Germany has endured its worst few weeks of civil unrest and politically motivated violence since the days of the Nazis.

Police officers, politicians, journalists but above all refugees have been the target of thugs protesting the country's open-door policy towards migrants.

The refugee crisis has changed Germany and, while Chancellor Angela Merkel believes it will be ultimately for the better, the dark parallels with the past continue to mount up.

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Anti-immigration protesters marched through the streets of a German city. Germany has endured its worst few weeks of civil unrest and politically motivated violence since the days of the Nazis

Police officers, politicians, journalists but above all refugees have been the target of thugs protesting the country's open-door policy towards migrants

'The hate is back,' reported news magazine Der Spiegel. 'But it no longer remains in slogans and posters - it's already creepy enough to portray politicians hanging from gallows or to threaten them.

'Security officials see a new level of violence. At the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) no-one will no longer rule out that there could be deaths in the future.'

The worst physical attack of recent weeks came on October 17 when Henriette Reker, a pro-asylum politician, was campaigning in Cologne to become mayor of the city. A neo-Nazi opposed to migrants nearly killed her by stabbing her in the neck.

'Does this threaten a relapse to the time of the Weimar Republic when violent political confrontations were commonplace?' asked Spiegel, referring to the chaos in post-First World War Germany which led directly to the Nazis coming to power.

In other attacks neo-Nazis clubbed two Syrian men with baseball bats at the weekend in the north German city of Wismar. One remains seriously hurt.

A similar attack also took place at the weekend in Magdeburg where dozens of neo-Nazis carrying baseball bats attacked refugees in what one local politician described as a 'lynch mob' frenzy.

The worst physical attack of recent weeks came on October 17 when Henriette Reker, pictured, a pro-asylum politician was stabbed in the neck

She was campaigning in the city of Cologne to become mayor, when she was attacked by a neo-Nazi opposed to migrants

In Pirna near Dresden last Friday two men, a Morrocan and a Libyan, were set upon by a gang of 25 neo-Nazis and badly beaten.

On Thursday last week a Syrian man in Hanover was pushed against a wall by five thugs who clambered out of their car to hit him. They fled before police arrived.

At the weekend also a mob returned to the flashpoint town of Freital in eastern Germany where earlier this year the far-right tried to kill a local left-wing politician with a car bomb. A firework thrown at a house where refugees were living broke a window and sent shards of glass into the face of a 26-year-old Syrian man.

In the early hours of Sunday morning at Sehnde near Hanover, an arsonist hurled a Molotov cocktail at a home housing three refugee families. Luckily no-one was hurt and the 43-year-old neo-Nazi perpetrator was arrested.

Migrants crossing into Austria on their way to Germany. The refugee crisis has changed Germany and, while Chancellor Angela Merkel believes it will be ultimately for the better, the dark parallels with the past continue to mount up

Earlier in the month in Dortmund six neo-Nazis used baseball bats and broken bottles to beat up four young men with foreign backgrounds who had lived in Germany for a long time.

At the beginning of the month four men pelted an Afghani man, aged 19, with beer bottles in Kroelpa in east Germany. He suffered slight injuries.

And in Bamberg two weeks ago police said they prevented a bomb attack when they seized home made bombs from a right-wing group which, if they had been used, would almost certainly have caused death and serious injuries.

A right-wing extremist held in connection with the devices had links to the anti-Muslem Pegida movement and a neo-Nazi group.

In Niederau a group of volunteers with Germany's Technical Relief Organization who had been helping erect beds at a refugee centre had to run a gauntlet of bottles and stones when they drove out of the compound.

Syrian refugees wait to enter Germany. Last week a Syrian man in Hanover was pushed against a wall by five thugs who clambered out of their car to hit him

Last Friday in Berlin far-right thugs followed and tried to beat up journalist Helmut Schümann, an editor on the Tagesspiegel newspaper who had written articles supporting refugees. You lefty pig,' they screamed at him and he injured himself falling over as he was pushed.

His next column was under the headline: 'Is this really our country?' There have been several other instances of journalists being roughed up or intimidated by the crowds at the large Pegida rallies held lately in Dresden.

Markus Deggerich, an editor with Spiegel, was jostled, spit on and abused by membets of the right-leaning Alternative for Germany party as he tried to report on their rally in Erfurt. On Monday this week in Berlin it was the turn of a Die Welt newspaper video crew to be abused by the far right.

Police officers across the country are bearing the brunt of the violence too. At Meerane in the east of Germany at the weekend 80 demonstrators attempted to block buses taking 700 refugees to different areas.

At least half a dozen officers were hurt when the mob hurled powerful fireworks at them,.