In preparation for an upcoming neo-Nazi march in the small Bavarian town of Wunsiedel, local residents decided to fight back in a hilariously perfect way: by sponsoring each of the 200 fascist participants. According to Heeb Magazine, “For every metre they walked, €10 went to a programme called EXIT Deutschland, which helps people escape extremist groups.”
The reason the Neo-Nazis show up in Wunsiedel every year is because Adolf Hitler’s deputy Rudolf Hess was previously buried there. They apparently haven’t been deterred by the fact that his grave was exhumed in 2011 and destroyed.
The group behind the scheme
The brilliant prank was organized by a group called Right Against Right, which alerted people to their wholesome scheme through their website, which reads:
They run and run and run! Almost every week, neo-Nazis take to the streets to demonstrate. If you can’t stop them, you can at least make them run for something worthwhile, like against themselves. This turns the funeral march into a fundraising march, and the demonstration into a charity event. For every meter run, fixed donations from companies and citizens go to EXIT Germany or projects working against neo-Nazis. Let’s harness this charitable potential!
So if you’re determined to march, you’re stepping into a dilemma. With your support, things will go much better! Donate, share, and be there live when it’s time to take a strong stand against the right, in your everyday life, online, or with a donation.The anti-semitic walkers didn’t figure out the town’s scheme until they had already started their march, and by that time, it was too late to turn back. The end result? The neo-Nazis raised more than $12,000 to fund programs to put an end to neo-Nazis.
Unfortunately, neo-Nazi organizations still continue to crop up across the world, and in recent years they have been seen at political rallies. American political figures such as Elon Musk have been accused of giving Nazi salutes at rallies, in a not-so-thinly-veiled sign of approval to those who possess anti-semitic and other far-right ideologies.
How the whole town pulled it off
As the Guardian reported at the time, people in the town got fully into the spirit, “sponsoring” the 250 Neo-Nazi marchers, hanging hilariously mocking signs, including one posted at the end of the march, which thanked them for their “donations” to the anti-hate groups.
According to The Washington Post, “The 200 neo-Nazis had only two choices when they got to know about the plan: Either they proceeded, indirectly donating money to the EXIT Germany initiative, or they acknowledged their defeat and suspended the march. The neo-Nazis decided to pursue their plans, and participated in raising funds for an organization committed to their downfall.”
The plan worked so well, it was replicated in 2017 by the Jewish Bar Association of San Francisco, which started an “Adopt a Nazi (Not Really)” fundraiser on GoFundMe that ended up raising more than $150,000 in response to a Neo-Nazi march in the city.
Watch the YouTube video below:
Turning hate into its own undoing
What makes this story so satisfying isn’t just the money raised, it’s the sheer elegance of the idea. Instead of shouting over the marchers or trying to shut them down, the town simply let them keep walking, and let every step work against the very cause they came to celebrate. It’s a reminder that sometimes the sharpest response to hate isn’t confrontation. It’s a little bit of wit, a lot of community buy-in, and a finish line that turns the whole thing into a punchline.
This article originally appeared 12 years ago. It has been updated.
