| Landser | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Berlin, Germany |
| Genres | Nazism |
| Years active | 1992–2003 |
| Past members | |
| Michael Regener Andreas Mörike Jean-Rene Bauer Christian Vennedorf |
|
Landser was a neo-Nazi rock band from Germany. Landser is an old-fashioned German colloquialism for a low-ranking soldier. The band, which is outlawed in Germany, was previously called Endlösung (Final Solution), and was founded by members of the neo-Nazi group Die Vandalen - Ariogermanische Kampfgemeinschaft (The Vandals - Aryan Germanic Combat Association), which was founded in 1982.[1]
They performed only one concert that was open to the public, and did so wearing masks. However, they held several private concerts in restaurants in Berlin, Germany. Landser recorded its music in Germany, but had the CDs manufactured abroad, mainly in the United States, Canada and Eastern Europe. The music is distributed online, by underground dealers through peer to peer networks or purchased from music labels in the United States and in some European countries where their music is legal (mostly in Eastern Europe and the United Kingdom).
Contents |
Landser's first major release was Das Reich kommt wieder (The Reich Will Rise Again). Their other albums include Republik der Strolche (Republic of Rascals) and Ran an den Feind, (Engage the Enemy), which includes a remake of the 1940 German military march "Bomben auf England", with new lyrics that call for the bombing of Israel. Another song glorifies Nazi Rudolf Hess as a martyr and, in "Opa war Sturmführer" ("Grandpa was a Sturmführer"), Michael Regener, the band's leader, pays tribute to his grandfather, who was a Waffen Schutzstaffel (SS) officer.
Most of their songs espouse an aggressively nationalist perspective of the world and are highly critical of the Federal Republic of Germany, its surveillance and censorship agencies (i.e. the Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz), liberalism and the Left. A number of songs speak against communists, pedophiles and homosexuals, as well as ethnic minorities in Germany, such as the Jews, Turks and Poles. Some of their songs are non-political and inspired by German drinking songs. Others praise German icons such as Frederick the Great or take an anti-drug stance.
In Germany, the band has been deemed a criminal organization. Three members of Landser were convicted of "forming a criminal gang organization" in December 2003, under laws that forbid publishing materials that defame the deaths of World War II, or are found to incite race hatred. Two members received nearly two years probation, while the band's leader, Michael Regener was sentenced to more than three years in prison, making it the first time a band has been declared illegal in Germany and its members incarcerated. On March 10, 2005, the German Federal Court of Justice, Germany's highest court, rejected Regener's appeal of his sentence.
Regener was still producing CDs while waiting for his appeal. After the forced breakup of Landser, Regener founded a new band in 2004, Die Lunikoff Verschwörung (The Lunikoff conspiracy). They have made several CDs, including 2004's Die Rückkehr des Unbegreiflichen, Amalek Vol. 1 & 2, and 2005's Niemals auf Knien. The lyrics of these CDs were vetted by lawyers to make them not actionable according to German law. On October 21, 2006, approximately 750 neo-Nazis launched a protest outside the jail where Regener was being held, demanding his release.[2]