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Rift Within Neo-nazi Party Widens; More Resignations Reported

March 17, 1967
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The strife-racked extremist National Democratic Party (NPD) was racked again today by more resignations and new exchanges between its quarreling leaders.

Adolf von Thadden, who was ousted as deputy chairman by chairman Fritz Thielen, who was in turn ousted by von Thadden and his followers, said today that the party would hold a convention in May in the Hesse district to elect a successor to Thielen as party chairman. Thielen announced he would send a letter to all NPD members giving his version of his clash with von Thadden.

Meanwhile, Eberhard Martens, chairman of the NPD in Brunswick, resigned today from the party, citing policy disagreements. Walter Barth, NPD chairman in Hersfeld, similarly quit in the NPD. When asked why he had resigned, his only comment was “poor Germany.” Lothar Kuehne, Lower Saxony NPD chairman, was expelled from the party and immediately filed a court suit against his expulsion.

In another development, Cologne police were ordered by the Westphalia Interior Minister, Willy Weyer, to ban a planned demonstration in Cologne against the party by a group of Dutch students. He said that a demonstration by “foreign nationals” on “German soil” might be considered a “provocation” by Cologne residents.

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