David Lane (white supremacist)

David Lane
Lane after his 1985 arrest
Born	David Eden Lane (1938-11-02)November 2, 1938 Woden, Iowa, U.S.
Died	May 28, 2007(2007-05-28) (aged 68) FCI Terre Haute, Terre Haute, Indiana, U.S.
Other names	Wodensson
Occupation	Real estate broker
Organization(s)	Ku Klux Klan, Aryan Nations, The Order, Wotansvolk
Known for	Fourteen Words, murder of Alan Berg
Spouses	Katja Maddox ​ (m. 1994)​
Criminal information
Convictions	Violation of civil rights Racketeering Conspiracy to engage in racketeering
Criminal penalty	De facto life imprisonment (190 years in prison)[a]
Details
Victims	Alan Harrison Berg, 50

David Eden Lane (November 2, 1938 – May 28, 2007) was an American neo-Nazi and a co-founder of the white supremacist terrorist organization The Order. For his actions as part of The Order, Lane was convicted and sentenced to 190 years in prison for racketeering, conspiracy, and the violation of the civil rights of Alan Berg, a Jewish radio talk show host, who prosecutors claimed was murdered by a member of the group via a drive-by shooting with Lane acting as driver, though they were unsuccessful in getting murder convictions.^[1][2] He died while still incarcerated at the FCI Terre Haute in Terre Haute, Indiana.^[3]

While in prison, Lane wrote many white supremacist materials and coined the "Fourteen Words", a well known white supremacist slogan in North America. He has been described by the Southern Poverty Law Center as "one of the most important ideologues of contemporary white supremacy".^[2]

Early life

David Lane was born November 2, 1938 in Woden, Iowa.^[4][5] At the time of his birth, the town was largely populated by Germanic immigrants.^[6] Lane was the third of four siblings, with a brother and two sisters.^[7][8] His father was an alcoholic itinerant worker who was physically abusive toward his wife and children;^[8][4] Lane described his father as "a truly despicable creature, and described his mother as an "uneducated [...] farm girl".^[6] In one instance, his father beat Lane's older brother Roger so severely that he was rendered permanently deaf.^[8] When Lane was four years old, his father abandoned his family.^[7] In 1944, Roger was found searching for food in a neighbor's trash bins, and Lane and his sisters were placed in an orphanage.^[6]

After being placed in state care Lane was separated from and lost contact with his biological family.^[6] He was soon adopted by a traveling Lutheran minister.^[9][6] With his new family he moved very frequently.^[6] Traveling across the Midwestern United States with his adoptive family, Lane finally settled in Aurora, Colorado, where he attended Hinkley High School.^[10][11] His adoptive family was strictly Christian, which contributed to Lane's distaste for Christianity.^[9] As an adult, he changed his last name back to his biological father's surname, rather than his adopted family's.^[10] He attended a community college; there he had good grades, but left after one semester.^[11]

White supremacy

Lane claims that he rejected Christianity early in life, finding the faith boring.^[6] Lane later favored pagan beliefs as a more authentic ancestral "white" religion, as opposed to what he viewed as Jewish influenced Christianity.^[2][9] Lane claimed that he first became attracted to women of the "Caucasian race" after befriending a blonde-haired girl in first grade.^[8][6] Lane stated that while he reenacted battles with his foster brother as a child, he portrayed a Nazi stormtrooper while his brother portrayed an American soldier.^[8] It is uncertain how true some of these claims are.^[6]

Lane was briefly a member of the John Birch Society before joining the Ku Klux Klan, becoming the organizer of the Denver unit of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in 1979.^[12] Originally aspiring to become a golf professional, Lane worked as a real estate broker starting in 1973, but his license was revoked because he "wouldn't sell homes to coloreds in white neighborhoods".^[12][13] In 1979, his biological sister Jane tracked him down, and Lane regained contact with his biological family for the first time in several decades.^[13] He became close again with his brother; he died during Lane's trial, which Lane blamed on federal agents targeting him. His other sister did not share his views, but Jane had also become a white supremacist and was married to the leader of the Pennsylvania branch of Aryan Nations, Carl Franklin.^[13] This contact with Jane and her husband led to Lane making contact with Aryan Nations.^[13] In late 1981, Lane became Colorado State Organizer of Aryan Nations.^[12] He distributed his first pamphlet, "The Death of the White Race", in the Denver area, leading to publicity and attention from the Anti-Defamation League; he claimed that the Denver police attempted to assassinate him by helicopter after this.^[13]

