Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T07:14:47.807Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

From Extremism to Terrorism: The Radicalisation of the Far Right in Italy and West Germany

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 May 2018

TOBIAS HOF
TOBIAS HOF*
Affiliation:
Tobias Hof, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Campus Box #3195, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3195, U.S.A.; hof@unc.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Since the 1960s in Italy and Germany the notion has prevailed that ‘the state’ has given support to right-wing terrorism. This article challenges such views by examining the internal dynamics of right-wing terrorism in both countries with reference to Ehud Sprinzak's theory of ‘split delegitimisation’. To explain the different scale of Italian and West German terrorism one must analyse personnel continuities, the nature of the perceived ‘communist threat’, as well as the national political culture. Thus, without neglecting state support for the far right, this article emphasises how the internal dynamics of terrorist groups respond to political and social frameworks. Only if we acknowledge that right-wing terrorist groups possess their own agency can we fully understand their development. This is even more urgent in a time when – once again – the far right is on the rise in Europe.

Type
Article
Information
Contemporary European History , Volume 27 , Issue 3 , August 2018 , pp. 412 - 431
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Galleni, Mauro, ed., Rapporto sul terrorismo: Le stragi, gli agguati, i sequestri, le sigle 1969-1980 (Milan: Rizzoli Editore, 1981), 290Google Scholar; Brambilla, Michele, L'eskimo in redazione: quando le Brigate Rosse erano sedicenti (Milan: Bompiano, 1993), 93–130Google Scholar.

2 Rabert, Bernhard, Links- und Rechtsterrorismus in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland von 1970 bis heute (Bonn: Bernard & Graefe, 1995), 315Google Scholar; http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/justiz/oktoberfest-attentat-verfassungsgericht-auskuenfte-teils-zu-unrecht-verweigert-a-1158533.html (last visited 14 Sept. 2017).

3 Even today, violent right-wing groups such as the National Socialist Underground (Nationalsozialistischer Untergrund; NSU) draw on the Nazi ideology. The NSU is responsible for murdering at least ten people – mostly Turkish immigrants – in Germany in the early 2000s. Several of their activists have been on trial since 2013.

4 Weinberg, Leonard B. and Eubank, William L., Rise and Fall of Italian Terrorism (Boulder: Westview Press, 1987)Google Scholar, 98 and 106.

5 Rabert, Links- und Rechtsterrorismus, 231; Zaghafte Zusammenarbeit, Die Zeit, 24 Mar. 1978, 3.

6 Many edited volumes stop short of an in-depth comparative analysis. See Livi, Massimiliani, Schmidt, Daniel and Sturm, Michael, eds., Die 1970er Jahre als schwarzes Jahrzehnt. Politisierung und Mobilisierung zwischen christlicher Demokratie und extremer Rechter (Frankfurt: Campus Verlag, 2010)Google Scholar; Mammone, Andrea, Godin, Emmanuel and Jenkins, Brian, eds., Varieties of Right-Wing Extremism in Europe (London: Routledge, 2013)Google Scholar.

7 Cento Bull, Anna and Cooke, Philip, Ending Terrorism in Italy (London: Routledge, 2013), 3Google Scholar.

8 See, for example, Boatti, Giorgio, Piazza Fontana. 12 dicembre 1969. Il giorno della innocenza perduta (Turin: Einaudi, 1999)Google Scholar; Willan, Philip P., Puppetmasters. The Political Use of Terrorism in Italy (New York: iUniverse, 2002)Google Scholar; Flamigni, Sergio, Trame atlantiche. Storia della loggia massonica segreta P2 (Milan: KAOS Edizioni, 2005)Google Scholar; Ganser, Daniele, NATO's Secret Armies. Operation Gladio and Terrorism in Western Europe (London: Routledge, 2005)Google Scholar; Igel, Regine, Terrorjahre. Die dunkle Seite der CIA in Italien (Munich: Herbig, 2006)Google Scholar; Rao, Nicola, Il sangue e la celtica (Segrate: Sperling & Kupfer, 2008)Google Scholar.

