Atomwaffen Division
The Atomwaffen Division is a neo-Nazi terrorist network. Formed in 2015 and based in the Southern United States, it has since expanded across the United States and into the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, the Baltic states and other European countries. The group is part of the alt-right, although the group rejects the label and is considered extreme even within that movement. It is listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Members of the Atomwaffen Division have been held responsible for a number of murders, planned terrorist attacks, as well as other criminal actions.
History and ideology
In 2015, the group announced its creation on the neo-Nazi website IronMarch.org, which has been linked to several acts of neo-Nazi terrorism and violent militant groups such as the Nordic Resistance Movement, National Action, and the Azov Battalion. In its initial posts, the group described itself as a "very fanatical, ideological band of comrades who do both activism and militant training. Hand to hand, arms training, and various other forms of training. As for activism, we spread awareness in the real world through unconventional means."Atomwaffen advocates attacks on the federal government of the United States, minorities, gays and Jews and burns copies of the United States Constitution and flag in its propaganda videos. Atomwaffen Division has engaged in several mass murder plots, plans to cripple public water systems and destroy parts of the Continental U.S. power transmission grid. Atomwaffen has also been accused of planning to blow up nuclear plants in order to cause nuclear meltdowns. The organization's aim is to violently overthrow the federal government of the United States via terrorism and guerrilla warfare tactics. Since 2017, the organization has been linked to eight killings and several violent hate crimes, including assaults, rapes and multiple cases of kidnapping and torture.
The organization explicitly advocates neo-Nazism, drawing a significant amount of influence from James Mason and his publication, Siege, a mid-1980s newsletter of the National Socialist Liberation Front that paid tribute to Adolf Hitler, Joseph Tommasi, Charles Manson, and Savitri Devi. It was published into a book of the same name that is required reading for all Atomwaffen Division members. Mason, a neo-Nazi and Holocaust denier who advocates murder and violence in order to create lawlessness and anarchy and destabilize the system, is the main advisor to the group.
Atomwaffen also draws influences from Nazi esotericism and the occult, and its recommended reading material for aspiring initiates includes the works of Savitri Devi and Anton Long of the Order of Nine Angles, a notorious British neo-Nazi leader with a violent criminal history. Some members of the group also sympathize with the Salafi and jihadist forms of Islam. Atomwaffen Division's founder, Brandon Russell, is alleged to have described Omar Mateen, who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and perpetrated the Orlando nightclub shooting, as "a hero". The group also idolizes Osama bin Laden in its propaganda and considers "the culture of martyrdom and insurgency" within al Qaeda and the Taliban as something to be emulated. A member of Atomwaffen Division, Stephen Billingsley, was photographed at a vigil in San Antonio, Texas, for the victims of the Orlando shooting, with a skull mask and a sign saying "God Hates Fags".
The group's membership is mostly young, and it has also recruited new members on university campuses. Its campus recruitment poster campaigns urge students to "Join Your Local Nazis!" and say "The Nazis Are Coming!" It posted recruiting posters at the University of Chicago, the University of Central Florida, the Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, and Boston University. Atomwaffen Division has recruited several veterans and current members of the U.S. Armed Forces who train the organization's members in the use of firearms and military tactics. A U.S. Navy officer was expelled for allegedly recruiting 12 members for the group. Atomwaffen members have also sought to train with the Azov Battalion in Ukraine. In addition to Azov, Atomwaffen has ties to various affiliated neo-Nazi groups and the fascist Satanist Order of Nine Angles, an organization which advocates rape and human sacrifice.
During an investigation, ProPublica obtained 250,000 encrypted chat logs written by members of the group. ProPublica, in early 2018, estimated that Atomwaffen had 80 members, while the Anti-Defamation League estimated that it had 24 to 36 active members. According to International Centre for Counter-Terrorism the group has a large number of “initiates” in addition to 60 to 80 full members.
On March 14, 2020, Mason claimed that the Atomwaffen Division has disbanded. However, the group is believed to be on the cusp of being designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the State Department, and the Anti-Defamation League stated that "the move is designed to give members breathing room rather than actually end their militant activities". An intelligence brief which was distributed by federal law enforcement warned that Atomwaffen and its branches discussed taking advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic. On March 25, 2020, a Missouri man affiliated with Atomwaffen allegedly planned to destroy a hospital treating coronavirus victims with a car bomb and died in a shootout with the FBI.