Lane met Robert Jay Mathews in July 1983 at the Aryan Nations world congress.^[14] On September 22, 1983, Lane was among the nine founding members to be sworn into The Order, a white supremacist group led by Mathews whose mission was to "deliver our people from the Jew and bring total victory to the Aryan race."^[15] The Order was accused of stealing over $4.1 million in armored car hijackings, killing three people (one of whom was Order member Walter E. West), detonating bombs, counterfeiting money, organizing militaristic training camps and carrying out numerous other crimes with the ultimate goal of overthrowing the "Zionist occupational government" they deemed in control of the United States and to "liberate the Pacific Northwest as a homeland for whites" in the process (see Northwest Territorial Imperative).^[16]

Convictions and incarceration

For his role in The Order's crimes, Lane was sentenced to consecutive sentences totaling 190 years, including 20 years for racketeering, 20 years for conspiracy, both under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), and 150 years for violating the civil rights of Alan Berg, a Jewish radio talk show host who was murdered on June 18, 1984.^{[1][2][3][17]} Berg was shot and killed in the driveway of his Denver home by three members of The Order.^[18] Lane was arrested on the evening of March 30, 1985, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.^[19] While he did not pull the trigger, prosecutors said Lane drove the getaway car and played a large role in the planning of Berg's assassination.^[2][20]

Lane was also among 14 men prosecuted for seditious conspiracy in Fort Smith, Arkansas, but he was acquitted. Lane was considered extremely dangerous and thus held in high-security facilities such United States Penitentiary, Marion, the United States Penitentiary Administrative Maximum Facility in Florence, Colorado, and the FCI Terre Haute.^{[citation needed]}

While incarcerated, he had the Federal Bureau of Prisons ID # 12873–057.^[21] Lane wrote books and articles about gematria and the demographic and sociopolitical status of the white race for white nationalist periodicals and websites. With his wife and Ron McVan, he ran a publishing company called 14 Word Press in Idaho to disseminate his writings.^[22]

He was featured in Nazi Pop Twins, a documentary aired on July 19, 2007, on Channel 4 in the UK.^[23] In it, he was shown speaking by phone with Prussian Blue (the music act from the documentary) and termed them "fantasy sweethearts" and that he viewed them like daughters.^[24]

Lane's earliest possible release date from prison would have been on March 29, 2035 (at age 96). He died on May 28, 2007, in FCI Terre Haute due to an epileptic seizure.^[25][26] On June 30, 2007, white supremacists held memorial demonstrations for Lane in cities across the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Russia, and Ukraine.^[27]

Beliefs

Racial beliefs

Lane stated that his beliefs can be best summarized by a slogan he called the "Fourteen Words": "We must secure the existence of our people and a future for White children." He also coined a second 14-word slogan: "because the beauty of the White Aryan woman must not perish from the earth."^[8]

88 Precepts

While he was in prison, Lane wrote the 88 Precepts as a treatise on his views on race, politics, and philosophy (88 is a common dog-whistle to praise Adolf Hitler, as "Heil Hitler" uses the eighth letter of the English alphabet, H, for the start of both words). Lane viewed these as the principles behind the two "Fourteen Words" slogans. The 88 Precepts are critical of democracy and oppose government under the claim of taxation as theft. They also promoted servant leadership, a Deistic theological view, and rejected racial integration, calling it a "euphemism" for "White genocide." Lane's writing also sought to establish a white ethnostate in North America and in Eastern Europe.

"88 Precepts" is one of several key texts, printed and distributed through 14 Word Press, including the "White Genocide Manifesto" (which contained 14 key points).^[28] As in his other writings, Lane repeats the claim that white people are threatened by a lack of exclusive territorial hegemony and "forced racial mixing".^[29] Lane viewed the United States government as part of a Zionist conspiracy.^[30][31]

Consistent with the restrictive gender roles which were practiced within Aryan Nations, precept 35 of "88 Precepts" regards homosexuality as unnatural and also views sex as an act of reproduction which should be performed for the sole purpose of increasing the size of the white population. Lane also considers sex as a motivation for male subjugation of women, who are expected to be subservient. Lane advises men to subjugate women via power and control of territory, and he also advises white men to take up arms for this purpose.^[32] According to its web site, the United Klans of America viewed the 88 Precepts as "a source for which we can ascertain lasting truths".^[33]

