Neo-Nazis will get cash rewards to quit

Neo-Nazis are being offered incentives by the German government to stop growing support for the far right.

The new scheme launched this week includes cash incentives, new names, jobs and homes. It is expected to cost £30,000 per activist.

A spokesman for the Internal Secret Service says the "exit-programme" will give right wingers a way out if they have a "concrete will to leave".

Despite the cost, Berlin authorities are adamant the programme is the only way to lure extremists away and protect those who wish to reform.

Right-wingers who leave the scene are regularly attacked and sometimes even killed by former comrades.

Fritz Stepper said those wishing to leave would get help finding a new flat and new job.

He said the state would also help with re-training and give ex-neo-Nazis cash support.

In "exceptional cases" they could even be given a new identity - rather like witnesses who come forward to testify against the Mafia.

Violent crimes with a far-right, anti-Semitic or anti-foreigner motivation - ranging from robbery to murder - jumped by 34 per cent last year.

The Central Committee for Jews in Germany has welcomed the initiative. But Ulrika Schleifinger, from the Berlin-based Integra group which tackles racism, said: "It's like offering a reward for being a neo-Nazi. Anyone who walks in with a skinhead can say 'I am a neo-Nazi and I claim my reward'."