Various Neo-Nazis #racist nbcnews.com

[Excerpt of news article entitled German Neo-Nazis Embrace Vegan Cooking, Techno Music, Hipster Clothes]

MUNICH, Germany — Neo-Nazis are keeping their black combat boots and bomber jackets in the closet as they try to force their way into mainstream German society.

Security officials say many young fascists are adopting more stylish and less intimidating images, with some branded "nipsters" after embracing hipster-style clothing as well as techno and hip hop music.

Far-right extremists even recently launched a "Vegan Cooking Channel" on YouTube featuring masked young men preparing simple recipes and providing household tips.

"If the young people don’t find skinhead types attractive, then they [the neo-Nazis] will simply die out, so they have to find something new," said Daniel Koehler, an expert on radicalization who has counseled right-wing extremists in the past. “There are many different ways in which neo-Nazis now portray themselves" that are "not immediately seen as the violent skinhead, neo-Nazi type," he added.

“When they find new recruits, who have grown up with the Internet, a different type of music, a different clothing style, they will bring them in,” Koehler told NBC News.

Issues such as animal rights, the environment, equality for women are sometimes used as a smoke screen by the extremists as they try to lure followers to their scene.

Germany’s far-right NPD party once launched a youth welfare service, which offered to help young people find jobs. It has also tried to bring its extremist ideology to young people through with the release of so-called "schoolyard CDs."

Contemporary right-wing bands such as Kategorie C, which offer "Anti Sharia Team" T-shirts to fans on its website, and rapper Makss Damage, whose lyrics include "Kill these anti-German sons of b******," are among the new generation of artists making waves.

And in April, two far-right extremists wearing Cookie Monster costumes were arrested by police, while trying to lure in young children with leaflets reading, "To be German is cool."

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