MENACE TO MENSCH
DNA test leads ‘X’ neo-Nazi to Judaism
The neo-Nazi who inspired Edward Norton’s skinhead character in “American History X” has revealed he is now an observant Jew after turning his life around and discovering his heritage through DNA testing.
Frank Meeink, 48, became a leader of a violent ultra-right group in the early 1990s, torturing enemies who stood in the way of his attempt to foment a race war.
Intensely antisemitic and flaunting a flaming swastika tattooed on his neck, he railed against what he called the “Zionist occupation government” and believed the Jews were “the root of all evil.”
In 1998’s “American History X,” Norton’s Derek Vinyard character was based, in part, on Meeink’s road to redemption as he began to ditch his racist views after kindling friendships with black inmates in prison.
But now Meeink has revealed to The Post an astonishing twist: he is Jewish.
Long after quitting neo-Nazism and attempting to make amends for his past, he took a 23andMe test and discovered that he has Jewish ancestry — and has now embraced his heritage.
He was prompted to take the test by a chance remark from a friend that he “looked Jewish.”
“I just wanted to see if it was true, I wanted to see if it was real,” Meeink said. “I found out by a beautiful gift from God that I was Jewish through DNA.”
Small but important
The test showed his ancestry composition is 2.4% Ashkenazi Jewish. The small proportion belied its importance: his mother’s maternal great-great-grandmother, Elizabeth Zellman Rementer, was Jewish — meaning that, according to the tradition of matrilineal descent, he is too.
Although not all Jewish scholars would accept that definition, many do — and Meeink has enthusiastically embraced Judaism.
He prays three times daily wearing the tallit and tefillin of observant Jews, attends synagogue, goes to three Torah study classes a week and keeps kosher.
Meeink grew up in an IrishCatholic enclave in southwest Philadelphia with his mother and abusive stepfather, surrounded by black families.
Escaping his fractured home life at his aunt and uncle’s farm near Lancaster, Pa., in the summer of 1988, the 13-year-old was greeted by his neo-Nazi cousin who had a mural of Hitler in his bedroom.
Meeink feared drugs and black people, and his cousin’s skinhead crew “justified all my fears,” he said.
After returning home, he traveled the US, meeting prominent neo-Nazis including David Duke.
“I grabbed onto this information that was being fed to me,” he said. “I wanted to make this movement bigger.”
Aged 15, he had already joined — and been booted from — the Ku Klux Klan before deciding to form his own group with his cousin, called Strikeforce.
Aged 17, Meeink was sentenced to three years for aggravated kidnapping. In the custody of the Illinois Department of Corrections he quickly became part of a crew of Aryan “farm boys and bikers.”
But unexpectedly, he bonded with two black inmates nicknamed Jello and G over games of football and cards in the prison yard, and began a slow journey out of neo-Nazism, which helped inspire Norton’s character.
He later had the swastika tattoo, and the word “skinhead” on his knuckles, removed.
Turning to faith
Meeink has turned into an active campaigner against neo-Nazism but it is his embrace of Judaism which he said has meant the most to him.
He credits his faith with helping him in the wake of the darkest period of his life.
“The thing I loved about Judaism is that it says, ‘Love the Lord your God.’ And that you don’t need to force your God on nobody else,” he said. “I wanna try and build this relationship with God.”