Adolf von Thadden, deputy chairman of the neo-Nazi National Democratic Party, asserted here today that he expected his political movement to gain at least 12 percent of the ballots in West German state elections scheduled for this winter and spring. The next state elections are to be held in Baden-Wurttemberg, and others are to follow soon.
The NDP had scored vast victories in the last set of state elections, in Bavaria and Hesse, succeeding for the first time in gaining seats in the state legislatures of those two vital sections of West Germany. Von Thadden said his party would gain many votes because it will be supported by the National Farmers Association. The leader of that organization, irritated by the Bonn Government’s decision to reduce agricultural subsidies, due to general budget difficulties, had announced that the farmers, peasants and farm workers would vote for the NDP.
In West Berlin today, the local section of the NDP decided not to present any candidates in the next elections to the West Berlin City-State Legislature. The reason given was that a poor showing by the NDP in Germany’s former capital might affect adversely the rest of the NDP vote in the other state elections.
However, it was believed the decision to run no NDP candidates in West Berlin may have been due to the fact that the local party’s former deputy chairman, Richard Voigt, was convicted today in a West Berlin court of “treason,” immoral behavior and misrepresenting himself as a physician. The court sentenced him to a prison term of two-and-a-half years.
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.
