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German Village Confronts NPD

Give Me My Dog Back or I'll Let in the Neo-Nazis

A German village is fighting to keep out far-right extremists after getting into a dispute with a businessman over his dog. He has rented out a building to the far-right NPD, but says he may change his mind if he gets back his Giant Schnauzer, confined to a dogs' home after biting some residents.

A businessman seeking revenge against the local council that confiscated his dog has rented out a building to the far-right National Democratic Party, triggering a desperate quest by villagers to reverse the decision and save its reputation.

Peter Landwehrmann bought the former community center and school in the village of Gonzerath, southwestern Germany, in 2001 and used it as the headquarters for his auto painting equipment business. But he fell out with the local authority over his Giant Schnauzer called Anne, which was taken from him and put into an animal home six months ago after it bit several villagers.

Landwehrmann decided to leave Gonzerath and has rented the building out to the NPD party until 2011, much to the dismay of the 1,200 villagers, virtually all of whom joined a demonstration of around 2,000 people against the NPD outside the building on March 3. Reports say the NPD wants to use the building as a training center.

"If they stay here it would be disastrous," Gonzerath mayor Dietmar Thömmes told SPIEGEL ONLINE. "We don't want to be labelled as far-right and we'll do everything we can to stop it happening." Thömmes said 10 NPD members had used the building on Sunday "for some kind of training course."

Neither the NPD nor Landwehrmann could immediately be reached for comment. Landwehrmann was quoted in Die Welt newspaper as saying: "I'm no Nazi. If I get Anne back I'll negotiate. I want to harass the community that took my dog away."

Mayor Thömmes says the council is examining Landwehrmann's 2001 purchase contract to see whether it has any room for manoeuvre. "He seems very attached to the dog. If he just took his dog and the NPD and got out we'd welcome that very much."

The council is now believed to be considering returning the dog to Landwehrmann if he agrees to sell the building to the council at a fair price.

Gonzerath is among a growing number of German communities that have tried to stop far-right investors from buying properties. Last year, the northern town of Delmenhorst prevented an NPD member from buying a hotel he wanted to turn into a venue for rallies, conferences and training seminars.

In the end the city bought the hotel for €3 million, more than twice its estimated value. A third of the money was raised by town's 80,000 inhabitants.

The NPD, which calls for the forced repatriation of foreigners and says Germany should stop atoning for the Holocaust, is marginalized on a nationwide level but has had some electoral success in the economically depressed east, where it is now represented in two federal states.

Some real estate sellers see a bid by the NPD as a sure way to up the sale price, because it usually prompts the local community to launch a counter-offer to prevent the sale to the NPD and save its image.

The NPD, often thwarted by citizens' initiatives and bureaucratic hurdles, resorted to subterfuge on Sunday in an attempt to find a meeting place. It booked a restaurant in the northern village of Burhave claiming to be the Social Democratic party, police said. When the restaurant owner realized their true identity he barred them from entering and called the police.

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