After the terrorist classification - wants to recruit killers

NMR, Nordic Resistance Movement
After the terrorist classification - wants to recruit killers

Frida Sundkvist

Published 18.58

Some want to spread pictures of Nazis helping the homeless.

Others want the organization to recruit killers.

"We need more like (XX). He is apparently capable of shooting people," writes one of the Nazis in the closed NMR chats that Aftonbladet has seen.

Quick version

• The internal chats from the Nazi Nordic Resistance Movement (NMR) obtained by Aftonbladet show a split within the organization after the US classified the group as a terrorist.
• While some members want to recruit killers and take a more violent path, others want to spread positive images to attract a wider public.
• The divided discussion is important as it highlights internal strife within NMR and possible radicalizations that may arise.

The Nazi Nordic Resistance Movement, NMR, is a fragmented organization.
This is evident from the internal chats that Aftonbladet has seen.

The division becomes particularly clear in the hours after the United States classified the organization and three of its leaders as terrorists.

Johan Staaf, in sunglasses, wants the organization to choose a more violent path after the terror classification. Photo: Niclas Hammarström

That's what one of the Nazis writes in the chat just minutes after the US announcement on June 14 this year.

The terrorist classification means, among other things, that it is illegal for American citizens to do business with the organization.

Problems that may arise are then discussed in the internal chats. Will their bank accounts work? Will American nationalists be able to keep in touch with the organization in Sweden?

But the discussion is above all about which path NMR should take now.

One of the Nazis in the chat, Johan Staaf, wants the organization to quickly take a more violent path and recruit killers. In a post in the NMR chat, he writes out the name of a man who is currently in custody, suspected of a murder in the Stockholm suburb of Jordbro last year:

Several of the Nazis participate in the discussion. One of them in the chat replies that he wants the organization to try to get the broad masses on board instead:

Later the same person writes:

He encourages the organization to show itself in positive situations, "positive, happy faces and with ordinary people", and also mentions pictures of when someone has distributed things to the homeless.

"You are both right," writes Nazi Joakim Kannisto in the chat.

In the message from the US State Department, NMR is described as the largest neo-Nazi group in Sweden, with branches in Norway, Denmark, Iceland and Finland, where the organization has been banned since 2020. The organization is described as openly racist, and that members have carried out violent attacks against political opponents , protesters and journalists.

The Nazis' internal discussion about which path to choose after the terror classification continues in the chat for several hours. A 26-year-old Nazi also wants to attract ordinary people. A few years ago, he left his assignments for the Sweden Democrats after Expo's revelations about connections to NMR.

In the same post, he expresses how top-managed the Nazi organization is, and refers to the fact that the leadership led by Fredrik Vejdeland will make a decision, and that regardless of what the decision is, he will follow it.

Aftonbladet has previously revealed that Nazis in secret, internal NMR chats write about murdering Sweden's Minister of Justice Gunnar Strömmer. The Nazi Anders Jonsson describes there a murder of the Minister of Justice as a righteous act to do, and that he would pay tribute to whoever would do such a thing.

Aftonbladet has shared de-identified chats with Robin Andersson Malmros, deputy director at the Segerstedt institute and lecturer in police work at the University of Borås. He researches violent extremism and holds training courses on the subject for the Swedish police.

He says that Aftonbladet's material is completely unique and that it is one of the clearest examples of the internal struggle within the movement between on the one hand revolutionary violence and terrorism, and on the other hand those who believe that wider political support is required before they can reach the National Socialist dream society.

- The chat indicates that the type of pressure the movement is under can also have a radicalizing effect for some, he says.

Aftonbladet has searched for Johan Staaf, who does not want to answer questions. Joakim Kannisto says about what is written in the chats:

- Sometimes we have a tough atmosphere and there is still a bit of a twinkle in the eye.