Reported by Nancy Finken, Nebraska Public Radio

An Update: Gary Lauck is in prison in Germany. In March, 1995, police in Europe arrested Lauck and extradited him to Germany. On August 22, 1996, he was convicted of inciting racial hatred and disseminating illegal propaganda. Lauck was sentenced to four years in jail. After the sentence was imposed, Lauck spoke to the media for the first time, shouting, "Neither the Communists nor the Nazis would ever have dared kidnap an American citizen. The fight will go on." Lauck maintained that he was prosecuted for acts that are protected by the U.S. Constitution's free speech protections.
   Lauck may also have more trouble publishing his hate literature. Local printers have been less willing to print his magazines since his conviction.

Here's what German police found -- books pamphlets, posters, videos, all praising Adolf Hitler. The material ridiculed Jews, blacks, gypsies, and a host of other groups.They also found weapons, instructions to make bombs and computer message boards to spread the world on-line. For Gary Lauck, it's familiar material.
   [Gary Lauck:] "It's your typical everyday, you know, Nazi propaganda -- international Nazi propaganda machine that's driving the West German government nuts. All of us in that position are probably almost all the same."
   The ink dries in many languages -- English, German, French, Italian, Swedish, Hungarian -- but the message remains constant. Nazi Party boastings about the superiority of the white race and hatred toward Blacks and Jews and anyone else not in agreement with their small band. A post office in south central Lincoln serves as the mailing address for the expanding publishing and mail order empire funneling what is likely thousands of dollars worth of subscriptions and orders through a single post office box. The man with the key is Gary Lauck.
   [Lauck:] "If you write from the United States you'll normally get some issue of the new order or English language newspaper. This is the most recent one. This is very -- like Racism 101 type of thing, college initial course. Here with an order form."
[Nancy:] "This is that sticker..."
   [Lauck:] "This is one of them, yeah. This is one of..."
   [Nancy, reading sticker:] "Fight crime, deport niggers."
   [Lauck:] "Yeah, that's very popular, yeah, especially in the big cities where there's a crime problem."
   Lauck sells Nazi memorabilia and racist propaganda to loyalists around the world. He sells everything from swastika stickpins to flags and stickers with racist slogans and videos.
   [Lauck:] "Videos are profitable. The flags and pins are profitable. The books have a modest -- basically comparable to the industry maybe 30, 40% margin. Our objective isn't try to make money on the literature. We're trying to get the word out so if we can get a lot more out at a loss, we will."

[Lauck in promotional video:] "Your money is basically like the oil for the Panzer divisions of our propaganda machines."
   One of Lauck's promotional videos claims that his Nazi party has international cells established in several European countries. He refuses to say how many supporters he has, how much money his business makes, or where additional money comes from to finance his operations. While revealing little detail about the business of being a Nazi, he talks endlessly about his philosophy. In an interview for Nebraska Nightly on public radio, Lauck claims the Holocaust never occurred. He believes Hitler was too humane. And if the Nazis didn't kill six million Jews, Lauck believes they should have.
   [Lauck:] "The fact is after World War II, the Jews punished the German people and the national sources in particular for crimes that were not committed. We've already paid for it and now we have a right to cash in. Frankly, I don't really want to gas -- I mean, sometimes it depends on how much you're drinking or what mood you're in at the time. But our objective is to protect the white race and therefore to break the power of anti-white elements..."
   Although Lauck has been active in the Nazi party for 20 years, never has he enjoyed so much attention from the international news media or from the German government.
   [Lauck:] "And we're actually getting stronger because of this. They basically recognize -- the enemy has publicly recognized the NSDAP/AO as the dominant organizational force in the non-violent National Socialist Underground. We get a lot more support from our people. It's one thing if I do a mailing to our subscribers and say, I'm doing a good job, send me more money. Well, anyone can do that. What our main enemies say, the NSDAP/AO and Gerhard Lauck are out raising hell and havoc and we are using all the resources of the most powerful government in central Europe and are still unable to stop it, that makes us look damn good."

