Neo-Nazis trying to gain access to kindergarten classes

Neo-nazism has found its way into the classrooms of Eastern Germany starting as early as kindergarten with a new wave of far-righters looking for teaching positions in the area.

Reports out of Germany are stating there are a number of cases that show neo-Nazis trying to take over the teaching of kindergarten classes as well as influence existing teachers in nurseries as well. In an attempt to promote fascist ideology to youth, female neo-Nazis are being pushed into careers in the teaching industry or social work in order to maintain control of what German youngsters are being taught in school. Some areas are so concerned with the threat they have turned to somewhat unusual methods to prevent the spread of nationalist beliefs. The government of the eastern German state of Mecklenburg Western-Pomerania took the step last month of ordering anyone setting up a children's day-care center to pledge their support for Germany's democratic constitution. The racist youths that rioted and caused extreme havoc in Germany back in the 1990’s now are parents and they are intent on raising their children to have the same beliefs. This is causing disorder in local schools as neo-Nazis have gone so far as to demand pictures of immigrant children be taken off walls and anti-Semitic literature be brought into libraries. Another concern is that the numbers may be behind the neo-Nazis to control parent boards in smaller populated areas. The extent to which the curriculum and activities at those schools could be changed would be extreme. A lot of emphasis has been placed on preventing neo-Nazis from entering into the education arena but much is still to be done to thwart the ideological influence these children receive at home from their far-right parents. Analysts have argued that far-right views remain embedded in the east because decades of authoritarian rule until the fall of the Berlin Wall had made the region fertile ground for right-wing ideology. The problem was then not addressed by East Germany's education system, as it fails to instill a sense of national responsibility for the crimes of the Nazis. In 2009, the total number of recorded far-right crimes committed in Germany was 18,750.