Germany, still burdened by the evil of Adolf Hitler and beset more recently by neo-Nazi viciousness, is worried that the surprising electoral success of a right-wing extremist in Russia will encourage the German fringe groups.
Attacks by neo-Nazi skinheads on foreigners are down in Germany this year from last due to tougher police intervention, and far-right politicians have faltered at the polls.But hate groups are bound across Europe by networks, says Germany's justice minister, and their messages are finding fertile ground in corners of a continent stricken by economic and political uncertainty.
In neighboring Austria, four men, at least two of them neo-Nazis, have been arrested in connection with a series of letter bombs sent to politicians and advocates of ethnic minorities. Over the last month, right-wing extremists have gone mainstream in elections in Italy, and now Russia, and they've scored gains in France and Britain.
Germans, who gave the word "angst" to the English language and are worriers by nature, indicated in a snap poll this week that 77 percent of them were "uneasy" about the Russian election, in which ultranationalists won an impressive 25 percent of parliament's seats.
Vladimir Zhirinovsky, leader of the Liberal Democrat Party, has said at various times in the past that he would arm the Serbs, spray nuclear waste at the Baltics and bomb his enemies - including Germany - at the drop of a hat, all to restore Russia to its former glory.
Such remarks are especially worrisome to Germany, where resurgent neo-Nazis have tarnished the difficult reunion of West and East Germany and where any stutter-step in Russian democracy would have financial repercussions. Germany has sunk $48 billion in aid into Russia since 1989.