NCJ Number
187054
Journal
Intelligence Report Issue: 100 Dated: Fall 2000 Pages: 6-15
Editor(s)
Mark Potok
Date Published
2000
Length
10 pages
Annotation
This article profiles the beliefs and activities of Hendrik Mobus of the black metal band "Absurd," who is a German neo-Nazi and a key player in the international white power music scene; in America, where he was recently arrested for his German parole violation, he has been strongly supported by William Pierce, the leader of America's premiere neo-Nazi group, the National Alliance.
Abstract
In 1993, 17-year-old Mobus and two other teenagers, all members of "Absurd," murdered a 14-year-old boy with whom they had quarreled. Mobus was sentenced to 8 years in a juvenile facility, where he managed to produce increasingly harsh and political music, becoming something of an icon on the German neo-Nazi and "national socialist black metal" (NSBM) scene. Following his release, Mobus violated his parole by publicly mocking and demeaning his victim and by giving a "sieg heil" salute, both actions illegal under German laws; he is also accused of organizing radical groups. After escaping to America, Mobus was taken under the wing of William Pierce. Pierce's interest in Mobus apparently stems from Mobus' influence in the multimillion-dollar black metal music industry, which has greatly contributed to the recruitment of youth into the neo-Nazi movement. To William Pierce, Mobus represents money and an expansion of the number and power of neo-Nazis. It appears that in spite of Pierce's efforts to gain the freedom of Mobus after his arrest in the United States on an international warrant, the U.S. Government plans to deport Mobus back to Germany.