Wotansvolk

Main article: Wotansvolk

Lane was one of the founders of the Wotansvolk movement, a racist, neo-völkisch^[34] form of Odinism (or Heathenry) which he formed with his wife Katja in 1995 in order to promote his ideology^[2] which pursued a program of concerted outreach to prisoners.^[35] Wotansvolk combines an "Aryan call to arms" with an esoteric teaching, partially based on Jungian psychology, völkish philosophy, and National Socialism.^[36] Lane distanced himself from universalist Odinists (including "folkish Asatru") who did not embrace "survival of the Aryan race" as a core part of the movement.^[37] Lane argued with Stephen McNallen, then leader of the Asatru Folk Assembly when Lane was alive.^[38] By 2017, McNallen came out with support for Lane's 14 Words, quoting them verbatim.^[34]

Aiming to foment a white revolution, Wotansvolk endorsed "leaderless resistance," a strategy which was popularized by Louis Beam, a Klan veteran and a longtime friend of the Lane family.^[36] However, 14 Word Press and Temple of Wotan are defunct organizations and as a result no longer have mailing addresses or websites, although Wotanism is still practiced by independent kindreds.

Portraying Sir Francis Bacon and Shakespeare as being "adept in ancient divine wisdom" and believing that the pyramids were built by "Aryan architects", Lane taught a belief called the "Pyramid Prophecy 666",^[35] which included the concept that a Bible code was inserted by "Aryan adepts" within the King James Version of the Christian Bible. Lane's alleged deciphered code described him as being the "man" who is described in the Book of Revelation, with America being the Beast, but that belief was censored by Ron McVan and other strategists who believed that Lane's Messianic / Anti-Christ claims would be counterproductive by "turning off potential converts".^[39] Lane also issued a declaration called "Moral Authority", which calls the United States a "Red, White, and Blue travelling mass murder machine" intent on committing genocide against white people. According to the declaration, "true moral authority belongs to those who resist" this purported genocide.^[8] Lane claimed that was the "666 Sun Man" and that America was the "Beast", and that "14-88" was an integral part of coding in his "Pyramid Prophecy"^[40] and was fundamental Wotanism (with "88 Lines and 14 Words" being a supplement to 88 Precepts). 1488 is a combination of 14 as in Lane's Fourteen Words and 88, a white nationalist/supremacist abbreviation for "Heil Hitler."^[41]

Notes

1. Served consecutively:
   • 150-year federal prison term (violation of civil rights)
   • 20-year federal prison term (racketeering)
   • 20-year federal prison term (conspiracy)

