Book reveals secret Nazi codes
A man walks past a billboard for the art exhibition of the group Laibach Kunst on a street in Ljubljana April 6, 2011. Reuters

The Swastika, a traditional symbol of Nazi power has been outlawed in Germany.

The neo-Nazis are creating alternate graphics and coded combinations of letters and numbers such as '14' and '88' to promote their Hitler-inspired beliefs. These symbols and codes appear innocuous and often get ignored.

A new book published in Germany, which explains the meaning of such codes reveals that far-right style is becoming increasingly diverse and hard to spot, Spiegel online reported on Monday.

The right-wing extremists in Germany are using hidden codes to get around a legal ban on Nazi symbols and only a few people know the actual meaning of such codes, said Michael Weiss, a German expert on right-wing extremism.

Weiss was researching on right-wing clothing and symbols for 10 years. He is also the authors of a new brochure titled Hide and Seek.

Secret Codes

Hide and Seek, lists 150 different codes that exist in German society, which also includes certain clothing labels such as Thor Steinar alomg with letter and number combinations.

According to Weiss, the number '14' is a reference to the so-called 14 Words, a phrase coined by the American white separatist David Lane We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.

The number 88 is slightly complicated but the number eight stands for the eighth letter of the alphabet, forming HH -- an abbreviation for Heil Hitler, a phrase which is banned in Germany, Weiss explains. Similarly, the number 28 signifies BH, standing for Blood and Honour, a far-right network that was banned in Germany in 2000.

The secret code numbers can be found even on license plates, tattoos, at athletic events and on signs at football games. There are fans that travel 400 kilometers (250 miles) to a game just to hold up the four numbers that form 1488, Weiss said.

Some 195 extremist groups with 26,000 members exist in Germany, but sympathizers can also be found in many more mainstream factions of German life, reports Spiegel.

Borrowing Symbols

The brochure was first published in 2001, and since then the number of secret codes has increased. The brochure itself listed around 100 symbols.

The old symbols are given new meanings, Weiss explains, by giving the example of the Kaffiyeh scarf, a symbol of Palestinian nationalism.

That is used nowadays simply as a symbol of struggle against Israel, Weiss said.

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