Berg, Alan
Identification Jewish radio talk-show host in
Denver assassinated by neo-Nazis in 1984
Born January, 1934; Chicago, Illinois
Died June 18, 1984; Denver, Colorado
The murder of Alan Berg alerted Americans to the threat of
neo-Nazi terrorism within the countr y.
Alan Berg was born in Chicago in January, 1934. His
father, a dentist, was the descendant of Russian Jews.
Berg attended universities in Colorado and Florida
before graduating from DePaul University School of
Law in l957. He then became a successful attorney in
Chicago; however, after bouts with seizures and alco-
holism, he moved to Denver and opened a clothing
store.
In the fall of 1971, Berg began a career in talk
radio, when he appeared as a guest on a talk show
on KGMC hosted by Lawrence Gross. When Gross
moved to San Diego, Berg replaced him as host of
the program. In February, 1981, he became the host
of another talk show on KOA in Denver. Berg’s pro-
gram could be heard in thirty states throughout the
western part of the United States. A social and politi-
cal liberal, Berg became controversial as he debated
his callers.
In 1981, a small group of men led by Robert Jay
Mathews broke off from the Aryan Nations and
formed a militant group called the Order. The pur-
pose of the Order was to follow the blueprint for a
right-wing racial group put forward in a book called
The Turner Diaries(1978). This novel, written by neo-
Nazi Dr. William Pierce under the pseudonym An-
drew Macdonald, tells the story of a group plotting
to overthrow the Zionist Occupied Government
(ZOG) and to create an Aryan nation. Members of
Mathews’s group counterfeited money and robbed
banks and armored cars to raise funds to finance
their implementation of such a revolution. They also
compiled a list of individuals to be assassinated. One
person on the list was Alan Berg, with whom Order
members had talked on KOA. On June 18, 1984,
Berg was shot and killed when he stepped from his
car in Denver.
Law-enforcement officials soon became aware of
the Order and the link between the Berg murder and
the other unlawful activities of the group. Mathews
was killed in a standoff with police on Whidbey Is-
land, Washington, on December 12, 1984. Twenty-
four other members of the Order were ultimately
arrested on a variety of charges. Thirteen pleaded
guilty, and another ten were convicted of various
crimes. While no members of the Order were actually
charged with the murder of Alan Berg, three were
tried and convicted of the federal crime of violating
his civil rights.
Impact While the Order was ultimately eliminated
by law-enforcement officials, Alan Berg’s assassina-
tion alerted Americans to the threat of domestic
neo-Nazi terrorism in the l980’s. Berg’s life and
death were documented in a book,Talked to Death
(1987), by Stephen Singular. The book was the basis
for a stage play and Oliver Stone’s later movieTalk
Radio(1988).
Further Reading
Ridgeway, James.Blood in the Face: The Ku Klux Klan,
Ar yan Nations, Nazi Skinheads, and the Rise of a New
White Culture. 2d ed, rev. and updated. New York:
Thunder’s Mouth Press, 1995.
Singular, Stephen.Talked to Death: The Life and Mur-
der of Alan Berg. New York: Beech Tree Books,
1987.
William V. MooreSee also Crime; Domestic violence; Jewish Ameri-
cans; Nation of Yahweh; Skinheads and neo-Nazis;
Terrorism.Berlin Wall
Definition Physical barrier between East and WestBerlin Wall
Date August 13, 1961, to November 9, 1989
The Berlin Wall, created at the height of Cold War tensions,
remained a symbol of those tensions, as well as an actual
barrier between the West and the Soviet Bloc, until it was
opened on the night of November 9, 1989.
In the wake of Germany’s 1945 defeat in World
War II, Germany and its capital Berlin were divided
into British, French, American, and Soviet occupa-
tion zones. Berlin was located deep within the Soviet
zone, but it too was divided into four quadrants. So-
viet leader Joseph Stalin sought to force the British,
French, and Americans to withdraw from Berlin and
denied them ground access to the city in the Berlin
Blockade of 1948-1949. After Stalin lifted the block-106 Berg, Alan The Eighties in America