The Nizkor Project: Remembering the Holocaust (Shoah)

The Skinhead International: Denmark


The Skinhead phenomenon came on the Danish scene in the early 1980's when its young minions were generally referred to as "Gronjakker" ("green jackets," their distinctive military-style attire). their activity then was centered in Osterbro in the east of Copenagen, an area where immigrants were moving into apartments that native Danes had difficulty obtaining. "Green jackets" became embroiled in the controversy, engaging in physical assaults and racist harangues. Some of their leaders received stiff jail sentences for these attacks.

Today the Skinheads' numbers are down. They do have a publication, The Danish National Front, and many of them are active members of the right-wing Den Danske Forening (Danish Society). Skinheads show up every year on June 5, "Constitution Day," when public meetings take place around the country. In recent years Skins have been employed on these occasions as bodyguards for the right-wing politician Mogens Glistrup.

First Concert

On June 11, 1994, Skins organized Denmark's first Skinhead concert. Held in Gladsaxe, a Copenhagen suburb, the event drew some 300 Skins from Denmark, Sweden and Germany to hear two bands: Bound for Glory, from the United States, and Svastika, from Sweden. Members of the Danish Nazi party, DNSB, were invited to attend, and did so.

Denmark's Skinheads may have met their match (of a sort) in "De Autonome" ("The Autonomous"), a group of "anti-fascist" militants better organized than the Skins and quite willing to employ violence in their cause. These militants have been accused of setting fie to one of the buses used by Sinheads for transportation to the concert at Gladsaxe. (Anti-Defamation League, 28-29)

Work Cited

Anti-Defamation League. The Skinhead International: A Worldwide Survey of Neo-Nazi Skinheads. New York: Anti-Defamation League, 1995. Anti-Defamation League, 823 United Nations Plaza, New York, NY 10017.


Disclaimer: not all skinheads are neo-nazis or white supremacists. There are many skinheads who are non- or anti-racist, and who come from a variety of different religious and cultural backgrounds. Nizkor recognizes their achievements in anti-racism: they are part of the traditional, non-racist skinhead subculture and are not the perpetrators of the hate crimes discussed here.

Unless otherwise specified, the word "skinhead" within these pages refers only to neo-Nazi and white supremacist skinheads, the perpetrators of hate crimes and participants in racist organizations. We cannot edit the body of the text above, because it was not written by Nizkor, and to change the wording would be fraudulent. Please keep in mind that not all skinheads are racist.


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