Status: 06.08.2024 06:15 a.m.
Starting today, five men will have to answer to the Lüneburg Regional Court for allegedly producing right-wing extremist music. The Celle Public Prosecutor’s Office considers the group to be a “criminal organization.”
The covers of the records are dark, there are swastikas on the titles, Hitler is worshipped in the lyrics, Jews and supposed foreigners are mocked. They were seized during house searches in five federal states, and are now stored in an overseas container belonging to the police department. The investigators from the Central Criminal Investigation Department in Oldenburg have listened to the songs. With a touch of gallows humor, they call the case, which they have been working on for a year and a half, the “tinnitus investigation complex.” Oldenburg Police Chief Andreas Sagehorn does not want to hide his disgust: “These are lyrics that glorify violence and are full of hate. How something like that can even come out of someone’s mouth! To be honest, I personally find it almost unbearable.”
Videos
4 Min
The focus of the investigation is Lower Saxony. The suspects are said to have distributed banned music internationally. (17.10.2023) 4 Min
The focus was on a network
What is special about the investigations by the Oldenburg state security officers, however, is not the lyrics. It is the questions the investigators have been working with: Who is involved in the value chain of music production? Who makes the covers, where are the records pressed, who has licenses, how is distribution carried out?
Alleged ringleader in custody
Five men are accused. They are said to have acted as a criminal organization, playing different roles. The alleged ringleader, Lasse K. from the Lüneburg district, is said to have had numerous licenses, according to the indictment. He is considered to be the puppet master in the scene and has been in custody since October. Requests from NDR Lower Saxony to his defense attorney have come to nothing.
Insights into the right-wing extremist music scene
Lasse K. from the Lüneburg district is considered the scene’s puppet master.
Musicologist Thorsten Hindrichs from the University of Mainz is excited to see what the trial will reveal to the public – for example, how much money is made from producing records. He suspects that the income from music production flows back into the scene: “That is also why it is so important that not just individual bands or individual labels are accused in this trial, but an entire production team.”
Dropout: “Through music I learned to hate”
The production often extends over several countries, each of which has different laws. Philipp Schlaffer was a neo-Nazi himself before he left the scene. He also keeps an eye on the investigations by the Oldenburg police. Music is central to the right-wing extremist scene, he experienced it himself. “I became radicalized through music,” he says in an interview with NDR Niedersachsen. “Music told me who was supposedly to blame: ‘those at the top’, the politicians, the foreigners, the Jews, the Muslims. I learned to hate through music.” He demands that the state should take a clear stance more often. “Here you have to work with the principle of a thousand pinpricks. I myself got away with crimes for far too long.”
Five men could face further charges
If convicted, the men could face penalties ranging from fines to five years in prison. But the investigators in Oldenburg may have a thicker case file than it seems at first glance. Further charges may follow if the court here follows the Celle Public Prosecutor’s Office and recognizes a criminal organization.
Further information
It is about a network that produces and distributes inflammatory music. Buildings were searched nationwide. (October 27, 2023) more
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NDR 1 Lower Saxony | Current | 06.08.2024 | 08:00 a.m.
