Just a few month ago, Matthew Heimbach stated that he “despises” neo-Nazi organizations. The founder of the “Traditionalist Youth Network” (TYN) and the “White Student Union” at Towson University underlined in an interview with Vice magazine that he merely tries to be a “white advocate,” who has no affiliation with white supremacism or racism.
Well, that has changed. Heimbach participated in a rally with the “National Socialist Movement” (NSM) last weekend in Kansas City, Missouri, on behalf of the TYN. The crowd of 40, most of them dressed up in fantasy Nazi uniforms, waved Swastika flags and found pleasure in giving Hitler salutes every few minutes. Upon arriving at the site, the neo-Nazis made a point to rip up and trample on a Jewish prayer scarf.
Matt Heimbach addressing the neo-Nazi rally in Kansas City, Missouri, November 9th 2013.
The date of the rally, November 9th, was the 75th Anniversary of the “Reichspogromnacht,” an especially bloody and disgusting anti-Semitic riot in Germany 1933. Heimbach gave a speech which was enframed with triple “Sieg Heils” from the crowd each at the beginning and the end of his performance. The rally, which took place in front of the Jackson County Courthouse, was confronted by a counterdemonstration of around 400 people.
Though the rally was clearly a neo-Nazi, racist, and white supremacist event, Heimbach still doesn’t consider himself a neo-Nazi. “We need a united front,” Heimbach told a 22-year-old reporter at the rally. He adds, “The left wing has a united front and we should work on having the same.” He claims to have learned about “lies that are told about history” in the last month, which made it possible to work together with neo-Nazis now: “I’ve read David Irving. That changed it all for me. Before, even as a white advocate, I wasn’t fully aware of all the lies that are told.”
Irving, born 1938, is a British revisionist and one of the most notorious holocaust deniers worldwide. He was jailed in Austria for violating a law that prohibit the revival of Nazism and is banned from entering multiple countries. Irving currently travels across the United States to give lectures in numerous cities, mainly on the right wing conspiracy theory that Hitler deputy Rudolf Hess was supposedly murdered in his prison cell 1987 in Berlin.
TYN-activist Matt Parrott (right) helping to set up a wooden swastika at a nightly NSM ceremony.
While reading Irving “opened” his eyes, Heimbach stated that to him, “an orthodox Christian”, historic fascist leaders such as Romania’s Corneliu Codreanu and Spain’s Francisco Franco serve as political role models. “I don’t believe in democracy. What we need is a transgression to a fascist state and ultimately to a monarchy.”
To achieve this goal, says Heimbach, the United States would have to be dissolved, the races would have to be separated and ethnic zones would have to be installed. Jewish people are explicitly not included in Heimbach vision of a facist / monarchist American state.
In an interview with SPLC’s “Hatewatch” blog just a few days before the rally in Kansas City, Heimbach also stated that he believes “in angels and demons and magic.”
When announcing his participation in the Kansas City rally, Heimbach had previsously stated that “anyone who supports the 14 Words is an ally of mine in this common struggle”. “14 Words” is referencing the slogan of neo-Nazi terrorists worldwide: “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.” Heimbach had already attended the “White Unity Gathering” hosted by the”Aryan Terror Brigade” in Kentucky in September and the neo-Nazi Leif Erikson Day celebration in October.
Among the participants of the Kansas City rally was Jeff Schoeps, “commander” of the NSM. “Lieutenant” Harry Hughes spoke and described his border patrols in Arizona to “fight illegal immigration.” In the past, Hughes conducted these patrols with JT Ready, a neo-Nazi who shot four people and then himself in May 2012. Also present in Kansas City was “86 percent white supremacist,” Craig Cobbs, the neo-Nazi who plans to install a white-only colony in the small town of Leith, North Dakota. Later that day the neo-Nazi gathered privately to stage a swastika burning. The NSM website features a photograph showing Heimbachs TYN-sidekick Matt Parrott helping to set up the wooden swastika for the nightly ceremony.
It seems by these recent associations and bold admissions, Matthew Heimbach has let go of the “moderate racist” routine that carried him through Towson University and his White Student Union. Now, it looks as though he is fully engaged in and committed to being an extreme bigot and white supremacist.