Nordreich

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Nordreich was an alliance (clan) in the online game Cyber Nations, which existed from October 14, 2006 to May 2, 2007. The premise of an alliance is for individual nations with common interests to cooperate in matters such as mutual defense. These shared interests often give alliances a distinct persona which they use in their role playing (which constitutes the "in character" side of the game). This alliance has a persona of radical nationalism similar to that held by Imperial and Nazi Germany. Members did attempt to separate their in character and out of character personas as to address allegations of the alliance being a real life white power organization.

The alliance made the front page of Verdens Gang's web edition (VG), as well as stories in other online newspapers. The headlines referred to Nordreich as a Nazi organization due to its propaganda films. In one of these, Nordreich Anthem: Ja vi elsker/Yes we love, they used the Norwegian national anthem, Ja, vi elsker as background music for a slide-show which allegedly contained Nazi imagery. This and other recruitment videos are available on Youtube^[1]. This came around the same time that another video had been released by an impostor posing as a Nordreich official which depicts Holocaust atrocities associating with the film Soylent Green. Kaiser Martens, Nordreich's head of state at the time, has confirmed that the video was not official.^{[citation needed]}

The government of Nordreich officially denied any associations with Nazism. A small minority of Nordreich members hold or have held white nationalist or white supremacist views in the past, most notably Wartides14, a former member of the band RaHoWa, who publicly stated on the Cyber Nations forums that he had renounced the white supremacist community and its goals.

According to VG, both the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Norwegian Police Security Agency reacted to the clan's "abuse of the Norwegian national anthem and other symbols".^[2] As did Norway's embassy in Berlin, in spite of the clan itself claiming to be mainly localized in USA.^[3]

In such gaming cultures, it is common to make propaganda for the clans.^{[citation needed]} This is pointed out by members of Nordreich on their web pages. Several other clans in Cyber Nations have similar recruitment videos available online.

On January 25, 2007 the alliance had approximately 340 members, some of which were Norwegian.^{[citation needed]} Its membership increased significantly after the publicity in Norwegian media.^{[citation needed]}

After the publicity, Nordreich published an official answer^[3] to the Norwegian media, rejecting any affiliation with right-wing organizations.

Aftenposten wrote,^[4]^[5] that the white nationalist website Stormfront considers Nordreich as a recruitment base for their own association.

Nordreich disbanded in early May 2007, with about half of the alliance's members reforming as the Norden Verein (NoV). They have since ceased to recognize Norway as a country,^{[citation needed]} although this is done in an "out-of-character" fashion to mock Norway for what the Norden Verein saw as a ridiculous action, that is, mistaking an "online country" for a real life organization.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] References

^ YouTube – Nordreich videos. Retrieved on 2008-03-21.
^ ""Yes, we love" in Nazi film", Verdens Gang, 2007-01-02. Retrieved on 2008-03-20. (Norwegian)
^ ^a ^b *new* official statement emailed to various officials. thelonglines.com. About extreme right: "Our 'group' (clan, alliance, etc.) is based in a popular online nation simulator/Role playing game called Cyber Nations; located at http://www.cybernations.net. The game consists of tens of thousands of players, of which participate in several player created alliances of all different types of affiliations, be they conservative, communist, nationalist, libertarian, or "far right". It is for the sake of fun gaming that such political diversity exists in the game, for the sake of 'role playing', as politics are heavy in the alliance politics that keep the game running between all of these player created groups. "It may come as a surprise to you, that Nordreich is one of these in game alliances. We are a fictional organization comprised mainly of political minded teenagers that harbor a conservative/nationalist/European pride ideology; with a few exceptions to the rule; even non-European peoples with a nationalist mindset are welcome to the alliance." About nationalities: "we are multi national, with members all over the world; even Norway […] We broke no laws here, and since we practice freedom of speech in America (a practice outlawed long ago in central/northern Europe) we have the right to use whatever song or speech we wish."
^ "Rekrutteringssted for nazister", Forbruker.no, 2007-01-03. Retrieved on 2008-03-21. (Norwegian) "The people behind the Nazi video using Ja vi elsker belong to an online game that is used as recruitment grounds for extreme right-wing groups."
^ "Not "real" neo-Nazis", Aftenposten, 2007-01-03. Retrieved on 2008-03-20. "But the (genuine) neo-Nazi group Stormfront does define Nordreich as a potential recruiting ground for their extremist organization, and in their online forum they discuss precisely this. The white supremacist group Stormfront has a number of members who admit to being active in Nordreich."