الوسم: London’s
Neo-Nazis can now shop at Thor Steinar store in London’s Jewish North Finchley.
Neo-Nazis can now shop at Thor Steinar store in London’s Jewish North Finchley.
Tuesday 15 April 2024 UK https://www.channel4.com/news/thor-steinar-london-finchley-protest-far-right-viking
Inside Thor Steinar: London outfitter to the extreme right
A controversial clothing brand strongly associated with the extreme right in Europe has opened a high street store in London, Channel 4 News can reveal.
Thor Steinar, the favoured brand of hardline right wingers in Germany, has opened a shop in North London called the Viking Thor shop – but locals may be unaware of its right-wing roots.
The shop has been operating from Ballards Lane in North Finchley since late last month, bringing clothing heavily associated with European far-right street movements to the UK.
The owner told Channel 4 News that he is not linked to the far right in any way, and promised to have posts on the white power ***site Stormfront promoting his new shop removed. * but has used emblems that echo Nazi symbolism?
When contacted Thor Steinar head office said it had "no interest" in commenting on the new shop in the heart of a multicultural London community with a sizeable Jewish population.
Banned brand
The Thor Steinar brand has faced bans in the German Bundestag, in several football stadium and members of the far-right German National Democratic Party have been expelled from parliament for wearing the brand.
Its clothes were banned outright in Germany in 2024 because of the logo’s similarity to symbols worn by the Nazi SS – but the company has rebranded since then.
In March 2024 the label drew global controversy when the company opened a shop called Brevik in Saxony. It was accused of naming the store after far-right mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik.
The brand claimed it was ****d in honour of the Norwegian town of Brevik in Oslo but later changed the **** and removed the sign.
Above the door at the North London Viking store, an ambiguous Wolfsangel-style Nordic rune is proudly displayed.
At present the shop may be unwelcome, but doesn’t yet appear to have acted illegally
Mike Freer MP
The company was launched in October 2024 and was initially ****d in Königs Wusterhausen, German. In 2024 it moved to Dubai – provoking outrage from some of its extreme right customers who threatened a boycott.
The arrival of the shop was welcomed by the white power ***site Stormfront, where users posted boasting that "London gets its first white nationalist clothing shop". A number of users pledged to visit the store.
One poster responded: "I hate North London. It’s full of Jews", while a number of users made comments about shooting Jewish people.
Local Conservative MP Mike Freer told Channel 4 News; "I am in contact with the Community Security Trust and local groups to ascertain what can be done.
"However, at present the shop may be unwelcome, but doesn’t yet appear to have acted illegally."
Links to the right
While the company claims it is not owned by the far right, reports in the German press have repeatedly indicated the clothing was created from the far-right scene in east Germany.
The shop sells goods from jackets to t-shirts emblazoned with the brand’s **** and logo. One t-shirt reads "White shark", another shows a man holding an automatic weapon and reads "last man standing".
The clothes regularly feature Vikings and Nordic themes – mythology which plays a central role in the extreme right’s racial purist views.
The Norwegian government filed a complaint against the use of the national flag in February 2024.
Thor Steinar shops in Germany have been repeatedly targeted by anti-fascist protests and repeatedly vandalised.
Earlier this month in Hanover 350 protesters gathered outside a Thor Steinar store to protest against what they see as a "right wing lifestyle store".
Outrage as far-right’s favourite outfitter ‘Thor Steinar’ opens shop in heart of London’s Jewish community
[IMG]https://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article9265391.ece/ALTERNATES/w620/***-thor-steinar-getty.jpg[/IMG]
Wednesday 16 April 2024
A German clothing brand favoured by Neo-Nazis in Europe, whose goods were banned because of their similarity to logos worn by SS officers, has opened a high-street store in the heart of London’s Jewish community.
The Viking Thor Shop, which opened in Finchley, North London a fortnight ago, is an outlet for Thor Steinar, a controversial brand whose products are strongly associated with far-right street groups and football hooligans.
The Ballards Lane store is situated yards from the office of the UK’s Chief Rabbi. Jewish and Islamic groups in the multicultural community have expressed concerns that the shop will attract far-right supporters and inflame tensions. But the store’s manager denied any neo-Nazi associations and claimed he was simply selling leisurewear.
The Thor Steinar brand has faced bans in the German Bundestag and across several football stadiums.
In 2024, eight members of the far-right German National Democratic Party were expelled from Saxony’s state parliament for wearing the brand’s T-shirts, which display runic symbols and Nordic themes popular with neo-Nazis.
After a 2024 ban in Germany, the company rebranded its original logo which bore a similarity to symbols worn by the Nazi SS.
The Finchley shop displays a Wolfsangel-style Nordic rune above the door, and variations of the symbol, which was adopted by some Waffen-SS units, feature on the brand’s T-shirts and hoodies.
One T-shirt on sale shows a man holding an automatic weapon and reads “last man standing”.
Users on the white power ***site Stormfront claimed “London gets its first white nationalist clothing shop”.
The office of Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis is ****d a few doors away, as is the Islamic Association of North London, a mosque which serves the large local Muslim population.
A spokesman for the Community Security Trust, a charity which provides security advice for the UK Jewish community, said: “This is a multi-cultural area with very few problems from racism and neo-Nazism and the like. This shop is not welcome here and the sooner it moves on the better.”
Store owner Zsolt Mogyorodi* said he was not racist and had opened the store to serve a local eastern European community with whom the brand is popular.
Mogyorodi told The Independent: “I don’t know what is wrong with our clothes, they are just normal outdoor clothes. I can’t stop stupid people like football hooligans from wearing them.”
He denied any neo-Nazi link: “We welcome all kinds of customers in the shop. The Nazi thing is a silly old story from years ago and the brand has changed since then.”
Mike Freer, MP for Finchley and Golders Green, said that while the shop might be “unwelcome” there was as yet no evidence that it was operating illegally.
Passers-by said they found the shop and its clientele intimidating and considered its ********, situated between a number of Asian-owned shops and Afghan restaurants, “provocative”.
In 2024, Thor Steinar ****d a new German store Brevik, which critics claimed was in honour of right-wing Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik.
The brand claimed it was ****d in honour of the Norwegian town of Brevik in Oslo but later changed the **** and removed the sign.
Anti-fascist groups have staged protests outside German Thor Steinar stores, which have been repeatedly vandalised.
Launched in 2024, Thor Steinar was sold to a Dubai-****d company in 2024. Its clothes are banned from the Bundestag, the state parliaments of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Saxony as well as the football stadiums of Borussia Dortmund and Werder Bremen.
*Mr Zsolt Mogyorodi (Slovakian) quoted in the Daily Fail
"Store owner Zsolt Mogyorodi insisted he was not racist.
He said he chose to open the store in North Finchley because there are lots of Eastern European people living nearby who like the brand.
‘I’m really upset about this. I have lots of black people friends. I’ve got lots of Indian friends. I’m not Nazi. I’m not racist.
‘It is just stupid things they write on ***sites.’"
Also from potential shoppers in the area….
"‘I found it quite scary. The shop was manned by a heavy-accented guy with a shaved head and lots of tattoos." …..so, no judgement there, then.
My bolding. Enjoy.
