More desperate, moar Creamsicle… “better in the original German”...some secrets are neither dirty nor little this election cycle.
The brochure, which is published by a Berlin-based anti-racism group, Agentur für Soziale Perspektiven, lists 150 codes that are used by right-wing extremists, including certain clothing labels such as Thor Steinar and letter and number combinations.
According to Weiss, the number 14 is a reference to the so-called "14 Words," a phrase coined by the American white separatist David Lane ("We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children"). The meaning behind "88" -- often found in conjunction with 14 -- is slightly more complicated. Here, the number eight stands for the eighth letter of the alphabet, forming "HH" -- an abbreviation for "Heil Hitler," a phrase which is banned in Germany. Similarly, the number 28 signifies "BH," standing for "Blood and Honour," a far-right network that was banned in Germany in 2000.
The secret code numbers can be found "everywhere," says Weiss, including on license plates, tattoos and on signs at football games. "There are fans who travel 400 kilometers (250 miles) to a game just to hold up the four numbers that form 1488," he says.
The Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Germany's domestic intelligence agency, estimated that in 2009 -- the most recent year for which figures are available -- there were 195 far-right organizations in the country with around 26,000 members. The agency can shut down Kameradschaften, gangs or brotherhoods which are deemed violent.
But many other groups in the neo-Nazi scene -- such as rock bands with suggestive lyrics or clothing companies with coded symbols -- often fly under the legal radar, provided they don't openly display symbols like swastikas or explicitly support Adolf Hitler or his party.
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