What was Kristallnacht (kris'·tahl·nockt)? Kristallnacht, the "Night of Broken Glass," was a wave of violent pogroms against Jews throughout Germany and Austria that took place on November 9-10, 1938. On the night of November 9th, the Gestapo (Nazi State Police) informed local police by telegram about the actions against Jews and their synagogues that would be taking place throughout Germany, instructing them not to interfere with what was happening. During these two nights,…

For Law Enforcement The National Alliance (NA) is a neo-Nazi organization with headquarters on privately-owned land in Mill Point, West Virginia. From the mid-1970s until the 2002 death of the group’s founder, William Pierce, the NA was the most formidable white supremacist presence in the United States. It was also the largest neo-Nazi group in the country. Under the leadership of Erich Gliebe, who took over the organization after Pierce’s death, the NA has gone into a steep…

Introduction The two principal leaders of Sabiqun, an anti-Semitic Muslim group that advocates for the creation of a global Islamic state, have become popular speakers on college and university campuses over the past several years. Sabiqun founder, Imam Abdul Alim Musa, who heads a mosque in Washington, DC, and Imam Abdul Malik Ali, leader of a mosque in Oakland, California, ahve used their appearances on campus to promote hostility toward Israel and AMerican Jews. For example,…

For Educators The Nazi Party rose to power with an anti-Semitic racial ideology. However, the anti-Jewish campaign was not conducted according to a blueprint, rather it evolved. Before the outbreak of the war, political and economic factors, as well as public opinion both inside and outside Germany influenced the evolution of Nazi anti-Jewish laws and measures. The main purpose of the anti-Jewish policy between 1933 and 1939 according to the racial theory was to isolate German Jewry from…

Introduction The Hoax Spreads Contemporary Re-Emergence Widespread Condemnation Conclusion   IntroductionThe Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion is a classic in paranoid, racist literature. Taken by the gullible as the confidential minutes of a Jewish conclave convened in the last years of the nineteenth century, it has been heralded by anti-Semites as proof that Jews are plotting to take over the world. Since its contrivance around the turn of the century by the Russian Okhrana,…

For Educators

Freedom of religion is one of our nation's most cherished liberties. It is at the very foundation of America. Our nation's Constitution protects religious freedom for all, prohibits religious tests for public office, and mandates separation of church and state. These are essential American ideals and values, which candidates for public office should respect. Candidates for public office are, of course, free to worship as they choose. And they should feel comfortable explaining their…

For Law Enforcement The Militia Movement (historical backgrounder 2001) This document is an archived copy of an older ADL report and may not reflect the most current facts or developments related to its subject matter.  For current information on the militia movement, please see our updated backgrounder.  The militia movement is a relatively new right-wing extremist movement consisting of armed paramilitary groups, both formal and informal, with an anti-government, conspiracy…

On July 18, 1994, a suicide terrorist drove a car filled with hundreds of kilograms of explosives into the Jewish community’s AMIA/DAIA building in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Eighty-five people were killed and hundreds were injured. The now infamous AMIA/DAIA bombings represent the deadliest terrorist attack in Argentina, home to the largest Jewish community in Latin America. Due to the complexity of the case and the dynamics of the investigation, the AMIA/DAIA bombing…

When Jews began arriving in Palestine en masse in the late 19th century, the land had an Arab presence. The number of Arabs in Palestine at the time and questions surrounding when many of the Arabs came to the land remain the subject of dispute among historians. The early Zionist pioneers saw the Arab population as small, apolitical and without a nationalist element and they therefore believed that there would not be friction between the two communities. They also thought that development of…

The Oath Keepers and Three Percenters, both part of an anti-government extremist movement that has grown since President Obama took office, promote the idea that the federal government is plotting to take away the rights of American citizens and must be resisted. The two groups are apparently trying to make inroads in the U.S. military.  From October 24-25, 2009, the Oath Keepers held their first national conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. About one hundred people reportedly attended…

Cynthia McKinney, a former U.S. Congresswoman from Georgia and 2008 Green Party presidential candidate, participated in a variety of anti-Israel campaigns and events in 2009.   McKinney has a history of using anti-Israel rhetoric, including accusing the pro-Israel lobby of sabotaging her political career and alleging that Israel of committing genocide, apartheid and war crimes. She has repeatedly condemned U.S. support for Israel.  She has also taken part in multiple…

The central narrative of Christian theology is the passion, i.e. the trials and crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus. There are four different accounts of the passion in the gospels of Christian Scriptures, in which Jews play different roles. All these accounts culminate in the death and resurrection of Jesus as revealing God's saving power available to humanity. Good Friday and Easter celebrate respectively the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus as the high points of Christian creed and…

The Supreme White Alliance (SWA) is a racist skinhead group formed in 2007 by racist skinheads from several different states. The group is relatively small, with about two dozen active members, but SWA is notable in that even though its members are mostly in their 20s, many already possess a lengthy history of white supremacy, including belonging to a variety of other white supremacist groups. SWA thus combines the energy of youth with the veteran hate of hardcore racist skinheads. In…

Eric Robert Rudolph, the nation's most wanted domestic terrorist, was captured on May 31, 2003 in Murphy, North Carolina, after being a fugitive from justice for nearly five years. He is charged with committing four terrorist bombings from 1996 to 1998, including the bombing of Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta in 1996, which killed two people and injured more than one hundred people. Rudolph has had connections since childhood to a number of anti-Semitic, racist and anti…