But the governmental crackdown on the record labels was the least of Hendrik’s problems. The public prosecutor had now decided to launch an effort to revoke Hendrik’s parole on the basis of alleged political crimes he had committed since his release from juvenile prison. These consisted of displaying banned political emblems and also giving a “Hitler salute” at a concert.
In September of 1999 the court ruled against Hendrik, and he immediately tried to appeal the decision. Attempting to remain stoic in the face of these new developments and the resulting media furor, he commented: “Narrow-minded people even claim that I want to be the German counterpart of Varg Vikernes, but honestly speaking, I have never wanted to experience the ‘Vikernes-effect’ on myself at all. However, there is no point lamenting about my fate. I have to accept this burden and must try to make the best out of it.”
It was around this time that Hendrik disappeared from public view, leaving the musical demimonde behind, and went truly underground. Rumors have abounded concerning the details of his subsequent actions, but it is certain that he managed to eventually fly to America and arrived in Seattle, Washington toward the end of 1999. Travelling across the U.S.A., Hendrik passed through a string of ill-fated liaisons with racists upon whom he depended for safehousing, culminating with two of them violently threatening him. Following this incident, he eventually made his way to the state of West Virginia and to the headquarters of William Pierce’s racialist group the National Alliance. All was relatively quiet for a number of weeks until Hendrik was arrested in late August, 2000 by U.S. federal agents acting on an international warrant. The German government had requested to have Hendrik extradited to face his charges of parole violation.
The press treatment of the case was unusual, with Hendrik being elevated from a “Satanic murderer” to a “neo-Nazi fugitive.” He became an international cause célèbre—garnering headlines in U.S. News and World Report, as well as major papers like the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post—and his case raised many serious issues about the way in which modern democratic states handle persons who they deem as threats to democracy itself. Soon after his arrest, Hendrik wrote a letter to U.S. President William Clinton and Attorney General Janet Reno and requested status as a political refugee, stating that if he were extradited back to Germany he would be persecuted on account of his political beliefs.
Hendrik was supported in his legal defense by the National Alliance, with William Pierce soliciting donations to help offset the cost of lawyers. A “Free Hendrik Möbus” campaign was also launched on the Internet, and William Pierce produced episodes of his radio program American Dissident Voices in which he addressed the topic of Möbus’s case in detail. In the first major ruling, the U.S. magistrate decided that Hendrik was not eligible for political asylum as he was a “convicted felon” in Germany. Hendrik then attempted to appeal the decision. In their commentaries on the case, both he and William Pierce attempted to make the fundamental issue one of free speech, since the actions which resulted in the original parole revocation were not of a violent nature, but rather “political” misdeeds (which would be perfectly legal according to U.S. laws). Both the U.S. and German governments tried to avoid this thorny issue and confine the legal proceedings to the logistical issues of Hendrik’s parole violation itself, rather than debating the validity of the charges that led to the violation.
Hendrik’s support website
The louder and more publicly this and other questions are discussed in Federal Republic of Germany and in the USA, the more the authorities will claim that a state of emergency exists. They will try to hush up my case and try to distort and cover up the facts.
You, however, can help prevent this. I urgently request that you do not let this opportunity pass by. If the national resistance in Germany does not use my case for its purposes, the system will abuse my case to damage all German Nationalists.
MÖBUS MAKES U.S. HEADLINES
I do not make this request so that I can be the center of attention. I do not want to play a role in your organizations. But I know how serious and dramatic our situation in Germany is. This situation requires unusual and detailed commitment. My case provides an opportunity for this. Who knows, perhaps a US court will grant me asylum. This would be an impressive demonstration of what we have known for a long time: the Federal Republic of Germany is not a democracy, but rather a criminal state!
When Hendrik Möbus arrived at William Pierce’s compound, Pierce was in the process of building up his Resistance Records music label and hoping to expand its horizons outside the skinhead genre. Hendrik was eager to get involved, for he had already tried to bridge the gap between skinheads and Black Metal youths in Germany. In an effort to make Black Metal more palatable to the other radical elements of the racial movement, Hendrik has also written about the genre for Pierce’s magazine (under the pseudonym “Hagen von Tronje,” a reference to the dark figure of the medieval German epic The Nibelungenlied). One of the main obstacles toward Black Metal’s acceptance in the arena of radical politics stems from its Satanic and frenziedly destructive past. Along with Varg Vikernes, Hendrik Möbus is therefore endeavoring to present the musical movement he is connected with in a wholly militant heathen light, now devoid of the old Satanic imagery. This may ultimately be a futile cause, for Black Metal has been defined by its Satanic tendency from the earliest beginning, and old perceptions die hard.
