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At first glance it looks like any other internet map, conveniently showing a smattering of cafes, nightclubs and bookshops. But Rechtes Land (Right Country) doesn't show the usual places of interest – it shows Nazis.
Launched earlier this month following public donations of €6,000, www.rechtesland.de is the latest attempt to stem what is seen by some as growing far-right activity in Germany. Last year 900 armed police stormed 150 neo-Nazi premises in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the country has been rocked by allegations that a neo-Nazi cell in the eastern city of Zwickau called the National Socialist Underground committed 10 murders between 2000 and 2007. According to a study last year by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, a German political foundation associated with the Social Democratic Party of Germany, 9% of all Germans hold far-right views, up from 8.2% two years earlier.
The map, which shows the locations of extreme-right groups, their associations, murders, attacks and current projects, was the idea of data journalist Lorenz Matzat, although the raw information comes from a collaboration with Apabiz, a Berlin-based nonprofit organisation that runs one of the country's most extensive archives on neo-Nazi activity.
Detali from Rechtes Land map showing the location of a murder attributed to the National Socialist Underground.
In the first two days of operation, Rechtes Land was visited by 48,000 users. Soon to be augmented with Wikipedia-style detail, the online map will include historical information from the second world war, memorial sites and everything people want to know, past and present, about extremism where they live. The data already shows 120 marches by fascist organisations in Germany in 2012 alone, says Matzat.
"I decided we should use the web to show how much fascism is still alive in Germany," he says from his office in Berlin's Kreuzberg district. "The problem is shifting and not to talk about it doesn't make it go away."
This is not The Boys from Brazil; individual addresses will not be made available to Nazi hunters, but rather a detailed digital map that shows far-right activity on a national scale, replacing a fragmented regional approach. The public will be invited to submit information, but this will have to be backed up with proof and verified.
"It is difficult to monitor the situation all over Germany. There are regions where Nazi activities are very high," says Ulli Jentsch from Apabiz. "In some regions the authorities claim there is no Nazi threat because they don't want to have bad news about their town."
Even the famously liberal streets of Berlin are only a few miles from far-right activity, says Matzat. The surrounding state of Brandenburg is often cited as a hot spot for neo-Nazi activity. "If you walk around in certain areas with coloured hair or you are a black guy, you are in danger."
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