Gary Lauck was born in Milwaukee. When he was 11, his family moved to Lincoln where his father taught engineering at the University of Nebraska. When he became politically active, Gary changed his name to Gerhard. And at the age of 19, he established the NSDAP/AO named after Hitler's Nazi party.
   [Promotional video:] "Hello. I am Gerhard Lauck, head of the NSDAP/AO."
   According to corporate records on file with the Nebraska Secretary of State's office, in 1974 Lauck created the non-profit Socialist Workers Party using his German language name. The articles of incorporation state the group promotes the study of Germany by means of cooperation with other political organizations not created for propaganda purposes. State records on file reveal Lauck also controls a for-profit corporation, R.J.G. Engineering. Lauck is listed as a consultant. Both the non-profit Nazi party and the engineering firm share much in common. Both have Lauck, his mother, and a woman in Indiana listed as officers. Both list this home in south central Lincoln as their official business address.
   [Lauck:] "The state of Nebraska recognizes us as a non-profit corporation. The federal government does not officially recognize us as tax- exempt. But we have to fill out the forms and we do everything totally legal which is..."
   Lauck is extremely vague about the business or organizational links between his non-profit party and the engineering corporation. It's unclear just how he coordinates propaganda distribution with the small Nazi party cells spread throughout Europe.
   [Lauck:] "Frankly, I don't know most of the time either 'cause if I don't have to know, I don't ask questions. We do our job. We get to a certain point, they don't ask us how did you get from point A to point B? And if they take it from point B to point C, we don't ask them well, how'd you do it, what's the names of the guys getting it? It's not necessary. It's a security risk."

In the four years since the Berlin Wall fell and Germany reunited, the neo-Nazi movement has become increasingly vocal. Germany, fearful of its recent history of fascism, bans the symbols of its Nazi past -- Swastikas and hate literature. Those who market such paraphernalia are not welcome here so Gary Lauck is banned from entering Germany even while his own newspapers brag of his secret visits.
   [Bob Wolfson:] "There's a picture of him -- he's not supposed to be able to be there."
   This newspaper is from the collection of Bob Wolfson of the Jewish-financed Anti-Defamation League. The A.D.L. maintains stacks and stacks of thick files full of information on Lauck.
    We watched one of Lauck's videos that Wolfson had never seen. It's interesting because it includes footage from Croatia a few years ago. It shows military operations of an armed neo-Nazi mercenary group from France.
   [Narration from the film:] "These are the men that are fighting inside the..."
   The struggle for power in the unstable eastern block countries has created a bonanza for Lauck and other neo-Nazis. It's the real concern shared by Wolfson and the A.D.L.
[Wolfson:] "If you look at the film that we had by international reporters in the last couple of years of the small bands of neo-Nazi skin heads, they may be dangerous but they're dangerous with baseball bats. And when these guys come out of this war, they're going to be dangerous with a heck of a lot more than a baseball bat."
   [Lauck:] "It's really exciting to see units out there openly National Socialist engaged in combat against the enemies of our race because you usually can't do that. Usually it's very frustrating. They're hitting us and we can't hit back. Maybe we can have an interview or passage in a newspaper, but it's not too often you sit there with a machine gun saying there's the enemy and you blow them away."
   Lauck lives undisturbed and almost unnoticed with his wife in Syracuse, a town that perhaps coincidentally boasts of its annual Octoberfest. He likes to be able to keep a low profile here so he does little to build a higher profile Nazi party in his home state.
   [Lauck:] "Nebraska is not a good agitation potential for two reasons. One is it's economically prosperous. I know that might sound almost callous but it is, compared to most parts of the country. Second it's too white. The people in Nebraska, they turn on TV and they see TV presenting black people as being just like you and me, but they happen to have dark skin. And the ones you meet in the Nebraska, outside of maybe Omaha or parts of Omaha, are basically decent middle-class people so they believe it. But that's the exception to the rule. You cannot agitate on these issues when people don't have anything going on. Basically you're not going to support a revolutionary struggle unless the situation is really bad, and it's just not bad here."
   Lauck knows the A.D.L. keeps a close watch. He also knows the United States government monitors his operations. The Justice Department watches for hate crime violations. Treasury watches for hints of tax trouble. Even postal inspectors for treaty violations with Germany.

[Natural sound from the film:] "White power!"
   Lauck pledges to continue to run his Nazi propaganda machine from his hometown. His Nebraska neighbors and the first amendment of the constitution allow him to publish his hate literature within the law and without hassle. For STATEWIDE, I'm Nancy Finken.