:Jacob Hersant
{{Short description|Australian neo-Nazi and convicted criminal}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Use Australian English|date=August 2024}}
{{Infobox criminal
| name = Jacob Hersant
| image =
| birth_date = 1998 or 1999
| nationality =
| organization = National Socialist Network (2020–present)
Antipodean Resistance (formerly)
| criminal_charge = Performing a Nazi salute in public
| conviction_status = Guilty
| children = Yes
| states = Victoria
}}
{{Neo-Nazism sidebar |People}}
{{Far-right politics in Australia}}
Jacob Hersant (born 1998 or 1999) is an Australian neo-Nazi, known as a figurehead of the National Socialist Network and the European Australian Movement. He was the first person to have been charged and convicted for publicly making a Nazi salute in the Australian state of Victoria.
Early life and education
Jacob Hersant was born in 1998 or 1999.{{Cite news |last=Silva |first=Kristian |date=22 March 2024 |title=Prosecutors seek jail over 'terrifying' neo-Nazi attack on Victorian hikers |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-03-22/neo-nazi-court-appeal-thomas-sewell-jacob-hersant/103619202 |access-date=11 August 2024 |work=ABC News |language=en-AU |archive-date=9 October 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241009100146/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-03-22/neo-nazi-court-appeal-thomas-sewell-jacob-hersant/103619202 |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |last=Cosoleto |first=Tara |date=23 April 2024 |title=Appeal on neo-Nazi leaders' jail terms dismissed |url=https://www.9news.com.au/national/thomas-sewell-jacob-hersant-appeal-on-neonazi-leaders-jail-terms-dismissed/96a8a1d5-4c85-475d-b7b6-cef77677bbcc |access-date=11 August 2024 |website=9news.com.au |archive-date=9 October 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241009100251/https://www.9news.com.au/national/thomas-sewell-jacob-hersant-appeal-on-neonazi-leaders-jail-terms-dismissed/96a8a1d5-4c85-475d-b7b6-cef77677bbcc |url-status=live }}
He attended University High School in Melbourne. He is reported to have written on Iron March: "I was an edgy Atheist leftist gamer at 14, then I started playing a lot of Company of Heroes and that got me interested in World War 2. I always liked the Germans better since I have German heritage", and went on to write that after coming across the 2013 film Adolf Hitler: The Greatest Story Never Told on YouTube, "I've been a bad bad goy ever since".{{cite web | website=The White Rose Society | title=Antipodean Resistance and the Lads Society | date=24 July 2018 | url=https://thewhiterosesociety.writeas.com/antipodean-resistance-and-the-lads-society | access-date=25 April 2025}}
Views and associations
Hersant was formerly associated with the Antipodean Resistance and the Lads Society, along with Thomas Sewell.
He is known as a neo-Nazi,{{cite web | last=Oboler | first=Andre | title=‘The Jewish community owes a debt to the mole who infiltrated the neo-Nazi network’ | website=The Jewish Independent | date=20 August 2021 | url=https://thejewishindependent.com.au/the-jewish-community-owes-a-debt-to-the-mole-who-infiltrated-the-neo-nazi-network | access-date=25 April 2025}}, and figurehead of the National Socialist Network and the European Australian Movement. These groups promote white supremacy and far-right activism in Australia.
