Tucked away in the Ozarks of Arkansas is a small community of around 40 residents.
Homestead developments like this are not unusual in rural America, but what sets this one apart is who is allowed to live there.
Applications are open exclusively to white candidates who are of full European ancestry, reject homosexuality and embrace what founder Eric Orwoll describes as traditional European values.
Orwoll leads Return to the Land, a private white-separatist membership association with over one thousand members.
Only a handful of families, however, are selected to live in its 165-acre Arkansas settlement near the town of Ravenden, where idyllic social media videos show goats and chickens roaming the grounds, children playing, and members building wooden homes and churches.
But behind the tranquil homestead lies a community whose leaders promote hard-Right ideology online, while its children are homeschooled and taught that even historical atrocities such as the Holocaust and slavery have ‘two sides to the story’.
At a time when much of the Western world celebrates diversity and multiculturalism, Orwoll has emerged as one of the most outspoken advocates of racial separation.
Orwoll doesn’t believe his movement is racist. Speaking to the Daily Mail, he repeatedly insisted Return to the Land is about ‘preserving’ European identity, rather than promoting white supremacy.
Orwoll leads Return to the Land, a private white-separatist membership association with over one thousand members
Only a handful of families, however, are selected to live in its 165-acre Arkansas settlement near the town of Ravenden
While Orwoll’s community is happy to accept those with white supremacist views, they draw the line at those who he says hold ‘non-traditional’ religious outlooks (Pictured: Members of Return to the Land)
‘I think what we actually advocate is tolerance, free association, and self-determination. I don’t think the movement itself is white supremacist. Are there people within the association who hold white supremacist views? Probably.
‘It’s a large organisation, and some people undoubtedly believe their own group is objectively the best.’
While Orwoll’s community is happy to accept those with white supremacist views, they draw the line at those who he says hold ‘non-traditional’ religious outlooks.
‘We wouldn’t automatically reject someone for being Christian, pagan, or agnostic, but if someone holds what we’d consider a non-traditional religious outlook – for example, they’re a militant atheist who is intolerant of traditional religious beliefs – they’re probably not a good fit for the association.’
To join Return to the Land, applicants complete a questionnaire and then have a 15-minute phone interview.
During this call, candidates are asked about their views on various topics, including same-sex marriage, gender identity, vaccines and abortion.
‘The interview also focuses on values. It’s not solely about race. For example, we ask how often someone thinks about the Roman Empire because we see it as part of a shared European heritage and want people who value preserving it,’ Orwoll explains.
‘After the interview, the association’s board votes on the application. If accepted, members are added to our online discussion groups and can attend our national events.’
Those discussion groups paint a starkly different picture from the moderate one Orwoll presents.
He insists Return to the Land is a peaceful movement concerned with preserving European identity and says he has nothing against Black and Jewish people and would support them creating their own separate communities.
Yet posts and videos shared by senior figures in the organisation’s online channels perpetuate Holocaust denial, claims of ‘Jewish infiltration’ into society and rhetoric that downplays the harms of racial segregation.
Among the most prominent voices is Peter Csere, one of Return to the Land’s leading figures and a close associate of Orwoll.
In public Telegram channels, Csere has posted the number ‘1488’, a reference widely associated with white supremacist and neo-Nazi ideology.
The number combines the ’14 Words,’ a white supremacist slogan, with ’88,’ a code for ‘Heil Hitler,’ as H is the eighth letter of the alphabet.
Orwoll himself has also spoken of the prospect of a ‘second Hitler’ and has praised former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke.
He is closely connected to a wider network of hard-Right influencers and extremists, including white nationalist commentator Nick Fuentes.
Posts shared to their channels and social media also frequently refer to what members describe as ‘Jewish propaganda’ and ‘Jewish infiltration.’
One post shared reads: ‘Generations of men raised on Jewish propaganda and consumer culture have been taught to be soft, weak, and self-indulgent.’
Another states: ‘Even though towns are apparently White, the effects of Jewish infiltration and subversion can be seen, heard and felt.’
‘Sheltered Max’, an X user who says he’s living on the compound, has written in favour of ‘cannibalising’ and ‘eradicating’ Jews and posted that ‘Jew hatred is the great unifier.’