9 Jackson, Richard, ‘The Literary Turn in Terrorism Studies’, in Law, Randall D., ed., The Routledge History of Terrorism (London: Routledge, 2015), 487–500Google Scholar, here 487.

10 Notable exceptions are, for example, Braunthal, Gerard, Right-Wing Extremism in Contemporary Germany (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Cento Bull, Anna, Italian Neofascism. The Strategy of Tension and the Politics of Nonreconciliation (New York: Berghahn, 2011)Google Scholar; Möllers, Martin H. W., ed., Politischer Extremismus, Vol 2.: Terrorismus und wehrhafte Demokratie (Frankfurt: Verlag für Polizeiwissenschaften, 2007)Google Scholar.

11 Goschler, Constantin and Wala, Michael, “ Keine Neue Gestapo” Das Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz und die NS-Vergangenheit (Reinbek: Rowohlt, 2015), 14–7Google Scholar; Hof, Tobias, Staat und Terrorismus in Italien 1969–1982 (Munich: Oldenbourg, 2011), 57–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

12 Ehud Spinzak (1940–2002) was an Israeli counterterrorist expert, who focused on the Israeli far right. In 1972 he received his PhD in political science from Yale University.

13 Cento Bull, Italian Neofascism, 11.

14 Gualtieri, Roberto, L'Italia dal 1943 al 1992. DC e PCI nella storia della Repubblica (Rome: Carocci Editore, 2006), 143 (translation by author).Google Scholar

15 Cento Bull and Cooke, Ending Terrorism, 3; Ferraresi, Franco, Minacce alla democrazia. La Destra radicale e la strategia della tensione in Italia nel dopoguerra (Turin: Feltrinelli, 1995)Google Scholar, 109 and 129; Hof, Staat, 48–58.

16 Cento Bull and Cooke, Ending Terrorism, 3.

17 Minna, Rosario, ‘Il terrorismo di destra’, in Della Porta, Donatella, ed., Terrorismi in Italia (Bologna: Mulino, 1984), 21–74Google Scholar, here 48–50.

18 Ginsborg, Paul, A History of Contemporary Italy. Society and Politics 1943–1988 (London: Penguin, 1990), 349Google Scholar.

19 Hof, Staat, 362.

20 In the national elections of 1972 these parties won 46.8 per cent of the popular vote. Ibid., 405.

21 Ferraresi, Minacce, 233; Galleni, ed., Rapporto, 291 and 293; Atti Parlamentari, X Legislatura, Doc. XXIII, Commissione parlamentare d'inchiesta sul terrorismo in Italia e sulle cause della mancata individuazione dei responsabili delle stragi, X Leg., Resoconto stenografici delle sedute, Vol. I, 223–80.

22 Minna, ‘Il terrorismo’, 60 and 65.

23 Ferraresi, Minacce, 294.

24 Ibid., 245 and 276–8; Fritsche, Karl-Peter, Die politische Kultur Italiens (Frankfurt: Campus Verlag, 1987)Google Scholar, 187; Weinberg and Eubank, Rise and Fall, 106. For the ‘new right’, see Bessarione, Giuseppe, Lambro/Hobbit. La cultura giovanile di destra in Italia e in Europa (Rome: Arcana, 1979), 64–72Google Scholar; Revelli, Marco, ‘La nuova destra’, in Ferraresi, Franco, ed., La destra radicale (Milan: Feltrinelli, 1984), 119–214Google Scholar.

25 Minna, ‘Il terrorismo’, 65.

26 Ferraresi, Minacce, 278–9.

27 Ibid., 327–34; Fritzsche, Politische Kultur, 220–3.

28 Cutonilli, Valerio and Priore, Rosario, I segreti di Bologna. La verità sull'atto terroristico più grave della storia italiana (Milan: Chiarelettere editore srl, 2016)Google Scholar, 13–5, 25–6, 100, 150–1 and 235.

