Neo-Nazism: A Brief Synopsis

Neo-Nazism, a sect of fascism, is more or less an attempt to revive the NSDAP party and its ideals which controlled the German government under the leadership of Adolf Hitler during World War II. Germany's denazification policies which followed the war outlawed most Nazi devotionalia, and the Neo-Nazi scene was pushed into reclusion until the 1960's and began to grow with the reunification of Germany in 1990's.

The American branch of Nazism began in the 1920's with the formation of the Friends of Germany and the German-American Bund, basically an American branch of the German NSDAP party (Hitler himself designated Fritz Kuhn as the head of the German-American Bund). As World War II rolled around in 1941, the popularity of the party which once had the capacity to hold a rally consisting of 20,000 people, rapidly disintegrated.

After World War II, Neo-Nazism continued to grow, more overtly than in Germany, since the freedom of speech and assembly laws in the United States create a less hostile environment for rallies and speeches.Today, the neo-Nazi scene represents a negligible threat to the current governmental and existing party system, nonetheless its cultural implications are felt. As evident in the Skokie Affair in 1977, the public attitude towards neo-Nazism is generally hostile. Well publicized neo-Nazi rallies generally are overwhelmed by counter-protestors.

Groups like the Anti-Defamation League, dedicated to

"[stopping], by appeals to reason and conscience and, if necessary, by appeals to law, the defamation of the Jewish people. Its ultimate purpose is to secure justice and fair treatment to all citizens alike and to put an end forever to unjust and unfair discrimination against and ridicule of any sect or body of citizens"

and the Southern Poverty Law Center also monitor neo-Nazi activities. Public hostility towards neo-Nazism is generally related to the numerous hate crimes that the groups have been associated with throughout the existence of neo-Nazi groups. Also, neo-Nazism usually connotes intolerance of religions, certain sexual orientations (homosexuality), races other than the white Aryan, and also promotes the theory of holocaust denial or revisionism. These ideologies conflict with the mindset of the mainstream American public, and has thus hindered the growth of neo-Nazi's in the United States.

My Questions to YOU:

1) How has American culture affected neo-Nazism?
2) How has the United States government dealt with the neo-Nazi's throughout the 20th and 21st century?
3) Why, in a country which touts "freedom of speech" and "freedom of assembly" have the neo-Nazi groups received such hostility from the American public and the American government? Is this hostility justified? Legal? Understandable?

I would like to hear what you think.