References

Citations

1. "The murder of Alan Berg in Denver: 25 years later". The Denver Post. June 17, 2009. Retrieved November 18, 2019.
2. "David Lane". Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved November 18, 2019.
3. Boniface, Dan; Herdy, Amy (May 29, 2007). "Getaway driver in radio talk show host murder dies in prison". KUSA. Terre Haute. Archived from the original on July 3, 2012. Retrieved April 18, 2018.
4. Atkins 2011, p. 174.
5. Nic Dháibhéid 2017, p. 173.
6. Nic Dháibhéid 2017, pp. 173–176.
7. Atkins 2011, pp. 174–175.
8. "David Lane". Anti-Defamation League. Archived from the original on November 3, 2008.
9. Gardell 2000, p. 167.
10. Flynn & Gerhardt 1989, p. 215.
11. Atkins 2011, p. 175.
12. Schwartz 1996, p. 64.
13. Nic Dháibhéid 2017, pp. 174–178.
14. Goodrick-Clarke 2003, p. 270.
15. Gardell 2003, p. 193.
16. "Jury Told of Plan to Kill Radio Host". The New York Times. November 8, 1987. Retrieved August 25, 2007.
17. Turner, Wallace (February 7, 1986). "5 Neo-Nazis Get Stiff Sentences For Crime Spree". The New York Times. Retrieved August 25, 2007.
18. "Witness in Racist Trial Identifies Gunman in Slaying of Radio Host". The New York Times. September 21, 1985. Retrieved August 25, 2007.
19. "Another Suspect Held In Radio Host's Death". The New York Times. April 1, 1985. Retrieved August 25, 2007.
20. Simpson, Kevin; Blevins, Jason; Auge, Karen (June 17, 2009). "The murder of Alan Berg in Denver: 25 years later". The Denver Post. Retrieved October 11, 2017.
21. "David Eden Lane". Federal Bureau of Prisons. Archived from the original on June 29, 2011. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
22. Gardell 2004, pp. 205–206.
23. "Nazi Pop Twins". Channel 4. 2007. Archived from the original on October 13, 2007. Retrieved August 17, 2007.
24. "The Gaede Bunch: 'A is for Aryan'". Hatewatch. Southern Poverty Law Center. August 8, 2007. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved August 17, 2007.
25. Flynn, Kevin (May 29, 2007). "White supremacist, talk show host killer dies in prison". Rocky Mountain News. Archived from the original on July 3, 2007. Retrieved August 17, 2007.
26. Atkins 2011, p. 176.
27. "Terrorist, '14 Words' Author, Dies in Prison". Intelligence Report (Fall 2007). Southern Poverty Law Center. October 1, 2007. Retrieved December 16, 2016.
28. Rider, Sarah, Tolerating Intolerance: Resisting the Urge to Silence Student Opinion in the Writing Classroom, retrieved September 29, 2007
29. Anti-Defamation League, David Lane, archived from the original on May 17, 2011, retrieved November 18, 2019
30. "Swedish Academic Mattias Gardell Discusses the Rise of Neo-Paganism in America". Intelligence Report. Southern Poverty Law Center. Spring 2001. Retrieved April 11, 2023.
31. Gardell 2003, p. 192.
32. Lazebnik 2013, pp. 210–211.
33. Balleck 2019, pp. 336–337.
34. "Neo-Volkisch". Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved August 8, 2018.
35. Gardell 2003, p. 381.
36. Gardell 2014, p. 389.
37. "What Are the '14 Words' Everyone's Been Freaking Out About?". Haaretz. August 12, 2018. Retrieved August 12, 2018.
38. Gardell 2003, p. 280.
39. Gardell 2003, p. 382.
40. Gardell 2003, pp. 381–382.
41. "David Lane, White Supremacist Terrorist and Ideologue, Dies in Prison". Anti-Defamation League. May 30, 2007. Retrieved November 18, 2019.

Bibliography

• Atkins, Stephen E. (2011). Encyclopedia of Right-Wing Extremism in Modern American History. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-59884-350-7.
• Balleck, Barry J. (2019). Hate Groups and Extremist Organizations in America: An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-4408-5751-5.
• Flynn, Kevin; Gerhardt, Gary (1989). The Silent Brotherhood: Inside America's Racist Underground. New York: The Free Press. ISBN 978-0-02-910312-8.
• Gardell, Mattias (2000). Kaplan, Jeffrey (ed.). Encyclopedia of White Power: A Sourcebook on the Radical Racist Right. Walnut Creek: AltaMira Press. ISBN 978-0-7425-0340-3.
• Gardell, Mattias (2003). Gods of the Blood: The Pagan Revival and White Separatism (1st Illustrated ed.). Durham: Duke University Press. ISBN 978-0-8223-3071-4.
• Gardell, Mattias (2004). "White Racist Religions in the United States: From Christian Identity to Wolf Age Pagans". In Lewis, James R.; Petersen, Jesper Aagaard (eds.). Controversial New Religions (1st ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-515682-9.
• Gardell, Mattias (2014). "Wolf Age Pagans". In Lewis, James R.; Petersen, Jesper Aa. (eds.). Controversial New Religions (2nd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-515682-9.
• Goodrick-Clarke, Nicholas (2003). Black Sun: Aryan Cults, Esoteric Nazism, and the Politics of Identity (Illustrated reissue ed.). New York University Press. ISBN 978-0-8147-3155-0.
• Lazebnik, H.C. (2013). "The Intersection of White-Racist Communes and the American Legal System". In Miller, Timothy (ed.). Spiritual and Visionary Communities: Out to Save the World. Routledge. pp. 207–223. ISBN 978-1-317-05125-1.
• Nic Dháibhéid, Caoimhe (2017). "David Eden Lane". Terrorist Histories: Individuals and Political Violence Since the 19th Century. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-19902-1.
• Schwartz, Alan M., ed. (1996). Danger: Extremism – The Major Vehicles and Voices on America's Far-Right Fringe (1st ed.). New York: Anti-Defamation League. ISBN 978-0-88464-169-8.

External links