Hammerskins

The Hammerskins emerged in the late 1980s from the Dallas based Confederate Hammerskins. Their name is based on a scene in the 1982 film Pink Floyd – The Wall. The first international chapters of the group were formed in Northern Ireland and Switzerland in 1990, and Australian and Canadian chapters followed in 1993. During the following year, the regional groups amalgamated, rebranding as Hammerskin Nation, but in 1999 reverted to the regional system under an international umbrella. Power struggles had split the group into several factions by 2008. The website and online forums went offline in 2001 with little explanation, and not long afterwards, the white supremacist Tom Metzger announced the termination of the group known as Hammerskin Nation. However, another "official" Hammerskin Nation website was launched in 2002, which was still active as of October 2018 but without online forums, but was inactive by April 2020. ==Description==

''; the Hammerskins design was taken from this logo. Symbolism and motto The Hammerskins logo and design, depicting two red and black crossed claw hammers, was taken from a fictitious neo-Nazi organization depicted in the 1982 film Pink Floyd – The Wall. The two crossed hammer was designed by Gerald Scarfe who made it for Pink Floyd's 1979 album The Wall and its movie, it was soon taken, changed and redesigned for the white supremacist group in Dallas. The portrayal of the fictional group in the film was intended to show Nazism negatively and as a parody. As of October 12, 2018, their website showed six U.S. chapters: West, Northwest, Midland, Confederate, Northern, and Eastern, and chapters in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Brazil. Each chapter, both in the US and internationally, has a specific design which often includes the original Hammerskins logo and a symbol, logo or flag that represents the state or country. Recruitment The organization is self-described as "leaderless". It maintains an active recruitment strategy, and encourages members to enlist in military forces in order to learn combat skills for an upcoming race war. ==United States==

Individual members have been involved in many violent attacks and hate crimes, mostly in the US, although these have not been organized by the group. Many of its members have been convicted of harassment, assault and even murder. Page had become a "fully patched" member of the Hammerskins in autumn 2011, according to the Anti-Defamation League. He played in at least three Hammerskin-affiliated bands; End Apathy, Definite Hate and 13 Knots. According to media sources and civil rights organizations, End Apathy, Wade's main band, had played at several recent Hammerskin events in the United States prior to the shooting-spree. ==Southern Cross Hammerskins (Australia)==

The Australian group, founded in 1993, In October 2019, the Southern Cross Hammerskins along with Blood & Honour Australia held the annual Ian Stuart Donaldson Memorial Concert in Melbourne. Various human rights, faith, trade union and anti-discrimination groups lobbied the Victorian Government to stop the concert, to no avail, and it went ahead as intended. ==Crew 38 Finland==

Hammerskins operate in Finland under the moniker Crew 38. It is most active in Helsinki and Jyväskylä. Since 2022 Finnish Blood & Honour has organized an annual "White Boy Summer Fest" together with Hammerskins and Veren Laki (Law of Blood), a neo-Nazi combat sports collective connected to the Nordic Resistance Movement. The festival includes concerts and MMA tournament. Crew 38 came under police investigation in connection to the Kankaanpää terrorism arrests when the leader and members of the Finnish Atomwaffen group frequented the Crew 38 headquarters in Muurame and Kerava. A Canadian neo-Nazi charged with terroristic crimes visited and trained with the Hammerskins in Finland. According to Vice News the man is a founding member of Atomwaffen's Canadian branch. == Germany ==

The German chapter of the Hammerskins was banned by the German government on 19 September 2023, that ban was however overturned on 19 December 2025. ==Italy==

The Italian chapter of the Hammerskins goes by the name "Lealtà e Azione" (Loyalty and Action), and has a wolf's head and a gladius as its logo. Among its founders are Giacomo Pedrazzoli and Stefano Del Miglio, who have both been repeatedly jailed for assault and knife-related crimes. Its members expouse the views of Leon Degrelle and Corneliu Codreanu, the latter figure being featured in one of the group's hymns. Lealtà e Azione opened its headquarters in 2010 in Milan with the backing of Marco Osnato, with further branches being opened in Monza, Lodi, Abbiategrasso, Genoa and Florence. ==See also==