Orwoll, who uses the name Aarvoll online and has amassed almost 100,000 followers across social media platforms, has repeatedly warned that America’s changing demographics pose an existential threat to white Americans.
Ironically, the 36-year-old’s upbringing in a diverse community near Los Angeles helped shape the beliefs he now champions.
He attended an arts high school and grew up surrounded by neighbours from different backgrounds, including many Jewish families, experiences he says pushed him toward his current worldview.
‘As I started learning about demographic change and correlating it with my own experience growing up in California, and seeing that different groups of people have different behaviors and tendencies, I concluded that things would continue moving toward greater racial diversity, and that this would affect the ability of white Americans to preserve the kind of lifestyle we’ve built over the last few centuries.
To join Return to the Land, applicants complete a questionnaire and then have a 15-minute phone interview
Among the most prominent voices is Peter Csere, one of Return to the Land’s leading figures and a close associate of Orwoll
Orwoll’s philosophy extends beyond who is allowed to join the community. It also shapes how its children are educated
Homes being built in the Return to the Land community in Arkansas
‘If current demographic trends continue, I think Europeans should ask what their societies will look like in the future,’ he said.
He also cited what he described as ‘sociological data’ that ethnic diversity erodes social cohesion.
‘If you can’t predict what someone is going to do, you can’t really trust them. That’s an observed characteristic of multiracial societies.’
‘It’s really about preserving some sense of sovereignty and maintaining control over our own culture and society,’ he said.
Orwoll’s philosophy extends beyond who is allowed to join the community. It also shapes how its children are educated.
The Arkansas settlement, where residents work in nearby towns, remotely, or through businesses established within the community, is home to several homeschooled children.
There, they are taught subjects including the Holocaust, slavery and segregation in what Orwoll describes as an ‘even-handed’ way.
‘I think the problem with public education is that it’s very focused on what it presents as the sins of Europeans throughout history, whereas I think there are multiple sides to these issues,’ he says.
When teaching about American slavery, he says he would explain its wrongs while also discussing the Barbary slave trade, where many white Europeans were enslaved by Muslims and sold into Africa and other regions.
‘When it comes to segregation, I’d explain that America was explicitly founded as a white country. Once formerly enslaved Black Americans became citizens, society faced the question of how to reorganize itself, because that wasn’t part of what many people originally envisioned for the country.
‘I’d explain that the separate-but-equal system was one attempt to address that, but that it went too far by coercively imposing segregation. At the same time, I’d argue that the integrationist policies that followed also overstepped.’
As for the Holocaust, Orwoll says the death toll numbers have been ‘exaggerated’, and children have been taught ‘a very one-sided narrative’ through ‘Hollywood propaganda,’ which he would work to change.
‘In my view, many people who advocate violence against Nazis haven’t actually read the writings of figures such as Rosenberg, Goebbels, or Hitler. Instead, they’re relying on portrayals from films and popular culture.’
Orwoll claims many people died in the Holocaust due to ‘terrible conditions,’ but that ‘historical records contain less evidence of an intentional, centrally directed campaign to exterminate all Jews’.
‘I don’t believe there’s an order from Adolf Hitler explicitly directing the killing of all Jews. I also believe that some stories commonly associated with the Holocaust – for example, claims about lampshades made from human skin – have been shown to be false, and I think some survivor testimonies include accounts that are physically impossible.’
‘I’d also explain what I see as the German perspective toward Jewish people at the time, namely that they viewed Jews internationally as opponents in a military conflict.’
He added that the Nazis had ‘redeeming qualities,’ and he believes children should be given ‘all the evidence’ and allowed to make their own ‘informed historical opinions’ instead of being ‘brainwashed’.
Last Autumn, the Daily Mail spoke to Tess Ulrey, executive director of the Coalition for Responsible Home Education (CRHE) nonprofit, who said Arkansas law leaves the Return to the Land youngsters highly vulnerable.
‘In a radically insular group like Return to the Land, the educational environment may uphold white supremacy ideology, promote speculative and fictionalised sciences, encourage harmful and unhealthy practices, and easily deny children access to the tools to form their own beliefs, or hear from a different viewpoint,’ Ulrey said.
