by Steve Vogel

About the author: Steve Vogel is based in Germany and writes for the Washington Post daily newspaper and Army Times, among other publications.

Across Europe, a frightening specter of the past is raising its head. Radical right extremism, a movement once thought dead and buried in the rubble of World War II, is very much alive and on the march.

It is a movement that takes on many forms across the continent: skinhead toughs beating foreigners; angered farmers and workers radicalized by economic problems; and people in suits and ties frustrated by an ever-growing fear of immigration. It is a movement that may spell enormous problems for Europe and the world in years to come.

Attacks on Foreigners

In Germany, neo-Nazi thugs began a wave of terrifying attacks against foreigners in August 1992, burning refugee hostels and desecrating...