
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, March 24, 1995                   TAG: 9503250025
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: B-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: BERLIN                                LENGTH: Short

NEO-NAZI PUBLISHER ARRESTED

An American believed to be one of the largest distributors of neo-Nazi materials in the United States and Europe was arrested in Denmark, and German police followed up Thursday with raids on apartments of more than 80 of his followers in Germany.

Police in suburban Copenhagen, Denmark, said they had arrested Gary Rex Lauck, 41, of Lincoln, Neb., and were awaiting extradition papers from Germany. The city-state of Hamburg had issued an international warrant seeking the professed Nazi's arrest.

Meanwhile, Germany's Federal Criminal Office said about 800 police had seized weapons, ammunition and Nazi documents in dawn sweeps of the homes of some of Lauck's known German followers, most of them teen-agers.

It is illegal in Germany to produce, possess or distribute Nazi materials. German law also makes it a crime to incite violence.

Lauck, whose main publication is the ``Nazi Battle Cry,'' speaks German and is believed to have been smuggling racist hate literature into Germany for more than 20 years. He also sells his products by mail in America.

German officials had tried to get American cooperation in arresting Lauck but failed because the U.S. Constitution protects free speech, including publication of hate literature.

by CNB