Adolf von Thadden, officially still the deputy chairman of the neo-Nazi National Democratic Party but now the rival of national chairman Fritz Thielen for the organization’s top post, was cheered loudly at an NDP rally held in Mainz last night. All but one of the members of the party’s executive committee — including not only von Thadden but also seven others unseated by Thielen but reinstated by a rump meeting at Frankfurt were present. The only absentee was Thielen.
Political circles here believe last night’s rally at Mainz indicated that von Thadden has now in effect taken over the party’s leadership, although Thielen has threatened to seek a court injunction against the Frankfurt meeting’s action, declaring that the Frankfurt parley had been convened contrary to the NDP’s constitution.
Von Thadden, a member of one of about a dozen splinter, right-wing groups that were fused into the NDP two years ago, is the scion of a Prussian monarchist family and is considered here as “more radical” — in the right-wing sense — than Thielen. However, he has consistently denied that he had ever been a member of the Nazi Party.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