In August 2021, in an undercover investigation by journalists, Hersant was recorded stating that Russian neo-Nazi Denis Kapustin "is a really good dude". Hersant was also recorded stating that he had put the Russian into contact with Jarrad Searby and that they were both into mixed martial arts.{{Cite web |last=McKenzie |first=Nick |last2=Tozer |first2=Joel |date=21 August 2021 |title=From kickboxing to Adolf Hitler: the neo-Nazi plan to recruit angry young men |url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/from-kickboxing-to-adolf-hitler-the-neo-nazi-plan-to-recruit-angry-young-men-20210817-p58jfq.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240620232546/https://www.smh.com.au/national/from-kickboxing-to-adolf-hitler-the-neo-nazi-plan-to-recruit-angry-young-men-20210817-p58jfq.html |archive-date=20 June 2024 |access-date=10 February 2025 |website=The Sydney Morning Herald |language=en-AU}}
After his conviction in 2024 for performing a Nazi salute in public, he stated to journalists "I'm ready to go to jail, because I'm a Hitler soldier and what I'm doing is right".{{cite AV media |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-02-17/leaving-hate/104947474 |title=Leaving Hate |date=17 February 2025 |language=en-AU |time=8:18 |access-date=18 February 2025 |work=Four Corners}}
Activities
= May 2021: Cathedral Range assault on hikers =
On 14 May 2021, Hersant was charged after a raid by counter-terrorism police at a house in the Melbourne suburb of Rowville.{{Cite web |last=Cucchiara |first=Sam |date=2021 |title=Neo-Nazi Thomas Sewell is 'prepared for and expects confrontation', court told |url=https://9now.nine.com.au/a-current-affair/victoria-police-warning-as-neonazi-thomas-sewell-fronts-melbourne-court/1937e266-0012-4db7-8298-c971b63024bc |access-date=3 August 2024 |website=9now.nine.com.au |language=en-AU |archive-date=3 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240803025715/https://9now.nine.com.au/a-current-affair/victoria-police-warning-as-neonazi-thomas-sewell-fronts-melbourne-court/1937e266-0012-4db7-8298-c971b63024bc |url-status=live }} Hersant and a co-offender, Thomas Sewell, were charged after an attack on three hikers in Victoria's Cathedral Range.{{cite news |last=Pearson |first=Erin |date=1 August 2023 |title=Neo-Nazi leader pleads guilty to attack on hikers |url=https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/neo-nazi-leader-pleads-guilty-to-attack-on-hikers-20230801-p5dsxm.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230802054833/https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/neo-nazi-leader-pleads-guilty-to-attack-on-hikers-20230801-p5dsxm.html |archive-date=2 August 2023 |access-date=2 August 2023 |newspaper=ABC News}} Up to 15 other masked men attacked two passengers in a car and smashed windows. On 1 August 2023, Hersant and Sewell pleaded guilty to one charge of violent disorder. On 27 October 2023, Hersant and a co-offender were spared further jail time and sentenced to time already served.{{cite news |last=Sweeney |first=Karen |date=27 October 2023 |title=Neo-Nazi leaders spared further jail time over hiker attack |url=https://www.9news.com.au/national/neo-nazi-leaders-admit-melbourne-hiker-attack-but-claim-innocence/2e3893c2-1f81-4fea-8403-99b5ddcc617e |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231027082106/https://www.9news.com.au/national/neo-nazi-leaders-admit-melbourne-hiker-attack-but-claim-innocence/2e3893c2-1f81-4fea-8403-99b5ddcc617e |archive-date=27 October 2023 |access-date=27 October 2023 |newspaper=Nine News}}{{cite news |last=Silva |first=Kristian |date=27 October 2023 |title=Neo-Nazis walk free from court, spared further jail time over attack on Victorian hikers |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-27/neo-nazi-hiker-attack-thomas-sewell-jacob-hersant/103031582 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231027032722/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-27/neo-nazi-hiker-attack-thomas-sewell-jacob-hersant/103031582 |archive-date=27 October 2023 |access-date=27 October 2023 |newspaper=ABC News}} Following the initial sentence, prosecutors appealed claiming that the sentencing was manifestly inadequate.
