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Two Faces of Volksfront

NCJ Number
207278
Journal
Intelligence Report Issue: 114 Dated: Summer 2004 Pages: 28-36
Author(s)
Heidi Beirich; Mark Potok
Date Published
2004
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This article reviews the history of the neo-Nazi group called Volksfront, whose leaders have a history of racist violence but now claim to have adopted a strategy of nonviolence in espousing their cause.
Abstract
Randall Lee Krager, the Oregon Skinhead who founded Volksfront in 1994, has a history of racially motivated violence starting at age 15 with an attack on other teens in a local park. In 1992 he attacked a Black man and was sentenced to 3 years in prison. When released from prison in 1994, he started Volksfront, drawing members from violent local Skinhead groups. During its first year, Volksfront inspired a White power rock group called Intimidation One, named after Oregon's hate crime law and specializing in violent lyrics. Krager threatened to kill a local antiracist Skinhead in 1995 and pled guilty to first-degree intimidation and served another 14 months in prison. In 1998, with police pressure increasing on Volksfront because of its continuing link to criminal violence, the group apparently disintegrated; however, Krager, now 30 years old, is leading a resurgent Volksfront. From an estimated 50 members in 2001, when it first re-emerged, it has increased to approximately 100 committed members. The reconstituted Volksfront under Krager claims to espouse a nonviolent strategy for promoting White supremacy through Web sites and the music of Intimidation One and a band called Jew Slaughter. Although touting its nonviolent strategy, the message Volksfront markets implies, if it does not encourage, aggression against and suppression of non-Caucasians.