Sir Barnett Janner, chairman of the foreign affairs committee of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, called on Southampton University today to cancel a lecture scheduled to be delivered on Southampton’s campus by Adolf von Thadden, deputy leader of the West German neo-Nazi National Democratic Party.
Mr. von Thadden announced in Germany yesterday that he has been invited to lecture at Southampton by sociology students. He said he would appear there on January 27, and that the arrangements are being handled by a German student at Southampton.
Declaring that he “deplores” the invitation, Sir Barnett warned the university authorities: “If this report is true, it is highly deprecated. Von Thadden’s visit might well be used by extremist elements in Britain for their own purposes.”
Dr. Kenneth Mather, vice-chancellor of the university, and Prof. John Smith, chairman of the sociology department, said they knew nothing about the invitation to Mr. von Thad-den. “The invitation,” said Dr. Mather, “was certainly not issued on behalf of the university, and is quite unofficial.”
Mr. von Thadden said in his announcement that the subject of his Southampton lecture would be: “The National Democratic Party — in the Press and in Reality.” Nearly the entire British press has expressed concern over the resurgence of neo-Nazism in West Germany. Mr. von Thadden said that he would foot his own expenses for the journey to the university.
(In Paris, a Committee for Vigilance, comprised of many large, French organizations ready to act against the revival of Nazism in Germany and Europe, was formed here today.)
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