Gary Lauck
Born1953 (age 70–71)
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
NationalityAmerican
Occupation(s)Political activist, publisher
Years active1970s-present
Known forNSDAP/AO

Gerhard Rex Lauck (born 1953) is an American neo-Nazi activist and publisher. Based in Lincoln, Nebraska, he is sometimes nicknamed the "Farm Belt Fuehrer" due to his rural origins.[1][2]

Early life

Gary Lauck was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on May 12, 1953 to a German-American family.[3] At age eleven, he moved to Lincoln, Nebraska with his family, his father becoming a professor of engineering at the University of Nebraska.[3] Lauck skipped his senior year of high school and then attended the University of Nebraska for two years.[3] By this point, he already held neo-Nazi beliefs.

Career as a Neo-Nazi

In 1978, he shot and wounded his brother Jerry after a political dispute.[3] Eventually, Lauck moved to Chicago, where he would spend most of his adult life.[3] Lauck has lived in Fairbury,[4] Nebraska since 2009;[5] prior to that he lived in Lincoln, Nebraska.

As leader of the NSDAP/AO he was in close contact with like-minded individuals and groups in Europe, notably Michael Kühnen with whom he worked closely from the 1970s.[1] His contacts with the German neo-Nazi scene had begun in 1971 when as an 18-year-old Lauck had established the Auslandsorganisation (overseas organisation) of the National Socialist Combat Groups, a militant German neo-Nazi group that was quickly banned by the German government. Lauck's NSDAP/AO was established following this ban.[6] A noted Germanophile, Lauck sported a toothbrush moustache and used the Nazi salute as his regular greeting.[1] His speech impediment has been often confused with an affected German accent.[2] Although based in the USA, Lauck spent much of his time as an activist in Europe, particularly during the early 1990s when the NSDAP/AO extended its network of contacts considerably. He produced large volumes of neo-Nazi literature in several languages and also dealt in computer discs detailing the building of bombs, both of which were distributed across a network of European contacts.[1] In 1990 he ensured that the NSDAP/AO would link up with the Swedish neo-Nazi group Sveriges Nationella Forbund, which became instrumental in forming the "Nordic National Socialist Bloc" with like-minded activists in Norway.[7] That same year he played a leading role in helping Kühnen, Gottfried Küssel and Christian Worch establish a network of Gesinnungsgemeinschaft der Neuen Front cells across the former East Germany following German reunification.[8] Two years later the NSDAP/AO also concluded an agreement with the National Socialist Movement of Denmark, which up to that point had been a leading organisation within the rival World Union of National Socialists (WUNS). The change occurred after Povl Riis-Knudsen, a leading figure in WUNS, had been expelled from the Danish Nazi movement for marrying a Palestinian woman.[7] During the early days of the Yugoslav Wars Lauck's journal New Order ran a series of articles in support of Croatia and they particularly expressed support for the Ustaše and the magazine was instrumental in recruiting neo-Nazi linked mercenaries to fight for the Croatian cause.[9]

Lauck was arrested in Denmark in 1995, leading to a far right campaign in the USA against plans to extradite him to Germany, where he was wanted for distributing neo-Nazi propaganda.[10] Nevertheless, Lauck was deported to Hamburg where he was tried and found guilty of distributing neo-Nazi pamphlets. He was sentenced to four years imprisonment.[11] He was released from prison on March 19, 1999, and deported back to the United States.[12] Lauck runs Third Reich Books[13] which continues to distribute Nazi paraphernalia online.

References

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  1. 1 2 3 4 Martin A. Lee, The Beast Reawakens, Warner Books, 1997, p. 246
  2. 1 2 Vaughan, Carson (July 6, 2017). "The Farm Belt führer: the making of a neo-Nazi". The Guardian. Retrieved September 28, 2022.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Stephen E. Atkins, Encyclopedia of Right-Wing Extremism in Modern American History, ABC-CLIO, 2011, p. 110.
  4. ↑ "Jefferson County". jefferson.gisworkshop.com. Retrieved 2017-12-26.
  5. ↑ "Gary Lauck, (402) 729-5160, 715 6th St, Fairbury, NE | Nuwber". nuwber.com. Retrieved 2017-12-26.
  6. ↑ Toe Bjorgo & Rob Witte, Racist Violence in Europe, St Martin's Press, 1993, p. 86
  7. 1 2 Bjorgo & Witte, Racist Violence in Europe, p. 87
  8. ↑ Bjorgo & Witte, Racist Violence in Europe, pp. 89-90
  9. ↑ Lee, The Beast Reawakens, pp. 297-298
  10. ↑ Lee, The Beast Reawakens, p. 343
  11. ↑ Lee, The Beast Reawakens, p. 378
  12. ↑ "j. - After 4 years in German jail, American neo-Nazi deported". jweekly.com. 26 March 1999.
  13. ↑ "Hate Map". Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved 2017-12-26.
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