This weekend a large number of neo-Nazis gathered in Ostritz for the ‘Shield and Sword’ festival. The annual festival was meant to be a melting pot for individuals who long back to the Reich and promised political seminars, locally sourced sausages, beer and martial arts – the ultimate Nazi getaway.

Unfortunately for the Nazis, the German police banned alcohol from the event due to its “martial and aggressive character”. Given the alcohol ban, and the fact that ‘Nazi Concert’ sounds slightly too insane even for the sober Nazis, only half of them turned up. Comforting to know that a lack of beer is enough to deter most Nazis these days. Although, just imagine how keen the group that was left is.

Over the entire weekend, the police seized 4400 litres of beer, which comes down to about 7.3 litres per Nazi. Not exactly economical. What’s more, to make sure no Kampfs were mentioned and no camps were started, more police officers than Nazis attended the Nazi festival. The number was about 2 -1 in the end. A win-win for the po-po, plenty of beer, some Nazi music and martial arts to go with it.

Local residents were less keen on attending the festival, so instead, they bought all alcohol that was available in the village to “dry the Nazis out”. This could of course just be the liberal media confusing ‘mass village protests against Neo-nazis’ for ‘a normal Saturday afternoon in Germany’, but let’s give them the benefit of the doubt. One of the activists was heard saying “the plan was devised a week in advance”. Sounds very German indeed, and nice to see this level of planning on the right side of history for once.

This is not the first instance of Nazi bullying. In fact, it has become something of a German tradition. Four years ago the town of Wunsiedel tricked neo-Nazis into fundraising an anti-fascist fundraiser. The group ‘rechts gegen rechts’ (right against right) sponsored the Nazis with €10 per metre going to the ‘EXIT Deutschland programme’, a group that helps Germans escape from extremist groups. Along the way, the charitable(?) Nazis were faced with slogans such as “if only the Führer knew”, putting any doubts as to whether Germans have a sense of humour to rest. Overall the Nazis marching qualities earned €10K for the charity, which shows they are good for something after all.