With a preface by Paul Lendvai

Right-wing parties and neo-fascist groups are becoming an ever-increasing problem in young democracies throughout East and Central Europe. Next to these parties’ successes in elections in Hungary and Slovakia, brutal attacks on minorities by paramilitary groups or Nazi skinheads in Serbia and the Czech Republic are making headlines. There is an urgent need for more thorough information on East Europe’s right-wing extremist scene in order to make an appropriate assessment of the threat these groups pose. News correspondents Gregor Mayer and Bernhard Odehnal have been watching the growing threat for years – sometimes even putting themselves in the line of fire. In their reports, comprised in this book, they analyze the right-wing extremist scene in Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Serbia, Croatia and Bulgaria. They gathered inside information on the subject in both on-site research and interviews. On the basis of these insights, they outline the historical and ideological background of these events in the respective countries. The authors demonstrate how animosity against Roma, Jews and homosexuals is fueled and point out connections to extremist groups in Germany and Austria, who are striving for the creation of a “North-South axis” of “National resistance”. Mayer and Odehnal clearly name the threat emanating from these ultra-nationalist agitations – a threat for the political stability of each of these countries as well as for democracy in the entire European community.