The Beast Reawakens: Fascism's Resurgence from Hitler's Spymasters to Today's Neo-Nazi Groups and Right-Wing Extremists

If you thought Nazism died with Hitler, think again. In The Beast Reawakens, journalist Martin A. Lee traces the resurgence of fascist ideals from the prominent Nazis who escaped prosecution following World War II to the present-day incidents of right-wing violence in Europe and America. One only has to look at the current situation in the Balkans to see that fascism is alive and well. Lee begins his troubling account by reminding us of the many prominent Nazis who, after the war, built new and profitable lives for themselves fomenting political intrigue, while providing role models to a new generation of neo-Nazis all around the world. This underground Nazi culture might have remained out of sight had it not been for the fall of Communism. In the confusion following the end of the Cold War, right-wing nationalist movements sprang up all over Europe, taking root especially deep in formerly communist areas such as Croatia, Bosnia, and Romania.

According to Lee, "the Beast" doesn't restrict itself to Eastern Europe by any means; skinhead violence against immigrants is on the rise in Germany, while right-wing politicians in France, Italy, and other western European countries are increasingly finding a willing audience for their national and racial polemics. And lest American readers be lulled into a false sense of security, Lee warns that the United States is hardly immune to this kind of hateful rhetoric. He warns that many of the militia groups currently operating today share the same glorified attitude toward violence, the same irrational hatred of foreigners and ethnic minorities that mark the worst excesses of fascism in Europe.