Bela Ewald Althans

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Bela Ewald Althans, real name Bernd Althans, currently known as Bernd E. Althans (born 1966 in Bremen) is a former activist on the German neo-Nazi scene.

Althans's extreme far-right tendencies became clear while he was still in school. To begin with he was a member, and protege, of Otto Ernst Remer's Deutsche Freiheitsbewegung ("German Freedom Movement"). From youth onwards Althans also took part in far-right militia exercises and was a member of the Wiking-Jugend (Viking Youth), a neo-Nazi organisation modelled on the Hitler Youth.

In 1983 Althans joined Michael Kühnen and Christian Worch's far-right Action Front of National Socialists/National Activists. Along with these two, Althans switched to the Freiheitliche Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (Liberal German Workers' Party) after the Action Front was banned. Althans later contributed to the "Committee for Preparations for the Celebration of Adolf Hitler's 100th Birthday". After Kühnen's death in 1991 Althans became one of the most important figures in the German far-right political scene. He was at this time in charge of the organisation of the Rudolf Hess memorial march in Wunsiedel. Althans's role during the pogrom of Rostock in 1992 is unclear.

From the beginning of the 1990s Althans became increasingly linked with Holocaust denial, being involved in the organisation of events at which revisionists such as Raimund Bachmann, Karl Philipp and the British publicist David Irving appeared. He also acted as liaison officer in Germany for the neo-Nazi and Holocaust denier Ernst Zündel, who lived in Canada from 1958 until his deportation in 2005, through his PR agency "Althans Distribution Service and Public Relations" (also known internally as the "Office for Public Announcements and Public Relations"). During this time Althans also made numerous trips abroad, including to Canada and Russia, in order to forge international contacts with the far-right underground. In 1994 he stood as the NPD candidate (a far-right party) in local elections in Munich.

In 1995 Althans became known to a wider audience through the documentary film Beruf Neonazi ("Occupation Neo-Nazi"). Althans caused an outrage by denying the murder of European Jews from the site of the Auschwitz memorial.

By 1985 Althans had been tried numerous times, sometimes incurring prison sentences, for offences linked to his Nazi background. His most recent trial to date was in 1995, during which he distanced himself from the violent elements of the neo-Nazi scene. He was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison for denying the Holocaust against the Jews and for contravening Germany's Volksverhetzung law (incitement to hatred).

Due to his homosexuality Althans had long been a controversial figure among far-right extremists - but popular among sections of the gay community, for example the film-maker Rosa von Praunheim, who depicted him sympathetically and uncritically in the film Männer, Helden, schwule Nazis ("Men, Heroes, Gay Nazis"). According to Althans's own statements it was his homosexuality (and not so much any general political disagreements) which led to his dissociation from the Nazi scene. Today he works as a promoter and organiser for gay parties under the name Bernd E. Althans.

During his most recent trial the news magazine Der Spiegel published a report claiming that he had worked for Germany's intelligence agency since 1990. The head of the Bavarian intelligence agency, Gerhard Forster, stated that Althans had offered them "extensive material" for DM-360,000, which Althans denies.

He submitted his personal documents to the Dutch research institute for social history, IISG.