German Police Arrest 39 During Neo-Nazi March in Berlin

On Saturday, August 19, German police arrested 39 individuals during a neo-Nazi march in Berlin. According to the Associated Press, on Sunday, Berlin police officials announced that 35 of those arrested were affiliated with neo-Nazi groups, while four others were protesters opposing these groups. The reason for the arrests was the carrying of prohibited fascist slogans and placards and disturbing public order. Over 500 neo-Nazis demonstrated in Berlin on Saturday to mark the 30th anniversary of the death of Rudolf Hess, Adolf Hitler's deputy. Opposing political parties, labor unions, and Christian groups held a counter-demonstration, occupying the protest site in the Spandau neighborhood of Berlin and preventing the full gathering of neo-Nazis. The Spandau neighborhood was home to the prison where Rudolf Hess was held until 1987, which was demolished by government officials in Berlin after his death. Rudolf Hess was born on April 26, 1894, in Alexandria, Egypt, and committed suicide in prison on August 17, 1987, at the age of 93. After Adolf Hitler rose to power, Hess served as a cabinet minister and became a member of the Defense Council at the onset of World War II. In 1941, he flew to London to persuade the British government to sign a peace treaty with Germany but was arrested and imprisoned until the end of the war. After World War II, Hess was found guilty of two charges at the Nuremberg Trials and sentenced to life imprisonment. During the war, Hitler's regime engaged in the genocide of the Jewish people in Europe, resulting in the deaths of approximately six million Jews in concentration camps equipped with gas chambers like Auschwitz. Additionally, over 20 million Soviet citizens lost their lives during the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. Since Hess's suicide, German neo-Nazis have annually held gatherings at the site of his prison for political propaganda.