= October 2023: Nazi salute =
Following being spared of further jail time, in relation to his attacking hikers, Hersant performed a Nazi salute outside the court.{{Cite news |date=1 November 2023 |title=Melbourne man to be charged with making a Nazi salute under new laws, police say |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-11-02/neo-nazi-jacob-hersant-salute-charges-victoria-police/103052736 |access-date=3 August 2024 |work=ABC News |language=en-AU |archive-date=3 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240803023412/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-11-02/neo-nazi-jacob-hersant-salute-charges-victoria-police/103052736 |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |last=Taylor |first=Josh |date=27 October 2023 |title=Victorian neo-Nazis under police investigation over alleged salute for TV cameras |url=https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/oct/28/heil-hitler-victorian-neo-nazis-under-police-investigation-over-alleged-salute-for-tv-cameras |access-date=3 August 2024 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077 |archive-date=3 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240803132919/https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/oct/28/heil-hitler-victorian-neo-nazis-under-police-investigation-over-alleged-salute-for-tv-cameras |url-status=live }} Hersant subsequently became the first person charged with making Nazi gestures in public, under new Victorian state laws.{{Cite web |last=Woods |first=Emily |date=16 January 2024 |title=First person charged over Nazi salute facing jail time |url=https://www.9news.com.au/national/nazi-salute-court-case-jacob-hersant-facing-jail-time/379ba4f4-73c8-45f0-bab5-f9a0440593fd |access-date=3 August 2024 |website=www.9news.com.au |archive-date=3 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240803031109/https://www.9news.com.au/national/nazi-salute-court-case-jacob-hersant-facing-jail-time/379ba4f4-73c8-45f0-bab5-f9a0440593fd |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |last=Wang |first=Jessica |date=28 July 2024 |title=Notorious Australian white supremacist Jacob Hersant arrested at Melbourne neo-Nazi demonstration |url=https://www.news.com.au/national/victoria/crime/notorious-australian-white-supremacist-jacob-hersant-arrested-at-melbourne-neonazi-demonstration/news-story/c39c17f98a99fef52e340b30c98d06a5 |access-date=2 August 2024 |work=News.com.au |archive-date=28 July 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240728100607/https://www.news.com.au/national/victoria/crime/notorious-australian-white-supremacist-jacob-hersant-arrested-at-melbourne-neonazi-demonstration/news-story/c39c17f98a99fef52e340b30c98d06a5 |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |author=McKenzie |first1=Nick |last2=Tozer |first2=Joel |date=16 August 2021 |title=Inside Racism HQ: How home-grown neo-Nazis are plotting a white revolution |url=https://www.theage.com.au/national/inside-racism-hq-how-home-grown-neo-nazis-are-plotting-a-white-revolution-20210812-p58i3x.html |website=The Age |access-date=16 August 2021 |archive-date=16 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210816011414/https://www.theage.com.au/national/inside-racism-hq-how-home-grown-neo-nazis-are-plotting-a-white-revolution-20210812-p58i3x.html |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |last=Silva |first=Kristian |date=23 April 2024 |title='Counter-productive' to send neo-Nazi back to jail over Victorian hiker attack, appeal court rules |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-04-23/neo-nazis-thomas-sewell-jacob-hersant-appeal-verdict/103757736 |access-date=3 August 2024 |work=ABC News |language=en-AU |archive-date=24 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240624023738/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-04-23/neo-nazis-thomas-sewell-jacob-hersant-appeal-verdict/103757736 |url-status=live }}
During the trial, lawyers for Hersant argued that the charge was not constitutionally valid as it violated the implied constitutional freedom of political communication.{{Cite news |last=Vallance |first=Syan |date=10 September 2024 |title=First-ever Victorian charged over making Nazi salute launches legal defence in court |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-09-10/nazi-salute-ban-court-jacob-hersant-victoria/104334332 |access-date=9 October 2024 |work=ABC News |language=en-AU |archive-date=8 October 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241008005046/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-09-10/nazi-salute-ban-court-jacob-hersant-victoria/104334332 |url-status=live }} On 8 October 2024, during a hearing in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court, he was found guilty of the offence by a magistrate.{{Cite news |last=Silva |first=Kristian |date=8 October 2024 |title=Far-right extremist who challenged validity of Nazi salute ban becomes first Victorian to be found guilty of new offence |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-08/vic-nazi-salute-jacob-hersant-court/104443118 |access-date=8 October 2024 |work=ABC News |language=en-AU |archive-date=7 October 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241007233542/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-08/vic-nazi-salute-jacob-hersant-court/104443118 |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |last=Leanne |first=Wong |date=8 October 2024 |title=Melbourne man found guilty of performing Nazi salute to be jailed |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-09/jacob-hersant-nazi-salute-sentence/104448256 |access-date=28 October 2024 |work=ABC News |language=en-AU}} On 8 November 2024 Hersant was sentenced to one month in jail and then released on bail after appealing against the sentence.{{Cite web |last=Pearson |first=Erin |date=8 November 2024 |title=White supremacist accused of Ku Klux Klan stunt while awaiting jail term for Nazi salute |url=https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/white-supremacist-jacob-hersant-jailed-for-one-month-for-performing-nazi-salute-20241108-p5kox0.html |access-date=9 November 2024 |website=The Age |language=en}}
= July 2024: Train station protest =
In July 2024, Hersant and 40 masked men entered a Melbourne train station, carrying a banner that stated "Mass deportations now". Following the event Hersant was arrested for "grossly offensive public conduct".