HENDRIK MÖBUS SHORTLY BEFORE HIS ARREST IN WEST VIRGINIA
In stark contrast to his stated desire “not to be a public figure,” Hendrik Möbus inadvertently became a subject for international news headlines. His strategy for avoiding extradition created a further paradox: he was forced to seek the mercy of liberal democratic political asylum laws—exactly the sort of laws which a strident German nationalist would vehemently oppose in their own country for anti-immigration reasons. Ultimately his ploy was unsuccessful, and on July 29, 2001 Hendrik was extradited back to his Vaterland and into the custory of the Thuringian Justice Department, who decreed that he serve the three-year remainder of his original sentence. Two further court judgments against him, one for public display of the Hitler salute and the other for mocking his victim in published statements, have added more than two years of additional incarceration to the time he will serve in jail. It quickly became clear that Hendrik’s personal goal of collaborating with William Pierce in a venture to promote radical Black Metal through the racial music underground would be impossible to realize from a German prison cell. An equally significant obstacle arose exactly one year later when William Pierce died suddenly from cancer on July 23, 2002. Whether the organization and record label he leaves behind will still endeavor to capitalize on the Black Metal market remains to be seen.
IN THIS YEAR TERRIBLE PORTENTS APPEARED OVER NORTHUMBRIA AND SADLY AFFRIGHTED THE INHABITANTS: THESE WERE EXCEPTIONAL FLASHES OF LIGHTNING, AND FIERY DRAGONS WERE SEEN FLYING IN THE AIR. A GREAT FAMINE FOLLOWED SOON UPON THESE SIGNS, AND A LITTLE AFTER THAT IN THE SAME YEAR ... THE HARRYING OF THE HEATHEN MISERABLY DESTROYED GOD’S CHURCH IN LINDISFARNE BY RAPINE AND SLAUGHTER.
—THE ANGLO-SAXON CHRONICLE1
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LORDS OF CHAOS
IN THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF FANS OF INTENSE, CUTTING-EDGE MUSIC, “BLACK METAL” has become synonymous with Norway. This is understandable, as the events there received a significant amount of media attention through articles in Kerrang!, Spin, Fortean Times, the Manchester Guardian, and other papers and magazines around the world. What few commentators realize—except those immersed in the Black Metal underworld—is that Norway is far from unique. Black Metal is a worldwide phenom
enon, and in many parts of the globe it is just now gaining popularity and momentum. Like an unquenchable forest fire, spreading beneath a cover of leaves and underbrush, the smoking embers in Norway created by the loosely-knit “Black Circle” began to surface in faraway places.
It has been demonstrated how the desolate soil of East Germany provided a paradoxically fecund womb for Black Metal ideology to blossom into Absurdist crimes—all that was needed was fertilization by way of an example set by Scandinavia. They are not the only ones. Restless youth around the world long for a symbolic identity to join with, one that provides catharsis for their rebellious impulses. The manifestation of such energies often produces jolting results. What follows is a selective, country-by-country scorecard of the unfolding mayhem related to Black Metal, either in actuality or in spirit.
SWEDEN
A considerable cooperation and cross-pollination occurred between the Swedish and Norwegian Black Metal scenes. Most of this centered around the activities of Øystein Aarseth and his Deathlike Silence record label. Various key players from Sweden would visit Oslo on occasion, hang around the Helvete shop, and thus an alleged Swedish “Black Circle” eventually developed in a parallel fashion with their neighbors to the west.
SWEDISH HEADLINE:
“HE GAVE THE ORDER FOR ARSON”
The first documented Black Metal transgression in Sweden took place under the direction of Varg Vikernes when the 18-year-old future mental patient Suvi Mariotta Puurunen attempted to burn down the house of Christopher Jonsson on July 26, 1992. While the crime didn’t amount to much, her demented diary provided ample fodder for the media’s later portrayal of Vikernes as the perverse persona “The Count.” Puurunen was later brought in to testify during the trials in Norway of Vikernes and others.
“IT”: THE EVIL DWARF OF ABRUPTUM
A few short months later, on Halloween night in the town of Finspång, a party took place. All Hallow’s Eve is considered one of the more important Satanic holidays, and the celebration was allegedly attended by members of two of the most well-known Swedish Black Metal music groups, Dissection (who in fact predate the modern wave of Scandinavian Black Metal by a few years) and Abruptum. The latter group consists of the bizarre duo “Evil” and his accomplice “It,” a dwarf who asserts he adopted his pseudonym because he was so evil he could no longer be considered human. Both bands are often referred to as central forces in the Swedish Black Circle. During the course of the night’s merry-making, an 18-year-old in attendance named Linus Åkerlund was instructed that he should prove to the others he was capable of killing without compunction. Attempting to fulfill the directive, he attacked an innocent 63-year-old man, stabbing him repeatedly in the neck. The elderly man nearly died from blood loss; his attacker received a four-year prison sentence. Åkerlund served two years of his sentence and was released. He claims today he never committed the crime. In a separate incident, one member of Dissection was ordered to serve four months in jail for the desecration of 250 graves.
