Maine Location Now Training Neo-Nazi Group to Use Military Weapons, Physical Fitness

Yes, you read that headline correctly. A literal neo-nazi group is now set up to train its members in a small Maine town.

According to WGME and The Bangor Daily News, a neo-nazi group, that is nationally known, has purchased land off the Moores Road in Springfield, Maine to make way for a new training site for its members.

Christopher Pohlhaus, a former United States Marine, is the founder of extremist group, Blood Tribe, a white-supremist-centered neo-nazi group. WGME is reporting that Pohlhaus has been using Telegram, a social platform that utilizes encryption, to encourage his followers to come to the new Springfield, Maine location for training in military-grade weaponry as well as physical fitness.

Pohlhaus and his team are currently working on clearing the land near Bottle Lake Road in preparation for a slew of hemlock-style cabins that will be used to house the hate-group's members during training exercises.

It should also be noted that as the extremist group moves part of its training operations to Maine, it is considered to be the whitest state in the country.

According to the Anti-Defamation League,

In May 2022, Pohlhaus moved from Texas to Maine and purchased 10-acres of land that he is developing into an encampment where likeminded white supremacists can gather and live. In 2023, Pohlhaus and Blood Tribe members began participating in anti-LGBTQ+ protests. At such protests, Pohlhaus has led members of the Blood Tribe, dressed in red and black uniforms bearing the group's symbol and flying a large swastika flag, in aggressive chants in front of a large banner reading "There will be blood."

Jon Lewis, research fellow at George Washington University’s Program on Extremism, said in part in the WGME article,

“It should be a concern when neo-Nazis are effectively in your backyard setting up target practice and training with firearms. [Springfield] looks like it could be the early stages of something that could easily develop into a far more significant and prevalent threat to the community, and becoming keenly aware is essential.”