Nazi Activists Arrested; Antifa Demo Against Fascist Computer Network

Translated by Arm The Spirit from Junge Welt, 16 June 1998

On Saturday [June 13], around 150 anti-fascists demonstrated in Bad Segeberg, Germany against Nazi activist Thekla Kosche. Kosche operates the far-right electronic mailbox system ‘Asgard-BBS’, a local branch of ‘Nordland-Netz’, which is an offshoot of the fascist computer network ‘Thule-Netz’. Around 300 riot police were deployed during the demonstration. According to police, the demo proceeded peacefully. Kosche and 20 other fascists were briefly detained when they turned up near the sight of the march.

The ‘Thule-Netz’, a network of 14 far-right electronic mailboxes, has existed since the spring of 1993. In contrast to the open Internet, technophilic neo-Nazis can exchange their messages in this closed network in relative security and safe from intrusions. In its annual report for 1996, Germany's intelligence agency (VS) complained: Through the use of special software and passwords, certain areas of the network are only accessible by a limited number of trusted persons. In addition to this, the encryption software PGP is utilized to make decryption by a third-party impossible. But due to a series of indictments against the operators of the network on hate crime and libel charges, the amount of information of a criminal nature being exchanged has reduced dramatically, according to the VS.

It seems this didn't please Thekla Kosche. In December 1997, Kosche, the sys-op for the Asgard-BBS, announced that there were direct conflicts of political interest between the ‘Nordland’ and ‘Thule’; networks, stating that: The ‘Nordland’ seeks real political change. But ‘Thule’ rejects thus, because it wants to remain true to its ‘new right’ foundations, which means watering down the national ‘Volks’ ideology and a lack of a desire to seek power. Kosche, on the other hand, defines himself as a national-socialist and identifies with the political means of the national resistance. He also calls himself an anti-antifa activist.