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Michael Kühnen (21 June, 1955 – 25 April, 1991) was a leader in the German neo-Nazi movement. He was one of the first post-
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
Germans to openly embrace
Nazism Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) i ...
and call for the formation of a Fourth Reich. He enacted a policy of setting up several differently named groups in an effort to confuse German authorities, who were attempting to shut down neo-Nazi groups. Kühnen's
homosexuality Homosexuality is Romance (love), romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or Human sexual activity, sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romant ...
was made public in 1986, and he died of HIV-related complications in 1991.


Early life

Kühnen was raised as a staunch
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, and initially came to politics in his early teens as a
Maoist Maoism, officially called Mao Zedong Thought by the Chinese Communist Party, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed to realise a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of Ch ...
. When he took a job at the
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s of
Hamburg Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...
, Kühnen moved to the
far right Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of bein ...
, joining a local
National Democratic Party of Germany The National Democratic Party of Germany (german: Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands or NPD) is a far-right Neo-Nazi and ultranationalist political party in Germany. The party was founded in 1964 as successor to the German Reich Part ...
(NPD) youth group. He did not remain long in the NPD, soon denouncing party members as "a bourgeois crowd of swines", and leaving the party to join the neo-Nazi movement.Lee, op cit


1970s

Following his departure from the NPD, Kühnen had a brief spell in the
German Army The German Army (, "army") is the land component of the armed forces of Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German ''Bundeswehr'' together with the ''Marine'' (German Navy) and the ''Luftwaf ...
but he was dishonourably discharged in 1977 for attempting to spread Nazi
propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...
in his barracks. During that time, he studied at the Helmut Schmidt University (originally known as the University of the German Federal Armed Forces Hamburg), located in
Hamburg Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...
, Germany."Wir wissen zuwenig"
/ref> After this expulsion, he took his first steps in organising a new movement, setting up the Action Front of National Socialists. Initially, the organisation consisted only of Kühnen, but he soon made contact with like-minded individuals across
West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 ...
, resulting in a nationwide network of cells. The group soon became notorious for its violent activities, which included
bank robberies Bank robbery is the criminal act of stealing from a bank, specifically while bank employees and customers are subjected to force, violence, or a threat of violence. This refers to robbery of a bank branch or teller, as opposed to other bank- ...
and arms raids, often working in tandem with other similar groups, such as the
Wiking-Jugend The "Wiking-Jugend" (WJ, "Viking youth") was a German Neo-Nazi organization modeled on the Hitlerjugend. The Sozialistische Reichspartei (SRP) was outlawed in 1952, together with its youth organization "". The Neo-Nazis went underground in num ...
. Known as the leader of the group, Kühnen was arrested in 1979 and sentenced to three and a half years in prison for inciting violence and racial hatred. Released in 1982, he set about trying to reorganise the Action Front of National Socialists, merging them with
Thomas Brehl Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the Ap ...
's National Activists, but the attempts were hindered by the
Ministry of the Interior An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministr ...
, who outlawed the group in November 1983.


