German Neo-Nazis Found Worrisome, No Threat Now

Officials of the Simon Wiesenthal Center revealed on Monday a five-month undercover operation to infiltrate the neo-Nazi movement in Germany. The investigation concluded that the movement is a worrisome problem but not at present a threat to the stability of the German government.

The center, based in Los Angeles, stresses Holocaust education, international human rights and the dynamics of racism and prejudice.

“I do believe it would be very unfair to say Germany is being taken over by the Fourth Reich,” the center’s dean, Rabbi Marvin Hier, told a news conference. “But there is a danger of waiting until the ninth inning. . . . It appears the (German) government is not doing all it can do. We would like to see the government have more covert operations. . . . We think the German government presently has a greater interest in the left than the right.”

In a letter made public to Germany’s ambassador to the United States, Immo Stabreit, officials of the center said their investigation found a “serious underestimating” of the strength of some neo-Nazi groups and that some radical-right organizations were being warned in advance of police raids.

The letter went on to say that penetration of the groups by an operative of the Wiesenthal Center confirmed their links to extremists and neo-Nazis in the United States and South America.

Center officials told the ambassador that they would cooperate in investigations “which we are certain will lead to indictments and convictions.”

In order to infiltrate Germany’s neo-Nazi movement, officials of the center mounted an elaborate undercover operation, starting last October. They recruited Yaron Svoray, an Israeli free-lance journalist, who had worked as a detective and with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

The center supplied him with false identification, printing bogus stationery and setting up a telephone line on which an answering machine told callers that they had reached the magazine “Right Way,” which does not exist.

Svoray posed as an Australian journalist, Ron Furey, seeking to interview leading members of the neo-Nazi movement for the fictitious magazine. He dropped hints that he was a supporter of the right, with powerful connections in the United States. During the interviews, he said he wanted to help the groups polish their image.

The Wiesenthal Center said Svoray later lavished dinners, drinks and gifts on the people he met and let it be known he was fronting for a multimillionaire living in the United States who was interested in funding Germany’s neo-Nazi movement.

After a trip to the Wiesenthal Center, where he was debriefed, a decision was made to send a member of the center’s staff back to Germany with Svoray, posing as his wealthy sponsor. The ruse worked and both men met with leaders of the radical right.

Svoray spoke at the news conference Monday. Like Rabbi Hier, he stressed that he did not believe neo-Nazis at the present time posed a significant danger to Germany’s existing government. But he said it appeared that the strength of some groups had been underestimated, and he found in some instances that police appeared sympathetic.

“Police stopped us for show,” Svoray charged. “Sometimes, there was a nod and a wink. It was for show.”