Death in June - Controversy

Controversy

Detractors have accused Death in June of harboring neo-Nazi sympathies. Pearce has said, "At the start of the eighties, Tony and I were involved in radical left politics and beneath it history students. In search of a political view for the future we came across National Bolshevism which is closely connected with the Sturmabteilung hierarchy. People like Gregor Strasser and Ernst Röhm who were later known as 'second revolutionaries' attracted our attention." The Sturmabteilung (Stormtroopers) were a paramilitary unit of the Nazi Party (NSDAP), and Strasser and Röhm were Nazi leaders who vyed for Adolf Hitler's power.

Protests have been staged and some performances have been cancelled due to these accusations. Justification for the cancellations stem from strong aversions to the Nazi inspired symbolism of Death in June coupled with an interpretation of select lyrics as containing deliberate Third Reich-era imagery and tropes. When questioned about his interest in the Third Reich, Pearce responded:"I've an interest in all aspects of the Third Reich. It has had such a huge influence on the world, who could fail to be intrigued by it? However, I've still read more pages of Das Kapital than Mein Kampf!"

Pearce, who is openly homosexual, has collaborated with various ethnic Jews throughout his music career. The official Death in June website site featured the flag of Israel, and Death in June played a concert in Israel on June 18, 2004 for a predominantly Jewish audience.