Conference CraSShers: Neo-Nazis make a cameo appearance at conference

By: Jeanine Pfahlert & Lorien Bourne

Memories aren’t just memories.

From Thursday, March 23rd to Sunday, March 26th, Bowling Green State University hosted the conference Trajectories of Memory: Intergenerational Representations of the Holocaust in History and the Arts. The conference featured panels focused on issues like personal memory, holocaust representation, and identity as they pertain to National Socialism and the Holocaust. The conference’s highlights included a Holocaust art exhibit and reading of Holocaust poetry complete with musical interpretations.

The conference began on a peaceful note and maintained its ambiance throughout its subsequent days. Regionally connected Neo-Nazis from the Freemont and Western Ohio Units of the National Socialist Movement, however, shattered this peace on the conference’s final day. Evidently, these Neo-Nazis crashed the conference’s final event on Sunday, March 26th.

The unannounced guests took the milling conference attendants by surprise as they approached the conference’s final session featuring an Auschwitz survivor after the session’s conclusion. Reportedly, some conference attendants acted as buffers between the Neo-Nazis and the survivor. While the Neo-Nazis did not gain access to the survivor, or his accompanying wife, their presence remained and their “commandant” declared “Six million more!”

Bowling Green State University police made an appearance as well. Upon arrival police engaged the Neo-Nazis verbally. Chief of police, Jim Weigant, said that there was no warning that members of The National Socialist Movement would make an appearance on campus during the conference.

The NSM members were removed from the conference for disrupting a private meeting and escorted into the free speech area in the union circle. Police managed to disperse the uninvited guests despite their interest in remaining. The police likewise escorted conference attendants away from the scene.

“As a result of the incident in Toledo we were afraid things could get out of control,” Weigant said. The police, after all, were dealing with the very Neo-Nazi organization directly connected to the riots in Toledo earlier this fall. NSM called for and conducted two separate white power demonstrations in Toledo OH in late 2005, leading to strong public responses in both cases.

Christina Guenther, a conference organizer and Associate Professor in the German-Russian Department of BGSU said that the NSM members showing up were a reminder of how important educating people about the Holocaust is today.
“Their showing up reminded us, however, of how important education about the Holocaust still is today-- even or especially in the US.” In regards to the conference per se, she said: “Scholars from around the world, from Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Poland, Italy, Switzerland and the US attended and discussed the ways in which we remember the Holocaust. The small group of 5 Neo-Nazis who arrived late after the last session, a presentation by a Holocaust survivor, on Sunday morning represents really only a tiny piece of the 4-day event,” Guenther said.

Certainly, the regalia clad Neo-Nazis jogged memories and elicited uncomfortable feelings. While we cannot know the exact intentions NSM had for their calculated appearance, the incident indicates that the social issues the Holocaust exemplifies persist today.

Mark Martin, a NSM member and spokesman said that they were told by the police that “under no circumstances were we allowed to stay there”. He also said that they wanted to speak with the Jewish guests. When asked what they would have said, he replied: “Why would they say that six million Jews were killed? There wasn’t enough fuel to burn six millions Jews.” He continued: “Why do they call us racist when we are just proud to be white?” He further claimed: “There were more Jews alive after the war than before the war.”

About the group’s agenda, Martin said: “We are an old fashioned group with old fashioned morals and ethics.” According to Martin, NSM discourages “race mixing” and believes that “America should be run by white people for white people”. Martin explained that the group specifically participates in “adopting highways, picking up trash, and donating money to needy white families.” He said this of his organization: “We believe in love of our race.”

The holocaust survivor, who spoke to conference attendants during the final session, offered neither his comments nor his name for the article in order to avoid any association with the Neo-Nazis whatsoever.