The crisis within the neo-Nazi National Democratic Party (NPD), in which “moderate” chairman Fritz Thielen is fighting for the leadership against Adolf von Thadden, the more extremist deputy national chairman, seemed today to be widening. With several vital state elections scheduled in key West German provinces this spring, the NPD rivalries were seen by democratic forces here as lessening the chances for NPD’s further election successes.
Today’s developments were threefold. At an NPD rally in Karlesruhe, Thielen announced that he was taking legal action to remove Otto Hess from his office as the party’s propaganda chief. Hess, a high-ranking member of the Nazi Party during the Hitler regime, is an adherent of the von Thadden faction.
Following that announcement, Wilhelm Guttman, chairman of the local NPD branches, announced at Karlesruhe that he has refused to follow Thielen’s leadership. Meanwhile, the NPD’s executive at Baden-Wurttemberg announced it is requesting that Thielen resign his national chairmanship immediately.
Despite the Thielen-von Thadden dispute, the NPD is proceeding with its plans to hold a national convention soon. The party’s official spokesman announced today that the convention will be opened May 10, at Wiesbaden.
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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.
