Erik Blücher or Tor Erik Nilsen (born 29 May 1953) is a Norwegian former

neo-Nazi Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazism, Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and Supremacism#Racial, racial supremacy (ofte ...

activist. A former party leader in Norway, he later became central in neo-Nazi networks in Scandinavia. In 1975 Erik Blücher founded the national political party

Norwegian Front The Norwegian Front (, NF) was a Neo-fascism, neo-fascist Extra-parliamentary opposition, extraparliamentary political party in Norway founded in 1975, led by Erik Blücher as ''fører''. Following a bomb attack by an activist from the party, the N ...

on the foundation of the tiny organization National Youth League, where he himself became the leader. A new party was formed in 1980 under the name National People's Party. In 1983 Blücher moved to

Helsingborg Helsingborg (, , ), is a Urban areas in Sweden, city and the seat of Helsingborg Municipality, Scania County, Scania (Skåne), Sweden. It is the second-largest city in Scania (after Malmö) and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, ninth ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

and changed his name to Erik Nilsen. In a 2006 interview with Norwegian newspaper ''

Stavanger Aftenblad (; ) or simply ''Aftenbladet'' is a daily newspaper based in Stavanger, Norway, and owned by Schibsted Media Group. Norwegian owners held 42 percent of the shares in Schibsted at the end of 2015. is thus majority foreign-owned. History and ...

'', the first interview he made since retiring from the public spotlight in the 1980s, he calls to account neo-Nazism which he calls a "disastrous

cul-de-sac A dead end, also known as a ''cul-de-sac'' (; , ), a no-through road or a no-exit road, is a street with only one combined inlet and outlet. Dead ends are added to roads in urban planning designs to limit traffic in residential areas. Some d ...

" and a "scourge which has wreaked destruction for both friends and enemies." There he also claims he was never a Nazi, only a

nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...

, however this is refuted by organizations which keep a tab on neo-Nazi activity across Europe.

Early life

Nilsen grew up in

Moss Mosses are small, non-vascular plant, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic phylum, division Bryophyta (, ) ''sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Wilhelm Philippe Schimper, Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryo ...

in a bourgeois home. His parents were politically inactive apart from voting for the conservatives. His father who is of ethnic German ancestry had been honoured for his participation in the resistance movement during World War II. Nilsen has described himself as a somewhat dull but well-adapted child. He was the primary candidate for the editorship of his

high school newspaper A student publication is a media outlet such as a newspaper, magazine, television show, or radio station produced by students at an educational institution. These publications typically cover local and school-related news, but they may also repo ...

Political activism

He became a member of the

Norwegian Young Conservatives Norwegian Young Conservatives (Norwegian: Unge Høyres Landsforbund, UHL, normally referred to as Unge Høyre) is the Norwegian youth party of the Conservative Party. Its ideology is liberal conservatism. The party has 3,078 members as of 2 ...

, but having written an article where he called for a political party to the right of the Conservative Party, he attended the 1973 foundation meeting of Anders Lange's Party, a tax protest party which would evolve to become the Progress Party. When Norwegian Front was established Erik Blücher was its chairman from the outset. He attained to instant notoriety across the country on 30 May 1975, following his participation in a televised discussion program. He and his organization became intensely demonised from day one. Inquiries among ordinary people published by the mainstream media would readily call for the neo-Nazis to be strung up from the nearest lamppost. The main causes championed by Blücher and his group were to fight off the communists, in particular the newly formed Marxist–Leninist Workers' Communist Party and non-European migrants, in particular those from

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. In the 2006 interview Nilsen states that nobody in Norway after World War II has suffered as much because of their political convictions as he has. In the 1990s he became central in the neo-Nazi network

Blood & Honour Blood & Honour is a Neo-Nazism, neo-Nazi music promotion network and right-wing extremist political group founded in the United Kingdom by Ian Stuart Donaldson in 1987. It is composed of White nationalism, white nationalists and has links to C ...

, and founded the record label Ragnarock. He has been known to use the

Nazi salute The Nazi salute, also known as the Hitler salute, or the ''Sieg Heil'' salute, is a gesture that was used as a greeting in Nazi Germany. The salute is performed by extending the right arm from the shoulder into the air with a straightened han ...

and shouting "Sieg Heil" and "Heil Hitler" at neo-Nazi meetings in Sweden.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blucher, Erik Living people 1953 births People from Moss, Norway Norwegian activists Norwegian expatriates in Sweden Norwegian neo-Nazis