The Order (group)
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The Order was an American neo-Nazi organization active in 1983 and 1984.
The Order described themselves as a white nationalist and revolutionary group, and the United States government as Zionist Occupation Government (ZOG).
The group was partly modelled on, and was named for, a fictional group in the neo-Nazi novel The Turner Diaries. The Order's goals included the establishment of an all-white (and non-Jewish) homeland, presumably involving the extermination of non-white and Jewish people as detailed in that book.
Oath and Motto
Like many neo-Nazi groups, the Order had a set of oaths, mottos and so on, reminiscent of fraternal organizations, the military, or secret societies (compare for example to the Ku Klux Klan).
The nine founding members of the group swore an oath that began "I, as a free Aryan man, hereby swear an unrelenting oath upon the green graves of our sires, upon the children in the wombs of our wives, upon the throne of God almighty, sacred is His name, to join together in holy union with those brothers in this circle and to declare forthright that from this moment on I have no fear of death, no fear of foe; that I have a sacred duty to do whatever is necessary to deliver our people from the Jew and bring total victory to the Aryan race..."
A motto on the Order's crest reads "Brüder schweigen". This actually means "Brothers remain silent" in German and not, as some sources claim, "Silent Brotherhood".
History
The Order was led by Robert Jay Mathews. The group was founded in late September of 1983 at Mathews' farm near Metaline Falls, Washington.
The fundamental aim of The Order was violent revolution against the 'Zionist Occupation Government', ie the government of the United States, which was seen by the Order and other neo-Nazis as the subject of conspiratorial control by Jews.
In order to fund these goals, Mathews led the Order through a series of violent crimes. Their first criminal effort was unspectacular: a robbery of a pornography shop, which netted less than $400. Afterwards, the Order were much more effective, making several lucrative bank robberies, as well as bombings of theaters and synagogues. The Order also ran a large counterfeiting operation, and executed a series of armored car robberies, including one in Ukiah, California that netted $3.8 million.
After being arrested on counterfeiting charges, one member of the Order informed FBI agents of the group's membership and methods. Based on this information, law enforcement was able to track down Mathews in December of 1984. He was living in a cabin on Whidbey Island, and he refused to surrender to the FBI. He burned to death in a fire during the ensuing shoot-out.
Ten members of the Order were convicted under RICO statutes, implicating them all in a conspiracy.
In a separate trial, three members of the Order were convicted of violating the civil rights of Alan Berg, a Jewish, leftist, Denver-area radio talk show host in Colorado who was found shot to death. No murder charges were ever brought in the case, although the 'civil rights violation' was in fact violating his right to live ie killing him. In another trial, fourteen men were charged with sedition. Thirteen of them were acquitted, and the judge dismissed the charges against the fourteenth for lack of evidence. In all, over 75 men and women were tried and convicted of various charges connected to the Order.
Berg's murder and the subsequent trial form the basis of Steven Dietz's 1988 play God's Country, and also loosely inspired Eric Bogosian's play Talk Radio (later adapted into a film by Oliver Stone).
Position Within the Neo-Nazi Subculture
The Order seems to have failed in both their paramilitary aim of causing damage to the US government, leftists, Jews, and other groups, and their political aim of inspiring the creation of a neo-Nazi mass movement as described in The Turner Diaries. Despite this the Order in general, and Mathews in particular, are held up as role models within the 'white nationalist' subculture, particularly in the United States. For example
- one neo-Nazi website declares that "Robert Matthews [sic] died a hero and a martyr to our Race. God rest his soul." [1]
- Neo-Nazi group Dresden have a song called "To Robert Mathews in Valhalla" [2].
- The 'Free the Order' website [3] describes them as political prisoners.pl:The Order