According to counter-terrorism experts the group remains active and continues to establish affiliates in Europe. On May 31, 2020, it was announced that a new Atomwaffen cell had been uncovered in Russia. Local security services had also just previously uncovered a cell in Switzerland, confirming the suspicions of the German officials that Switzerland served as the linchpin of Atomwaffen's German operation, allowing them to evade law enforcement. European security officials have asked their U.S. counterparts for assistance in combating these cells and urged designating them as terrorist organizations.
Members who faced criminal charges
Non-U.S. branches
United Kingdom (Sonnenkrieg Division)
The Sonnenkrieg Division is a neo-Nazi group that is the United Kingdom-based branch of the Atomwaffen Division, and it maintains its links to the Atomwaffen Division by e-mails and chat room discussions as well as by its use of similar names and its distribution of similar propaganda. It surfaced in December 2018, when it was revealed that members of the group had written on the group's Discord server that Prince Harry was a "race traitor" who should be shot for marrying Meghan Markle, who is of mixed race; that police officers should be raped and killed; and that white women who date non-whites should be hanged. At its formation in 2018 the group was thought to have had 10-15 members in the UK and Europe, and some suspected members are thought to have been involved in a previous neo-Nazi group, the System Resistance Network, which was linked to various acts of racial violence and arson in the UK. The BBC revealed that the leaders of the group were Andrew Dymock, 21, and Oskar Dunn-Koczorowski, 18.Police arrested three suspected members of the Sonnenkrieg Division in early December 2018 as part of an "ongoing investigation into extreme right-wing activity". MI5, the British domestic intelligence agency, took the lead in the government's monitoring of far-right terrorism.
On June 18, 2019 Sonnenkrieg members Dunn-Koczorowski and Michal Szewczuk, 19, were jailed for terrorism offences. According to the prosecutor the men promoted "engaging in a "total attack" on the system", Dunn-Koczorowski having proclaimed "terror is the best political weapon for nothing drives people harder than a fear of sudden death" and were intent on action. Furthermore, the group was influenced by James Mason who "may well represent the most violent, revolutionary and potentially terroristic expression of right-wing extremism current today". Dunn-Koczorowski was sentenced to 18 months in detention for encouraging terrorism, and Szewczuk was sentenced to four years in prison for encouraging terrorism and possessing documents that are useful to a terrorist, such as bomb-making instructions.
British anti-fascists say Sonnenkrieg Division has been influenced by the Order of Nine Angles and it is more extreme and potentially more violent than National Action. Hope not Hate's annual "State of Hate" report stated that: "some members have also carried out some of these satanic fantasies and allegations of rape and imprisonment against their own members are circulating." Sonnenkrieg Division members had shared videos of one female supporter being tortured and scored with a knife by one of the group's male members. The private messages which belonged to Sonnenkrieg Division and were acquired by the police included footage of the members of the group abusing women, such as images of the rape of a woman, who had a swastika and runes cut into her flesh.
On February 20, 2019 Jacek Tchorzewski, 18, was stopped by the counter terrorism unit at the Luton airport. He was arrested on suspicion of terror offences, and the police uncovered “an enormous amount” of manuals on how to make weapons and explosives and Nazi propaganda. In court it was heard Tchorzewski had told it was “his dream” to commit a terrorist attack and he intended to smuggle firearms and explosives from Germany for this purpose. Also presented was a notebook from his prison cell where he had written: "Let's fill our hearts with terror and London's streets with blood." Commander Richard Smith, the head of the counter terrorism unit stated that Tchorzewski was connected to the Sonnenkrieg Division. Judge Anuja Dhir said Tchorzewski was a "deeply entrenched neo-Nazi with an interest in Satanism and occult practices” and an “offender of particular concern" and on September 20, 2019 Tchorzewski was handed a sentence of four years for terrorism offences at the Old Bailey.
On December 4, 2019, Andrew Dymock was arrested and charged with 15 terror offenses, including encouraging terrorism and raising funds for a terrorist group. He was first arrested in June 2018 at Gatwick Airport on his way to the United States. Dymock was questioned over alleged sexual offences against a teenage girl, in connection to the earlier assaults on women.
In February 2020, Sonnenkrieg Division became the second far-right group to be banned as a terrorist organization after National Action.
Germany (AWD Deutschland)
On June 1, 2018, in a video in German and English titled AWD Deutschland: Die Messer werden schon gewetzet, the group announced the establishment of a cell or branch in Germany, followed by the promise of a "long fight". The group's flyers were spotted in Berlin, targeting students. In June 2019, Atomwaffen propaganda was discovered in a Turkish neighborhood in Cologne on the site of a nail bomb attack, threatening further similar attacks.An unnamed American activist had emigrated to Germany for safety reasons due to threats from Atomwaffen Division. In November 2018 she received a call from the Federal Criminal Police Office to urgently come to authorities. Atomwaffen members had traveled to Germany and the police believed she was in imminent danger of being murdered by the group based on a tip from the FBI.
