Editing Wotansvolk (section)

==History==
Wotansvolk was launched following the publication by [[David Lane (white supremacist)|David Lane]] of a 1995 article titled "Wotan's Folk", which gave the group its name. ''Wotan'' is the Germanic name for [[Odin]], a central figure in [[Norse mythology|Norse faith]] and other [[Germanic mythology|Germanic mythologies]]. Lane had been publishing white supremacist and neopagan work under the name "14 Word Press", along with his wife Katja Lane and Ron McVan, an artist who had become involved in the [[White supremacy|white supremacist]] movement from the 1970s after reading the works of [[Ben Klassen]].<ref name=":2">{{harvp|Gardell|2004|pp=205–206}}</ref> Headquartered at a mountain outside [[St. Maries, Idaho]], Wotansvolk rapidly evolved into "a dynamic propaganda center that spread its message throughout the United States and abroad".<ref name=":3" /> 

Established at a time when Internet was beginning to revolutionize communication means, the group set up a website in 1995, and got its own domain in 1997, "14words.com". In 2001, an online chat was created, in order to link Heathens around the world in a common white power culture. The first European Wotansvolk group was established in spring 1996 in [[London]].<ref name=":0">{{harvp|Gardell|2003|pp=224–225}}</ref> According to [[Mattias Gardell]], Wotansvolk was not founded as a membership organization but rather as a propaganda center, providing "a philosophical foundation for independent [[Kindred (Heathenism)|kindreds]] and fraternities" with a large number of individual supporters helping disseminate Wotansvolk materials in their local communities.<ref name=":0" /> Besides illustrating the group's publications, McVan extended Odinism to a business by selling artifacts such as rune-staffs, Thor's hammers or ceremonial drinking horns.<ref name=":1">{{harvp|Kaplan|2000|p=202}}</ref>

A number of pagan white-power bands have referenced Wotansvolk in their lyrics, including Darken's ''Creed of Iron'' album and Dissident's album ''A Cog in the Wheel.'' The original group eventually split in 2002, when administration of Wotansvolk was transferred to John Post in [[Napa, California]].<ref name=":3">{{harvp|Lewis|Petersen|2014|pp=413–415}}</ref> In March of the same year, Post announced the formation of the National Prison Kindred Alliance, as a joint effort of Wotansvolk and a number of independent Asatrú/Odinist tribal networks seeking to improve their religious rights in penitentiaries.<ref name=":4">{{harvp|Lewis|Petersen|2014|pp=417–418}}</ref>

=== Presence in US prisons ===
Wotansvolk operated a successful prison outreach program.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /> Research by [[Mattias Gardell]] indicated "a pagan revival among the white prison population, including the conversion of whole [[prison gang]]s to the ancestral religion [...] partly due to the reputation of Lane and its association with the legendary [[The Order (white supremacist group)|Brüders Schweigen]], Wotansvolk's name-recognition is high among the Aryan prison population".<ref name="Gardell217">{{harvp|Gardell|2003|p=217}}</ref> As of January 2001, Wotansvolk catered to more than 5,000 prisoners,<ref name=":4" /> including several members of [[The Order (white supremacist group)|The Order]] like David Lane and Richard Scutari.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2000/neo-pagans-peter-georgacarakos-david-lane-and-richard-scutari-publishing-prison|title=Neo-Pagans Peter Georgacarakos, David Lane and Richard Scutari Publishing from Prison|access-date=August 17, 2017 |work=Intelligence Report|publisher=Southern Poverty Law Center|date=Spring 2000}}</ref> There were fewer than a hundred prison kindreds by the fall of 1996; more than three hundred of them were present by the year 2000. Prison authorities however often break groups by disseminating their members to various establishments. Lane's campaigning has contributed to the fact that all states now allow any prisoner to wear a [[Thor]]'s hammer as a religious medallion.<ref name=":4" />

If there are many white supremacist groups active in prison, the organization seemed according to Gardell "more successful in its outreach efforts than other Asatrú/Odinist programs".<ref name="Gardell217" /> Non-racist versions of Asatrú and Odinism are protected in the US under freedoms of speech and of religion, but violent and racist religious materials, such as Wotanism, may be banned or restricted from prisons.<ref>{{cite news|title=Mark Pitcavage of the Anti-Defamation League Discusses Race-Based Gangs and other Extremists in Prison|url=https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2015/mark-pitcavage-anti-defamation-league-discusses-race-based-gangs-and-other-extremists|access-date=29 May 2017 |work=Intelligence Report|publisher=Southern Poverty Law Center|date=Winter 2002}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Supreme Court Requires Prisons Give Special Consideration to Racist Pagans |url=https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2009/supreme-court-requires-prisons-give-special-consideration-racist-pagans|access-date=29 May 2017|work=Intelligence Report|publisher=Southern Poverty Law Center |date=Fall 2009}}</ref> While the movement is primarily associated to prison culture in the media, Wotansvolk co-founder Katja Lane asserted in a 1999 interview that prisoners constituted only an estimated 20 percent of Wotansvolkers in the United States.<ref name=":4" />