29 Backes and Jesse, Politischer Extremismus, Vol. 2, 49–51; Woller, Hans, Die Loritz-Partei. Geschichte, Struktur und Politik der Wirtschaftlichen Aufbau-Vereinigung (WAV) 1945–1955 (Stuttgart: DVA, 1982)Google Scholar.

30 Backes and Jesse, Politischer Extremismus, Vol. 2, 47; Christoph Kopke, ‘Die Aktion Widerstand 1970/71: Die “nationale Opposition” zwischen Sammlung und Zersplitterung’, in Livi, Schmidt and Sturm, eds., Die 1970er Jahre, 249–62, here 250.

31 Braunthal, Right-Wing Extremism, 21 and 24.

32 Backes and Jesse, Politischer Extremismus, Vol. 2, 61–2.

33 Hof, Tobias, ‘Rechtsextremer Terrorismus in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland’, in Löhnig, Martin, Preisner, Mareike and Schlemmer, Thomas, eds., Ordnung und Protest. Eine gesamtdeutsche Protestgeschichte von 1949 bis heute (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2015), 215–36Google Scholar, here 222 and 231.

34 Backes and Jesse, Politischer Extremismus, Vol. 2, 65–70; Goschler and Wala, “Keine Neue Gestapo”, 286–7.

35 Backes and Jesse, Politischer Extremismus, Vol. 2, 67–70 and 76.

36 Ibid., 72; Braunthal, Right-Wing Extremism, 24; Fabian Virchow, ‘Faschistische Tatgemeinschaft oder weltanschauliche Kaderschmiede? Systemoppositionelle Strategien der bundesdeutschen Rechten nach 1969’, in Livi, Schmidt and Sturm, eds., Die 1970er Jahre, 229–48, here 230.

37 Braunthal, Right-Wing Extremism, 25; Kopke, ‘Die Aktion Widerstand’, 256–7; Virchow, ‘Faschistische Tatgemeinschaft’, 203 and 246.

38 Hof, ‘Rechtsextremer Terrorismus’, 228.

39 I draw on the definition of terrorism by Weinberg, Pedahzur and Hirsch-Hoefler: ‘Terrorism is a politically motivated tactic involving the threat or use of force or violence in which the pursuit of publicity plays a significant role’. (Weinberg, Leonard B, Pedahzur, Ami and Hirsch-Hoefler, Sivan, ‘The Challenge of Conceptualizing Terrorism’, Terrorism and Political Violence, 16, 4 (2004), 777–97CrossRefGoogle Scholar, here 786).

40 Cited in Backes and Jesse, Politischer Extremismus, Vol. 2, 81 (translation by author).

41 Ibid.

42 Backes and Jesse, Politischer Extremismus, Vol. 2, 162; Rabert, Links- und Rechtsterrorismus, 296.

43 Hof, ‘Rechtsextremer Terrorismus’, 229.

44 Backes and Jesse, Politischer Extremismus, Vol. 2, 162; Rabert, Links- und Rechtsterrorismus, 315.

45 Backes and Jesse, Politischer Extremismus, Vol. 2, 95; Rabert, Links- und Rechtsterrorismus, 316 and 322-4.

46 Sprinzak, Ehud, ‘Right-Wing Terrorism in a Comparative Perspective: The Case of Split Delegitimization’, Terrorism and Political Violence, 7, 1 (1995), 17–43CrossRefGoogle Scholar, here 17.

47 Ibid., 21.

48 Ibid., 17.

49 Ibid., 26–9.

50 Ibid., 20–2.

51 Cento Bull, Italian Neofascism, 6.

52 Sprinzak, ‘Right-Wing Terrorism’, 25.

53 Ibid., 21.

54 Rapoport, David C., ‘The Four Waves of Modern Terror. International Dimensions and Consequences’, in Hanhimäki, Jussi M. and Blumenau, Bernhard, eds., An International History of Terrorism: Western and Non-Western Experiences (London: Routledge, 2013), 282–310Google Scholar, here 283.

