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German Locals Protest Hotel Sale to Neo-Nazi Organization

CBNNews.com

CBNNews.com – About 500 people protested Wednesday in front of a prominent hotel in a small north German town, to block a neo-Nazi group from purchasing the building.

"Our town has not deserved to become a centre of the next generation of Nazis," said one man at the gathering.

Delmenhorst residents have also launched a fund-raising campaign to buy the hotel in an attempt to prevent it from falling into the hands of the neo-Nazi group, Wilhelm Tietjen Stiftung Fuer Fertilisation Ltd. Group, a group registered in London that promotes racial purity.

"I think this would really lead to uproars here in the city, particularly because of the high rate of immigrants in Delmenhorst, and I think that just can't be, and we would get real big problems here," one female resident said.

A Web site has been set up to help raise the necessary funds. At least 3.4 million euros ($4.37 million) must be raised to buy the Hotel am Stadtpark, which is prominently situated across from the town hall in the center of the town. By mid-day Thursday, 758,497 euros had been donated to the fund.

At the gathering, the residents of Delmenhorst sold sausages and bio tomatoes as one of their initiatives to raise money to buy the hotel.

The campaign was launched soon after Juergen Rieger, who has publicly defended several neo-Nazis, became the only potential buyer. Rieger made an offer on the hotel on behalf of the neo-Nazi group. The organization was named after a wealthy Nazi leader from Bremen who died childless in 2002.

Delmenhorst officials said on Wednesday that their efforts to convince the property's owner not to sell to Rieger have been unsuccessful so far.

Gerd Renker of the action group "For Delmenhorst" said it was not enough just to collect signatures and demonstrate.

“With our initiative, we simply also wanted to financially enable the town to buy the hotel," Renker said.

Rieger has been criticised for his defense of neo-Nazis, including the Holocaust denier, Ernst Zundel. He has not said publicly why he wants to buy the hotel, which is situated in the Lower Saxony town of fewer than 80,000 people.

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