DEICIDE LIVE
In early December of 1992, Deicide, the Satanic Death Metal band from America, was on tour in Europe. They played in Oslo and shortly afterward in Stockholm, Sweden, at the Fryshuset club. Before they had taken the stage, an explosion went off by the fire exit of the venue, knocking out an entire wall and effecting major structural damage. A number of people were injured, though no one seriously so. It was first speculated that the Swedish Black Circle might have been behind the bombing, either as an attack against Deicide, who they may have considered rival Satanists, but more likely directed at the opening band Gorefest, an antiracist and politically correct Death Metal group. Further investigation of the matter raised serious doubts whether the bomb could have been placed by anyone connected to the Black Circle. When Deicide played in Oslo a few nights earlier, many in the Black Metal scene attended, and Øystein Aarseth was even the DJ at the concert. The Norwegians, at least, approved of Deicide’s Satanism and got along well with lead singer Glen Benton. The clue to the Stockholm bombing may have come shortly afterward, when death threats were made against Deicide prior to their U.K. appearances by an organization calling itself “Animal Militia”—a radical anti-vivisectionist group. Their threats were specifically aimed at Benton himself, who had previously advocated the torture and sacrifice of animals in Satanic rituals, and claimed to regularly take part in such activities himself. In the death threat sent by their “Manchester cell” to Benton, they began it with the sentence: “Stockholm was just a taste of what is to come.”2 Given this evidence, and the fact that bombings have not been the usual modus operandi of Scandinavian Black Metalers (although Vikernes later did steal 150 kilos of dynamite and other explosives, which were found in his apartment at the time of his second arrest), the likely suspects for the Deicide show detonation would be allies of the Animal Militia.
ANIMAL MILITIA DEATH THREAT
The Swedes did, however, quickly take up their own firebrands after the example set by Vikernes and others in Norway. About a month after Vikernes had publicly revealed the connection between Black Metal and church burning in the mass media, on February 7, 1993, the Lundby New Church in Sweden erupted into flames. Built in Gothenburg in 1886, the giant church was famous for its stellar acoustics and the many recordings made there. Ironically, an obsessive strain of music fan would attempt to destroy it. Three males, all about 18 years of age, eventually received two- to three-year sentences for arson. The same night also witnessed the vandalization of another Christian building not far from the Lundby New Church.
Later that year, on the 3rd of July, another church was attacked. The Salabacke Church was a wooden building erected in 1957, approximately forty-five feet high. A fire was started from solvent-soaked papers placed against the outside of the church. Due to the wood construction and the building’s height, the blaze raged out of control, completely destroying the church organ and much of the building’s contents. The church silver, pulpit, and altarpieces were blessed enough to survive. Two 15-year-old girls were arrested, but their young age meant they would only be confined to youth homes by the state. The arsonists declared they had committed their act as a salute to Varg Vikernes and to hail Satan. They had planned to continue burning churches and to threaten priests. Beyond having to pay a joint fine of 75,000 Swedish Kronor (approximately $9,400), one of the girls, Alexandra Jansson, clearly received no rehabilitation during her time as a ward of the state. She was later implicated in grave desecrations, death threats, and violence against civil officials in 1995 and ’96.
Another antique house of worship, Föllinge Church, had served the Christian community since 1815—until drunk and drugged-out Death Metal musician Stefan Dahlberg set the wood building alight on July 17, 1994. The 19-year-old youth was ordered to pay 50,000 Kronor ($6,200) in damages and confined to a mental institution. Besides the arson, Dahlberg was also found guilty of thirty grave desecrations.
Others directly involved in Swedish Satanic bands have attempted to cause disruption with varying degrees of violence. One of the members of Black Metal band Algaion, singer Mårten Björkman, was convicted with a one-month sentence for setting an old building on fire. Far more terrifying was the action which took place on February 22, 1995 in the city of Linköping, when three youths between 16 and 18 years old went on what they termed a “niggerhunt.” Wielding an axe and two machetes, they terrorized a black man. Two of them had also attempted to burn down a church a few weeks earlier, but were unsuccessful and caught by the police. Involved in both crimes was “Belfagor,” a member of the Black Metal band Nefandus.
The racist attack of Belfagor and friends was not unprecedented, although it was crudely and haphazardly executed. A few years earlier Sweden had experienced the campaign of the so-called “Laserman,” a clandestine assassin armed with a laser-scoped firearm who perpetrated at least ten murders or serious woundings of male immigrants and non-white citizens.
The most recent crime report from Sweden which rece
ived media attention occurred in mid-1996. In late July of that year, two males burglarized the sepulchral chapel in the town of Köping. Once inside the chambers, they found the room for the dead awaiting burial and managed to lift off one of the coffin lids, at which point they proceeded to paint Satanic symbols on the corpse. They also stumbled upon the clever notion of switching the names on two of the coffins awaiting interment. The authorities only figured out about the name swap later—after this small detail had caused the burial of the wrong person at a funeral.
Though the number of serious offenses may be lower, Sweden rivals Norway in the scope of atrocities related to Black Metal. While most of the Norwegian bands have now evolved past their earliest primitive obsessions with exemplifying “pure evil,” their Swedish cousins appear to remain attracted to such concepts. The main personality in Abruptum, “It,” even claims to have personally conceived the entire idea for the “True Satanist Horde,” which in turn inspired the formation of the Norwegian Black Circle. “It” insists that he and his allies will carry on in the original spirit of such efforts.
Lords of Chaos Page 37