacefully and talk about the old days, to meet buddies with whom we lay in dirt and who fought alongside each other.”

Mayor Oswald Kainz said the reunion was legal. “They have the same constitutional rights as any other association,” he said, adding that the community “did not invite them. . . . We disassociate ourselves from the meeting in a very emphatic and clear way.”