55 Sprinzak, ‘Right-Wing Terrorism’, 21.

56 Daase, Christopher, ‘Terrorismus als asymmetrische Gewaltstrategie’, in Graulich, Kurt and Simon, Dieter, eds., Terrorismus und Rechtstaatlichkeit. Analysen, Handlungsoptionen, Perspektiven (Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 2007), 91–9Google Scholar.

57 Cento Bull, Italian Neofascism, 2.

58 Del Pero, Mario, ‘The United States and “Psychological Warfare” in Italy, 1948–1955’, The Journal of American History, 87, 4 (2001), 1304–34CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Gardner, Richard N., Mission Italy. On the Front Lines of the Cold War (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2005), 3–4Google Scholar.

59 Cited in Brogi, Alessandro, Confronting America. The Cold War between the United States and the Communists in France and Italy (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2014), 269Google Scholar.

60 Cited in Fornasier, Robert, The Dove and the Eagle (Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publisher, 2012), 127Google Scholar.

61 Aaron Latham, ‘Introduction to the Pike Report’, The Village Voice, 16 Feb. 1976, 71.

62 Brogi, Confronting America, 330–1.

63 Cited in Fornasier, The Dove, 128; Britain joined plot to overthrow a communist Italian government, The Times, 14. Jan. 2008.

64 Gardner, Mission, 125 and 174–6; Hof, Staat, 271–1.

65 Wentker, Hermann, ‘Antikommunismus in der frühen Bonner Republik. Dimensionen eines zentralen Elements politischer Kultur im Ost-West-Konflikt’, in Creuzberger, Stefan and Hoffmann, Dierk, eds., “Geistige Gefahr” und “Immunisierung der Gesellschaft”. Antikommunismus und politische Kultur in der frühen Bundesrepublik (Munich: Oldenbourg Verlag 2014), 355–69CrossRefGoogle Scholar, here 364.

66 Ibid., 355 and 366–7.

67 See, for example, Krieger, Wolfgang, ‘Security Through Deterrence? German–American Security Relations, 1945–1968’, in Junker, Detlev, ed., The United States and Germany in the Era of the Cold War, 1945–1990, Vol. I (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), 181–96Google Scholar.

68 Klaus Wiegrefe, ‘Ein bisschen Druck’, Der Spiegel, 11 June 2016.

69 See, for example, Ganser, NATO's Secret Armies, 66–7.

70 Davies, Philip, ‘Review of Ganser, NATO's Secret Armies’, Journal of Strategic Studies, 28, 6 (2005), 1064–8Google Scholar; Gregor Schöllgen, ‘Gladiatoren im Kalten Krieg’, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 25 Apr. 2009.

71 Lemke, Michael, ‘Kampagnen gegen Bonn. Die Systemkrise der DDR und die West-Propaganda der SED 1960–1963’, Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, 41, 2, (1993), 153–74Google Scholar, here 160.

72 Theodor Oberländer (1905–1998) was a German Christian Democratic politician. He resigned as Federal Minister of Displaced Persons, Refugees and Victims of War in 1960 after he was accused of committing war crimes during the Nazi regime.

73 Hans Globke (1898–1973) served as Chief of Staff of the West German Chancellery from 1953 to 1963. Under the Nazi dictatorship he co-authored key legislations such as the Enabling Act of 1933.

74 Busche, Heiko, Deutsche Presse, Rechtsextremismus und nationalsozialistische Vergangenheit in der Ära Adenauer (Frankfurt: Campus Verlag, 2003), 214–315Google Scholar.

75 Sprinzak, ‘Right-Wing Terrorism’, 25.

76 Paxton, Robert O., Anatomy of Fascism (New York: Vintage, 2005), 218Google Scholar.

77 See, for example, documents in National Archives and Record Administrations, College Park, RG 153, War Crimes Branch, Entry 144: Persons and Places Case File (Dossier File) 1944-1949, Box 60, Folder #100-704).

