What's that I see? Neo-Nazi skinheads in Dresden, Germany? They certainly are! In fact, I saw skins on a number of occasions over the past few days--most recently in the main town square in Krakow.
You might think that picking out skinheads would be difficult, since German men of a certain age tend to shave their heads anyway. In fact, the clothing gives them away. While many skins have moved away from camouflage fatigue pants and combat boots, they still like to combine a certain color palette: red, white, and black. This is especially true now that many of them grow their hair out as a form of camouflage. One "lady"-skin I saw had long, goth-black tresses, that she then combined them with a black sweatshirt that said (in English) "Hate You" on the front. On the back was a small shield, with the gothic letters "HY" in it. Skins like to diplay symbols reminisent of tactical symbols used by the Wehrmacht and SS during the Second World War. If you're not familiar with
their symbols, you'll just think they're punks, but the "coding" is not at all subtle if you know what you're looking at.
What I later learned was that there are a number of neo-nazi "brands", all with
online shops:
Thor Steinar, Consdaple, Masterrace Europe, Pit Bull (Frankfurt) and others, offer "nordic flair" for young, fashion-conscious hate-mongers. These hate-mongers are playing with their dogs on a warm summer evening.
This particular "Rudel" of Skinheads (that's my moniker, not theirs) was in high spirits. As they made their way north across the Elbe River, they were happy and joking and confident. They eagerly made eye contact, and I think they revelled in the fact that they would be recongized as toughs. As the sun went down one could find them playing along the beach. I can't help but wonder what they were talking about down there.
Other than its skins, Dresden was a sleepy town. There was a stream of tourists making its way from the Hauptbahnhof to the Frauenkirche and back, but the city didn't seem to offer much else. I scheduled eight hours there--far too much time. I filled it with eating at four different establishments by the time I boarded the train back to Berlin.
As for the architecture, it's a typically fascinating combination of tradition, destruction, and socialist-realism. Photos from 1945 reveal the extent of the destruction that Anglo-American bombers rained down upon the city. A decade later the ruins were cleared out and replaced with empty lots. The Frauenkirche itself remained a shell until the mid-80s, when the SED restored it. visitors can still distinguish the old from the new facade, as the old stones are stained black. The inside of the church was equally impressive, and drew a large crowd of admirers. Finally, I was in many ways more intrigued by the Socialist Culture Palace--the history of communism is still so immediate in my mind, and I find any tangible connection to it fascinating.