= Halloween 2024 Ku Klux Klan stunt =
On 7 November 2024, Hersant was arrested along with three others in relation to a KKK Halloween costume stunt.{{Cite web |last=Pearson |first=Erin |date=8 November 2024 |title=White supremacist accused of Ku Klux Klan stunt while awaiting jail term for Nazi salute |url=https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/white-supremacist-jacob-hersant-jailed-for-one-month-for-performing-nazi-salute-20241108-p5kox0.html |access-date=10 November 2024 |website=The Age |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Abbott |first=Lachlan |date=7 November 2024 |title=Neo-Nazis face charges after alleged Bunnings KKK harassment |url=https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/neo-nazis-face-charges-after-alleged-bunnings-kkk-harassment-20241107-p5kot4.html |access-date=10 November 2024 |website=The Age |language=en}} He is expected to be charged with grossly offensive behaviour.
= April 2025: Anzac Day disruption =
On 25 April 2025, Hersant was escorted by Victoria Police away from an Anzac Day dawn service in Melbourne following disruptions to a Welcome to Country. The shouting by the small group of far-right extremists was drowned out by applause by many in the 50,000-strong crowd, and condemned by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and other political leaders, as well as RSL Victoria president Robert Webster, many war veterans,{{Cite web |date=25 April 2025 |title=Hecklers boo Welcome to Country address at Melbourne Anzac Day dawn service |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04-25/melbourne-anzac-day-welcome-to-country-hecklers/105215124 |access-date=25 April 2025 |website=ABC News|language=en}}{{cite web | last=Liu | first=Summer | last2=Wang | first2=Jessica | last3=Schmidt | first3=Nathan | last4=Packer | first4=Clareese | title=Anzac Day services marred by wild booing, heated clash | website=news | date=24 April 2025 | url=https://www.news.com.au/national/australians-reflect-on-110-years-since-gallipoli-at-dawn-services-throughout-the-country-this-anzac-day/news-story/8870fe85d668043e287f4a8c837efa35 | access-date=25 April 2025}}{{cite web | title=Anzac Day 2025 live updates – as it happened | website=The Guardian | date=25 April 2025 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2025/apr/25/australia-election-2025-live-anthony-albanese-peter-dutton-anzac-day-dawn-ceremony-campaign-labor-hastie-coalition-ntwnfb?page=with%3Ablock-680ab9878f0848f8750634a8&filterKeyEvents=false | access-date=25 April 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250425075417/https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2025/apr/25/australia-election-2025-live-anthony-albanese-peter-dutton-anzac-day-dawn-ceremony-campaign-labor-hastie-coalition-ntwnfb?page=with%3Ablock-680ab9878f0848f8750634a8&filterKeyEvents=false| archive-date=25 April 2025}} and Sunrise TV host Natalie Barr.{{cite web | last=Parkes-Hupton | first=Heath | last2=Brown | first2=Natalie | title=‘Cowards’: Anthony Albanese slams hecklers who interrupted Anzac Day Welcome to Country | website=news | date=25 April 2025 | url=https://www.news.com.au/national/channel-9-reporter-veteran-in-debate-over-amzac-day-welcome-to-country/news-story/af6179255be476cfca33eb78c13ad521 | access-date=25 April 2025}}
Personal life
{{as of|April 2025}} Hersant lives in Kensington, Melbourne. He has a young son.{{cite news |author=Wong |first=Leanne |date=9 October 2024 |title=Far-right extremist Jacob Hersant to be jailed for Nazi salute but length of sentence still to be determined |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-09/jacob-hersant-nazi-salute-sentence/104448256 |access-date=9 October 2024 |work=ABC News |language=en-AU}}{{cite news |author= |date=9 October 2024 |title=Victorian prosecutors seek jail time for far-right extremist Jacob Hersant over Nazi salute |url=https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/oct/09/jacob-hersant-nazi-salute-charges-jail-time-prosecution-ntwnfb |access-date=9 October 2024 |work=The Guardian |language=en-AU |agency=Australian Associated Press}}
See also
References
{{reflist}}
{{Neo-Nazism}}
{{Politics of Australia}}
{{World topic| link_Canada=Far-right politics in Canada (disambiguation) | prefix = Far-right politics in | title= Far-right politics in the World |noredlinks=yes}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hersant, Jacob}}
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:Neo-Nazism in Australia
Category:Anti-indigenous racism in Australia
Category:Australian people convicted of assault
Category:Australian prisoners and detainees