78 Collin, Richard O., ‘The Blunt Instrument: Italy and the Police’, in Roach, John and Thomaneck, Jürgen, eds., Police and Public Order in Europe (London: Groom Helm, 1985), 185–214Google Scholar, here 196; Hess, Henner, ‘Die ambivalente Revolte’, in Hess, Henner et. al., eds., Angriff auf das Herz des Staates. Soziale Entwicklung und Terrorismus, Vol. 2 (Frankfurt: Suhrkamp, 1988), 9–167Google Scholar, here 47–9.

79 Ferraresi, Minacce, 136, Note 1.

80 See, for example, Baumann, Imanuel et. al.: Schatten der Vergangenheit: Das Bundeskriminalamt und die nationalsozialistische Vergangenheit seiner Gründergeneration (Cologne: Luchterhand, 2011)Google Scholar; Frei, Norbert, ed., Karrieren im Zwielicht. Hitlers Eliten nach 1945 (Frankfurt: Campus, 2001)Google Scholar; Goschler and Wala, “Keine Neue Gestapo”, 211–38.

81 Backes and Jesse, Politischer Extremismus, Vol. 2, 54–5; Goschler and Wala, “Keine Neue Gestapo”, 92–6.

82 Rabert, Links- und Rechtsterrorismus, 320–1.

83 Braunthal, Right-Wing Extremism, 30.

84 Goschler and Wala, “Keine Neue Gestapo”, 281–5.

85 Sprinzak, ‘Right-Wing Terrorism’, 21.

86 Hof, Staat, 390–1; Moss, David, Italian Political Violence 1969–1988. The Making and Unmaking of Meanings (Geneva: UNRISD, 1993), 10–1Google Scholar and 23.

87 Hof, Staat, 87–8.

88 See Battini, Michele, ‘Sins of Memory: Reflections on the Lack of an Italian Nuremberg and the Administration of International Justice after 1945’, Journal of Modern Italian Studies, 9, 3 (2004), 349–62CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Pavone, Claudio, ‘Introduction’, Journal of Modern Italian Studies, 9, 3 (2004), 271–9CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

89 Hof, Staat, 57.

90 Speech of Carlo Schmid to the Parliamentary Council, 8. Sept. 1948, in Parlamentarischer Rat. Stenographische Berichte über die Plenarsitzungen (Bonn: Bonner Universitäts-Druckerei, 1948/49), 14; Backes, Uwe, ‘Limits of political freedom in democratic constitutional states: a comparative study on Germany, France and the USA’, Totalitarismus und Demokratie, 3, 2 (2006), 265–83Google Scholar, here 270–1.

91 Ibid., 275.

92 For opinion polls, see Hof, ‘Rechtsextremer Terrorismus’, 220.

93 Drake, Richard, ‘The Aldo Moro Murder Case as Politics’, in Kassimeris, George, ed., Playing Politics with Terrorism: A User's Guide (New York: Columbia University Press, 2007), 36–61Google Scholar, here 60.

94 For the relation between terrorism and conspiracy theories in Italy, see de Graaf, Beatrice, Evaluating Counterterrorism Performance. A Comparative Study (London: Routledge, 2011), 116–8Google Scholar; Hof, Tobias, ‘“The Moro Affair” – Left-wing Terrorism, Conspiracy and Security in Italy in the late 1970s’, in Historical Social Research, Special Issue, 1 (2013)Google Scholar.

95 Weinberg, Leonard B., ‘Italian Neo-Fascist Terrorism. A Comparative Perspective’, Terrorism and Political Violence, 7, 1 (1995), 221–38CrossRefGoogle Scholar, here 235.

96 Foot, John, Italy's Divided Memory (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009), 183–204CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

97 Drake, Richard, The Aldo Moro Murder Case (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1995), 82–3Google Scholar; Hof, ‘“Moro Affair”’, 249–51.