In October 2019 people claiming to be members of the organization sent death threats to German politicians Cem Özdemir and Claudia Roth. "At the moment, we are planning how and when we will execute you; At the next public rally? Or will we get you in front of your home?" read part of the message sent to the office of the Member of Bundestag, who has Circassian roots. The death threats were condemned by Angela Merkel, and Interior Ministry spokesman Steve Alter commented the security services have "already had this group in their sights for some time".
German T-Online managed to uncover the identity of one of the members of the group, who is referred to as "A" to comply with German privacy laws. A had previously instructed people on a now-defunct website how to handle chemicals and how to make the explosive HMTD. He also has a conviction for illegal possession of armor. According to the article A is also experienced in martial arts and his social media shows him practicing with guns. The group has a house for meetings somewhere in Eisenach in Thuringia.
On February 5, 2020, a 22-year-old member was arrested in a Bavarian town near the Czech border and several firearms were confiscated from him. He is being investigated on suspicion of preparing a terrorist attack. According to the German police the man had announced his intention of "martyring" himself in an attack against their "enemies" to other members of the group. In addition to this he allegedly instructed others how to procure and smuggle illegal firearms.
Canada (Northern Order)
The group also has a presence in Canada via an affiliated organization called Northern Order that includes members of the Canadian Armed Forces. Members of the group have also been known to attend the Atomwaffen training camps in the United States. One of the pseudonymous individuals found to be part of the group was a 21-year-old "Dark Foreigner" who creates propaganda for Atomwaffen. The group celebrated the anniversary of the Quebec City mosque shooting by defacing Canadian mosques with neo-Nazi slogans. Gunfire was also reported outside a defaced mosque in Ottawa.A neo-Nazi affiliated with Atomwaffen serving in the Royal Canadian Navy was discovered to be selling handguns, assault rifles, grenades and RPG-7s from the Balkans to French neo-Nazis in Marseille. The man was discovered to be connected to Serbian Combat 18 and to another local neo-nazi gang "MC Srbi". It was confirmed the man had travelled to at least half a dozen cities in the Balkans to meet with his contacts and to procure firearms.
Master corporal Patrik Mathews, 26, a trained explosives expert, is among the Canadian Armed Forces members accused of being connected to the group and recruiting for it. He is also accused of being affiliated with The Base. In August 2019, two days after being outed by the Winnipeg Free Press as a neo-Nazi recruiter, his truck was found abandoned near the border and it was suspected he was smuggled across the border and had gone underground in the United States. Mathews was arrested in Maryland by the FBI in January 2020. Also arrested were two other members of the group accompanying him, 33-year-old Brian Lemley, Jr, a US army veteran and 19-year-old William Bilbrough IV. According to the affidavit the men were building assault rifles and manufacturing the psychedelic drug DMT. They also possessed body armor, a machine gun and in excess of 1600 rounds of ammo. They face a maximum sentence of 10 years for firearm offenses, including transporting a machine gun and transporting a firearm and ammunition with intent to commit a felony. According to the law enforcement officials the men had planned opening fire from multiple positions on the upcoming 2020 VCDL Lobby Day rally. Bilbrough had also previously talked about fighting with the Azov Battalion. Mathews had instructed others to "Derail some fucking trains, kill some people and poison some water supplies … If you want the white race to survive, you're going to have to do your fucking part." Lemley told that he could not wait and was excited "to claim my first kill", and said they could ambush and kill police officers and steal their equipment.
