The neo Nazi National Democratic Party (NPD) has been given a four year period of grace to pay its 669,000 mark debt to a State-run foundation which allocated election funds to groups competing in the Bundestag elections. The debt was incurred by high advance payments reflecting previous election results in which the NPD had made considerable gains.
Sources here confirmed that Federal Finance Minister, Hans Matthoefer personally authorized the unexpected delay. The official reason given is that a thorough investigation has established that the NPD is in dire financial straits and is in no position to repay its debt immediately.
Under the agreement reached between the authorities and the NPD, the party committed itself to four 25,000 Mark payments yearly. The NPD is the biggest single neo-Nazi political organization in West Germany. In recent national elections it failed to win representation in the Bundestag.
In another development a court in Mannheim has declared unlawful the firing five years ago of a 28 year-old policeman, Juergen Schutzinger, on grounds of his membership in the NPD. The decision reversed a verdict of a lower court, which confirmed the firing. Schuetzinger is the chairman of the NPD in the Federal State of Baden-Wurttemberg in southwest Germany.
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.
