ConfuSSion

I’ve never really understood neo-Nazis. I don’t understand how people in our day and age can actually dream of a totalitarian racist dictatorship, where the Greater Good of the People and/or State and other Concepts spelled with Capital Letters take precedence over the petit bourgeois idea of the will of the individual, and his or her rights.

But sometimes my lack of understanding of neo-Nazis reaches new heights. It goes beyond not understanding how anyone can actually see the Third Reich as a lost Utopia, and confuses me on a whole new level.

Russian neo-Nazis are an excellent example. How can Russians march up and down the streets of Moscow or St Petersburg and scream “Heil Hitler!”, “Sieg Heil!” and other such nonsense? Have they no idea what Hitler thought of Russians? Or what he and his buddies did to them when they had a chance?

These guys, apparently members of an illustrious society called “the Aryan Guard”, give me the same feeling of utter incomprehension:

I’m not talking about the fact that they’re marching with Muslims — a group of people usually not favored by neo-Nazis — but would rather like to point your attention to another intriguing aspect. Note how they’re carrying an Israeli flag with the text “TERRORIST STATE”, with the letters S written in the runic style characteristic of the SS insignia, implying that Israel isn’t merely a “terrorist state”, but even a Nazi one. That, in and of itself, may be stupid, but it’s been seen before.

What makes these short-haired young men so intriguing, and difficult to understand, is the fact that they actually wear the very same SS-letters on their collars. This would make you think that they actually identify with the Schutzstaffel.

What’s the deal here? Why are they protesting against Israel if they think it’s an SS-state? Or maybe they think Israel gives their beloved SS a bad name? Or maybe this is actually a clever counterdemonstration in favor of Israel?

Are you confused?

So are we.