Baltic states (Feuerkrieg Division)
In October 2018, a group which is modeled after Atomwaffen and calls itself the Feuerkrieg Division was established in the Baltic states, most likely in Saaremaa, Estonia where its leadership resides. In mid-2019, the Feuerkrieg gained attention when it issued death threats against Belgian MEP Guy Verhofstadt and YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki. It has previously praised the actions of Dylann Roof, Robert Bowers, Timothy McVeigh and Brenton Harrison Tarrant, and encouraged violence against government authorities, Jews, LGBTQ people, leftists and feminists. Propaganda videos produced by the group show its members building and detonating homemade explosive devices in Estonia. Feuerkrieg has also shared a video among its members that instructs how to make TATP bombs, used by ISIS in the Manchester Arena bombing. On June 13, 2019, Feuerkrieg Division announced their presence in Ireland and encouraged people in United Kingdom, the United States, Canada and Germany to join the intercontinental network. Later that year the Gardaí announced they had deported a member of the Atomwaffen network from Ireland for his role in a murder plot.According to Eesti Rahvusringhääling, an investigation revealed that newly elected Estonian MP from the governing far-right EKRE Ruuben Kaalep is connected to British neo-Nazi terrorists. Among these a founding member of the former National Action whose followers went on to form the British branch of the Atomwaffen Division, which subsequently opened a branch in Kaalep's native Estonia in the form of the Feuerkrieg Division. ADL and Hope not Hate also confirmed that American and English Nazis and Azov members have visited Tallinn multiple times, organizing events with Kaalep and Feuerkrieg “which began in early 2019, originally organized with Sonnenkrieg" before becoming a full-fledged branch. Kaalep was also found to have been organizing firearms training with pistols and assault rifles to groups of youths recruited from Blue Awakening, some of whom wore skull masks associated with Atomwaffen and were shown doing nazi salutes. Kaalep had stated that they are ready for armed combat and the collapse of law and order. The Estonian Internal Security Service had earlier expressed its concern over his events.
On September 2, 2019, the British police arrested a 16 year old Feuerkrieg member for plotting a mass shooting and arson attacks. The army cadet had professed his admiration for Adolf Hitler and James Mason. Prosecutor Michelle Nelson told he adheres to "occult Nazism". He had also allegedly surveyed the synagogues in the Durham area in preparation for the attack and talked with another man about buying a gun from him. He also tried to obtain a dangerous chemical from his neo-Nazi friend. The boy wrote in his journal how he deliberately desensitized himself in preparation for the attack, writing that he needed to "shed empathy" and become like the "living dead". The group published the addresses of the force's station buildings, custody suites and training centres in retaliation and encouraged its members and sympathizers to kill West Midlands Chief Constable Dave Thompson. It was added that all police are “race traitors” and that police stations should be "considered high value targets to any local NS ". On November 20, 2019 he was found guilty of preparing a terrorist attack and several other terror offenses and is awaiting sentencing in custody.
On 8 October 2019, Feuerkrieg Division took responsibility for the bombing of Western Union offices on the Balčikonis street in Vilnius, posting footage of the bomb being constructed and stated that "Our threats are not empty". Nazi symbols were also spray painted on the building. The next day, a 21-year-old Luke Hunter appeared in court in London charged with terror offences, allegedly having supported the Feuerkrieg Division and encouraged the mass murder of Jews, non-white people and homosexuals. He entered no plea and was remanded in custody. Subsequently, a 21-year-old Lithuanian named Gediminas Beržinskas was arrested and charged with the bombing and Lithuanian police removed a large quantity of explosives and firearms from his apartment. It was also revealed that his gang had previously been charged with the brutal beating and sexual assault of a teenage girl. Estonian Internal Security Service also stated that their operation had stopped a similar bombing from taking place in Estonia by another member of Feuerkrieg Division.
On 16 January 2020, a 22-year-old Latvian named Arturs Aispurs was charged with preparing an act of terrorism for building a bomb he was planning to detonate in a crowd of "Muslims and foreigners" during the New Year's Eve celebration in Helsinki. During the search of his apartment the police found a large amount of propaganda in his possession linking him to the neo-Nazi network. In response, Feuerkrieg Division announced they are ceasing their public activities. However, according to an investigation by Der Spiegel into firearm smuggling from the Balkans and Eastern Europe to Germany by Atomwaffen, the purported halt of activities was a ruse targeted at law enforcement, and that the group is still very much active.
According to Eesti Ekspress, Estonian Internal Security Service detained a local teenager they alleged was one of the leaders and recruiters for the group, operating under the nickname "Commander" or "Kriegsherr". He had instructed others how to build bombs, spoke about planning attacks and encouraged members to take part in the paramilitary training. However, the authorities could not legally arrest him due to his minor status, and being not criminally liable. His alleged status in the group was also disputed by Eesti Ekspress. In a published picture, the boy can be seen wearing a skull mask and holding a pistol, taking part in the firearms training organized by Kaalep, who is also believed to have taken part in the group's chats under the pseudonym "Kert Valter".
In the United Kingdom, the Home Office announced on July 13, 2020, that it has designated the Feuerkrieg Division as a terrorist organization and the designation came into effect on July 17. In addition John Mann, Baron Mann proposed "discussions with Estonian ministerial counterparts, given that the FKD and the Sonnenkrieg Division appear to have strong Estonian links...to see what we can learn about the reason for the growth in such organisations in the Baltics".