The number of illegal German neo-Nazi websites on the Internet has declined over the past year, German daily Hamburger Abendblatt reported on Wednesday.
According to the daily, efforts by police and intelligence units have started to pay off with fewer German anti-Semitic and racist websites available on the Internet.
The figures were released by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, or Verfassungsschutz, in response to questions from the opposition Social Democrats (SPD).
“This drop was enabled by intensive measures of German security services,” parliamentary state secretary for the Family Ministry Hermann Kues, told the daily.
The Verfassungsschutz estimates that there are presently some 1,000 Germany language neo-Nazi websites online. While the report did not estimate how many websites there were in 2009, it said that the controlling body website, jugendschutz.net, which investigates such sites shut down forty illegal neo-Nazis since last year.
In a country where public support of Nazi is banned, many neo-Nazis have turned to the Internet as a refuge to create a community of hate.
“The significance of these internet sites is – with a few grave exceptions – fairly low, Kues said. Nevertheless, these few exceptions can spark atrocious acts of violence.
