EDITORIAL: Current neo-nazi threat is a stain on our nation

Eighty years ago, the world was confronted by a horror previously unimaginable.

The Soviet soldiers who liberated Auschwitz on January 27, 1945 found factories of death. More than 1.1 million people — most of them Jewish — were murdered within the compound’s wire fences. Five million more were killed in similar camps by the nazi murder machine.

The victims had been subject to depraved brutality. Families torn apart and lives extinguished in the name of a racist ideology which robbed the victims of their very humanity.

In the decades since, the survivors of Auschwitz have acted as living reminders of what can happen when hate is allowed to fester unchecked.

The world heard the stories of those who survived and those who did not and responded: Never again.

Only a handful of these survivors remain alive today, now in their 80s and 90s.

And as they reduce in number, our collective memory of the horrors they faced has receded too.

The world is forgetting its solemn pledge made in the shadow of all that death and suffering.

Violent, evil anti-Semitism is once more rife, stirred back into life by the conflict in the Middle East.

It has taken root even here in Australia, a nation which has long been a safe haven for Jewish people — a place where they felt they could live freely without fear of persecution. That illusion of safety has been shattered by the escalating violence. Firebombings of synagogues and child care centres. Cars torched and homes vandalised with sickening slogan advocating for the annihilation of the Jews.

And now, neo-nazis marching openly through our cities.

The images from Adelaide on Australia Day of 15 men and one boy clad in black marching brazenly through the CBD should send shivers down the spines of all Australians.

The National Socialist Network from which the 16 were drawn is one of a handful of far-right extremist groups operating in Australia and they’re actively recruiting for members to join their ranks on social media sites such as TikTok.

It’s tempting to dismiss these Hitler-loving cretins as little more than a group of deeply unpleasant and angry misfits — vile beyond belief, but ultimately small in number and influence.

But that would be to ignore the lessons learned of the Holocaust.

We’ve seen how hatreds can fast spiral out of control if left unchecked and how minds can be warped by contemptible racist ideologies.

There are more recent examples too.

Mass murderer Brenton Tarrant had been involved with a number of groups on Australia’s far right fringe before he gunned down 51 worshippers at a Christchurch mosque in 2019.

Police and our political leaders are taking the threat posed by these groups seriously. We must act now to ensure, we stay true to the promise made when the gates to Auschwitz were flung open. Never again.