1980s

With the ANS/NA banned, Kühnen turned his attention to the fledgling
Free German Workers' Party The Free German Workers' Party (german: link=no, Freiheitliche Deutsche Arbeiterpartei; abbreviated FAP) was a neo-Nazi political party in Germany. It was outlawed by the Federal Constitutional Court in 1995. History The FAP was founded in 19 ...
(FAP) and encouraged his supporters to infiltrate and take over the group. Kühnen's bid was successful (largely due to the fairly insignificant nature of the FAP before Kühnen), but nonetheless, he found that support for his cause had waned during his prior incarceration. Some believe this was due to a move away from orthodox Nazism to
Strasserism Strasserism (german: Strasserismus or ''Straßerismus'') is a strand of Nazism calling for a more radical, mass-action and worker-based form of the ideology, espousing economic antisemitism above other antisemitic forms, to achieve a national ...
in the German underground, leaving Kühnen's position somewhat compromised. Kühnen then began to look to
Ernst Röhm Ernst Julius Günther Röhm (; 28 November 1887 – 1 July 1934) was a German military officer and an early member of the Nazi Party. As one of the members of its predecessor, the German Workers' Party, he was a close friend and early ally ...
for inspiration, and he broke away from full support for
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and the ...
, condemning Hitler's purges against the SA and calling for a return to pre-1934 Nazism. Alongside the infiltration, he also formed his own successor group, the
Gesinnungsgemeinschaft der Neuen Front Gesinnungsgemeinschaft der Neuen Front (GdNF) is a German organisation that was the main group for neo-Nazi activity during the 1990s. It translates into English as the Community of Like-Minded People of the New Front or the Covenant of the New Fro ...
in 1984. With rumours spreading that he was to be arrested, Kühnen fled to
Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...
in early 1984 and sought refuge with the neo-Nazi group
Fédération d'action nationale et européenne The ''Fédération d'action nationale et européenne'' (FANE) was a small French far-right neo-Nazi organisation founded in April 1966. It was led by Mark Fredriksen, a bank employee who became involved in activism for French Algeria after serving ...
(FANE), with whom he had previously established contacts. Whilst working with FANE, he visited
Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...
and met with
Léon Degrelle Léon Joseph Marie Ignace Degrelle (; 15 June 1906 – 31 March 1994) was a Belgian Walloon politician and Nazi collaborator. He rose to prominence in Belgium in the 1930s as the leader of the Rexist Party (Rex). During the German occupatio ...
, establishing relations with the former
Waffen-SS The (, "Armed SS") was the combat branch of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscripts from both occup ...
man who had become a central player in the Spanish Circle of Friends of Europe (
CEDADE CEDADE (from the initials of ''Círculo Español de Amigos de Europa'' or 'Spanish Circle of Friends of Europe') was a Spanish neo-Nazi group that concerned itself with co-ordinating international activity and publishing. History The group began ...
). Kühnen was arrested in Paris and
extradited Extradition is an action wherein one jurisdiction delivers a person accused or convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, over to the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforcement procedure between the two jurisdi ...
to Germany to face trial on a number of charges related to neo-Nazism. He was sentenced to a further four years in prison. In 1986, while in prison, Kühnen
came out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...
as
gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...
. In response to critics within the neo-Nazi movement, he argued that his lack of a family meant he had more time to devote to militancy, and he pointed out that
Ernst Röhm Ernst Julius Günther Röhm (; 28 November 1887 – 1 July 1934) was a German military officer and an early member of the Nazi Party. As one of the members of its predecessor, the German Workers' Party, he was a close friend and early ally ...
was also a gay Nazi. However, Kühnen lost much support in the strongly-
homophobic Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who are identified or perceived as being lesbian, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred or antipathy, m ...
neo-Nazi scene. The FAP split, with Kühnen's former ally
Friedhelm Busse Friedhelm Busse (4 February 1929 – 23 July 2008) was a German Neo-Nazism, neo-Nazi politician and activist. In a career taking in some six decades Busse established himself as a leading voice of German neo-Nazism. Early activism The son of an ...
leading the larger anti-gay wing, which held effective control of the party by 1989. Kühnen was released from prison in March 1988, and almost immediately, he set up a new group, Nationale Sammlung. When this group was banned the following year, he enacted a policy of setting up group after group, in an effort to confuse authorities. Of these movements,
German Alternative The German Alternative (german: Deutsche Alternative or ) was a minor neo-nazi group set up in Germany by Michael Kühnen in 1989. Ideology Its declared goal was the restoration of the German Reich and rejected the Territorial changes of Germ ...
was the most well-known. During this period, it was revealed that Kühnen had contracted HIV.Rand C. Lewis, ''The Neo-Nazis and German Unification'', Greenwood Publishing Group, 1996, p. 37


1990s

Again implementing his direct action approach, Kühnen led a group of
white power skinhead White power skinheads, also known as racist skinheads and neo-Nazi skinheads, are members of a neo-Nazi, white supremacist and antisemitic offshoot of the skinhead subculture. Many of them are affiliated with white nationalist organizations and ...
s to
Frankfurt an der Oder Frankfurt (Oder), also known as Frankfurt an der Oder (), is a city in the German state of Brandenburg. It has around 57,000 inhabitants, is one of the easternmost cities in Germany, the fourth-largest city in Brandenburg, and the largest German ...
on 8 April 1991, to protest against the opening of the Polish border. Despite a police presence, Kühnen led the group in throwing stones and other projectiles at cars crossing the border. Kühnen died on 25 April 1991, of
AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ma ...
-related diseases. He was cremated at the Kasseler Westfriedhof (Kassel West Cemetery). The Polish border incident was Kühnen's last public action. Within Germany, his death had a twofold effect on neo-Nazism; it meant the loss of its most dynamic leader, and it meant that the divisions he had caused would be largely left behind.Lee, op cit, p.252–254 He was effectively succeeded by
Christian Worch Christian Worch (born 14 March 1956) is a prominent German neo-Nazi activist and chairman of the far-right political party Die Rechte. In 1974, Worch started a militant group called the ''Hansabande'' in Hamburg, along with Michael Kühnen. ...
, his closest ally, whom Kühnen had nominated to take over his leadership.


See also

*
Nicky Crane Nicola Vincenzo "Nicky" Crane (21 May 1958 – 7 December 1993) was an English neo-Nazi activist. He came out as gay before dying from an AIDS-related illness in 1993. Neo-Nazism Nicky Crane joined the British Movement (BM) in the late 1970s ...
*
Russell Veh Russell Raymond Veh ( real name unknown) (born 1950) was the head of the San Diego based neo-Nazi organization World Service. From the early 1970s through the 1990s, Veh edited and distributed neo-Nazi and racist propaganda books, periodicals, ...


References

*''Kühnen v. Federal Republic of Germany'', 12 May 1988, Application No. 12194/86 (European Commission of Human Rights)


Footnotes


External links


Michael Kuhnen, 35, Top German Neo-Nazi
April 26, 1991 {{DEFAULTSORT:Kuhnen, Michael German nationalists German neo-Nazis German Army personnel German gay men Gay politicians LGBT conservatism Political party founders Politicians from Bonn Third Position AIDS-related deaths in Germany 1955 births 1991 deaths Helmut Schmidt University alumni Neo-Nazi politicians in Germany Former Marxists