By
The Associated Press
BERLIN - Germany set up a hot line yesterday to encourage neo-Nazis to quit extremism, part of a new program that will offer incentives that could include financial aid, a way out of trouble with the law and even new identities.
The country is struggling to cope with a resurgence in racist and anti-Semitic crime - last year, far-right offenses in Germany reached their highest level since World War II, up nearly 60 percent from 1999.
The nationwide hot line is intended to get repentant neo-Nazi extremists to contact officials directly. Interior Minister Otto Schily has said the government might offer some former neo-Nazis new identities.
Neo-Nazis who use the program also can hope for leniency in court, said Heinz Fromm, head of the federal security agency that tracks extremists. In some cases, he said, criminal investigations might be dropped.
Some German states are already experimenting with their own hot lines - to little apparent effect. The western state of Rhineland-Palatinate says its hot line received only 10 calls in its first two weeks, while southwestern Baden-Wuerttemberg says its hot line has had only a few calls.
If the offer isn't taken up, "we can't change that," Fromm conceded. "But we should at least try it."
Fromm said assistance for repentant neo-Nazis would be worked out individually. It could be limited to advice or "we could offer material help, for example in moving out of their environment" or changing jobs, he said. He declined to estimate the costs.
Fromm indicated the government has no plans to pay for information. "You won't be able to earn anything from being or having been a right-wing extremist," he said.
"This is a sensible approach that should help contain far-right extremism," Fromm said of the new program. "There's no reward, and we're the last people that have any reason to pull on kid gloves."
Deidre Berger, the American Jewish Committee's envoy to Berlin, welcomed the program as "an important signal to society," but said it was too early judge its chances of success.
"It's very difficult to extract young people from a social milieu to which they've become accustomed ... that doesn't mean you shouldn't try," she said.
Germany's conservative opposition has raised concerns that offering financial help to leave the neo-Nazi scene may make joining it financially attractive. It has called for expanded witness protection programs.
Schily has dismissed as "naive" reports that the government would pay up to 100,000 marks, equivalent to $47,620 per person, but he has declined to say how much the program would cost.
