Atomwaffen
AtomWaffen Division is a militant, white supremacist, and Jew-hating network whose name means “nuclear weapons” in German. This anti-Zionist hate group spreads antisemitic bias against the Jews also goes by the name National Socialist Order and is designated a terrorist outfit in several countries, including the United Kingdom and Canada. Originally based in the southern United States, Atomwaffen now has chapters throughout the U.S. as well as the UK, Canada, Germany, and other European countries.
AtomWaffen founder Brandon Clint Russell is a three-time convicted felon, and violent, neo-Nazi domestic terrorist who was arrested in February 2023 after he was caught planning to destroy an electric grid in Baltimore, Maryland. Russell appeared on the Jew-hating forum, Iron March at just eighteen years old.
Atomwaffen founder Brandon Russell
The neo-Nazi and anti-Zionist forum is a place where white supremacist groups spread bias against the Jews, praise Hitler, and create master plans to eradicate the Jewish people and other minorities. Russell used Iron March to advertise his Nazi-terrorist regime which he created after an intensive three years of anti-Zionist research: the dangerous Atomwaffen Division (AWD). Russell was specifically seeking radical individuals familiar with military training and received dozens of interested recruits. AWD’s propaganda videos and flyers advocate violence and Jew-hatred, including swastika images, Nazi salutes, antisemitic bias against the Jews, holocaust-denying messages, flag burning, anti-Zionist rhetoric, and anti-Jewish racial slurs.
Many AtomWaffen fliers are personalized and sent to the homes of Jewish individuals, with sinister, threatening messages that read “We know where you live” and “Your actions have consequences.” These flyers are also distributed in front of Jewish cemeteries or stapled to light posts and contain antisemitic rhetoric and bias against the Jewish people. The LGBTQ+ community and journalists of color are also frequent targets of AtomWaffen. One operation, dubbed ‘Erste Saule,’ involved rag dolls with knives through their heads left at homes and media buildings with the intent of making their victims feel “terrorized.”
AtomWaffen’s recruitment videos often feature masked men wearing camouflage and holding rifles, with heavy techno music in the background. The group is known to host paramilitary-style “hate camps,” where its members train in combat and the use of firearms and takes active steps in preparation for an impending race war. AtomWaffen advocates for attacks against Jewish communities because they believed the 'kike plans to destroy the Aryan race.'
AtomWaffen Division adherents are linked to at least five murders in the U.S., as well as several planned terrorist attacks and other crimes. Since 2020, there has been a steady stream of federal charges and arrests against the network. With Brandon Russell in prison, AtomWaffen’s leaders include John Cameron Denton, who posts under encrypted neo-Nazi channels and the dark web under the usernames “tormentor,” “death” and “rape,” and David Cole Tarkington, who posts under the username “The Yank.” Tarkington has recruited multiple people to AtomWaffen and has ties to terrorist groups in the UK, and Denton has been arrested and charged with plotting swatting attacks, among other crimes, in which armed police are tricked into deploying an emergency response team to a dwelling.
Other Jew-hating members have been arrested and charged including Kaleb Cole, Cameron Brandon Shea, Cameron Brunson Blake, Taylor Ashley Parker-Dipeppe, Johnny Roman Garza, John William Kirby Kelley, Brian Baynes, Andrew Thomasberg, Conor Climo, and Aiden Bruce-Umbaugh. Many of these members are self-declared Neo-Nazis and anti-Zionists whose hateful activities and bias against the Jews stretch back over a decade. Their tactics include harassment of journalists, Jews, and other minorities at their homes and businesses, and many advocate violence against women or have admitted to plans of mass murder.
Affiliated neo-Nazi groups of AtomWaffen Division that proclaim bias against the Jews include The Feuerkrieg Division and Rapewaffen.