‘We believe that kind of homeschooling is a violation of children’s rights, and harms their ability to thrive in a diverse and connected world.’
Outsiders have been rattled by evidence of extremist influence. During a media visit last year, Hitler’s notorious manifesto Mein Kampf was spotted on Orwoll’s office bookshelf.
In advocating for ‘traditional European values’, Return to the Land also discourages interracial marriages.
‘There’s a fair amount of evidence that interracial marriages tend to have worse outcomes. They don’t last as long, have higher rates of domestic abuse, and are more likely to result in single-parent households.
‘I simply think the more typical and adaptive pattern is for there to be continuity between extended families, traditions, and psychological tendencies. When people are more similar in those respects, I think things tend to harmonise more easily.’
In advocating for ‘traditional European values’ Return to the Land also discourages interracial marriages
Orwoll claims many people died in the Holocaust due to ‘terrible conditions,’ but that ‘historical records contain less evidence of an intentional, centrally directed campaign to exterminate all Jews’
The movement also rejects what Orwoll describes as a ‘homosexual lifestyle’.
‘It’s harmful for the people who adopt that lifestyle. I believe they have shorter lifespans, higher rates of sexually transmitted diseases, more sexual partners, and more psychological problems.
‘I think it’s unhealthy, and I don’t want the society I belong to to affirm it or encourage people toward it because, in my view, it leads to worse life outcomes.’
He says that if ‘God forbid,’ his son turned out to be gay, he would not disown him, but he would no longer be able to remain in the community as an adult.
However, Orwoll’s emphasis on ‘traditional values’ marks a striking difference with his own past.
Before embracing his current lifestyle, Orwoll appeared in live webcam sex shows for money, the Daily Mail revealed last year.
His former wife of 11 years, Caitlyn Smith, with whom he shares four children, was also his online porn partner. The couple divorced in October 2024.
On her Chaturbate profile under the username ‘Openmindedsexualencounters,’ her listed interests included ‘Men, Women, Trans, Couples.’
Despite that, Smith still lives in the Arkansas settlement, where the community attempts to shield children from exposure to LGBTQ lifestyles.
The Daily Mail previously spoke with several people familiar with Orwoll, all of whom refused to have their names disclosed for fear of what they said is his short temper and erratic ways.
‘This image he has created for himself as an upstanding Christian conservative is bulls**t, total bulls**t,’ one said.
Another urged current and prospective residents of the Arkansas compound and future Return to the Land developments to beware of the slippage between who Orwoll purports to be and who he actually is.
‘Eric’s behaviour follows a clear pattern. Whether he’s filming graphic content or adopting extremist personas, it’s all part of the same spectacle-seeking drive. The goal is attention, disruption, and control,’ that person added.
Although Orwoll told the Daily Mail that he ‘discourages victim narratives’ and does not believe they are ‘a productive mindset,’ he argues that Return to the Land has itself become the victim of a broader campaign of vilification.
The organisation is currently facing a legal battle after being sued by Michelle Walker, a woman of Jewish ancestry who alleges that Return to the Land discriminated against her based on race and religion by denying her the opportunity to purchase land in the community.
‘We’re being threatened with potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages or fines simply because we want a rural community where we feel comfortable and can preserve our culture,’ Orwoll says.
‘I think that’s absurd and actually cruel. We’re portrayed as the villains simply because we want our own culture, our own neighbourhood, and to raise our children the way we choose.
‘We’re not aggressing against anyone else, yet coercive legal action is being used to try to make us, and our children, homeless.’
Yet, despite widespread condemnation, Orwoll says the movement is growing, and there are plans in place to create more separatist communities around America.
‘Many of our members are interested in creating communities similar to ours, and I’m happy to help them do that,’ he says.
On behalf of the movement, Orwoll emphasises that ‘we don’t want anything for ourselves that we wouldn’t want for every other group.’
‘I think every group should have the freedom to form its own voluntary communities, uphold its own values, and do so without legal harassment or media harassment.’
‘There are many other examples of Asian, Jewish, Black, Native American, and other communities that have their own associations and communities dedicated to preserving and celebrating their cultures.
‘In my view, they don’t face the same level of scrutiny or harassment that we do.’
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