Adolf von Thadden | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| President of the National Democratic Party | |
| In office 1967–1971 | |
| Preceded by | Friedrich Thielen |
| Succeeded by | Martin Mussgnug |
| Member of the Bundestag | |
| In office 15 August 1949 – 6 September 1953 | |
| Constituency | Lower Saxony |
| In office 16 September 1957 – 1959 | |
| Constituency | Lower Saxony |
| Member of the Bundesrat | |
| In office 7 September 1953 – 15 September 1957 | |
| Constituency | Lower Saxony |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1921-07-07)7 July 1921 |
| Died | 16 July 1996(1996-07-16) (aged 75) Bad Oeynhausen,North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany |
| Political party |
|
| Relatives | Elisabeth von Thadden (half-sister) |
| Occupation | Politician, landowner |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  Nazi Germany |
| Branch/service |  Wehrmacht |
| Years of service | 1939–1945 |
| Rank | Lieutenant |
| Battles/wars | World War II |
Adolf von Thadden (7 July 1921 – 16 July 1996) was a Germanfar-right politician who led theNational Democratic Party.
Adolf von Thadden was born at the noble estate ofGut Trieglaff, nearGreifenberg,Pomerania, on 7 July 1921, toAdolf Gerhard Ludwig von Thadden [de] and his second wife. He was a member of theJunkerThadden family.[1] His half-sisterElisabeth von Thadden was executed by the Nazis in 1944.[2]
Thadden was educated at thegymnasium inGreifenberg[3] and subsequently studied agriculture and economics.[4] He became member number 7,155,873 of the Nazi Party on 1 September 1939.[2]
Thadden served as a lieutenant with theWehrmacht in theSecond World War, suffering a number of battle injuries during the conflict.[3] A brigade adjutant in the artillery section, he was captured near the end of the war by Polish forces. Thadden later went to court to sue over rumours that he had collaborated with the Poles during his imprisonment. He was successful in his case.[4]
Thadden was arrested by American authorities, but released in June 1945. He joined his half-sister Ehrengard inGöttingen as the family's estate in Pomerania was taken over by the Polish. He went to the estate in September, but was arrested and imprisoned for nine months. After being released he returned to Göttingen with his mother and sister.[2] The British Property Control in Göttingen employed him.[4]
After the war, Thadden entered politics as a member of theDeutsche Rechtspartei and of its successor theDeutsche Reichspartei.[5] As a member of both, he served as acouncilman in Göttingen from 1948 to 1958.[3] Elected to theBundestag in 1949, he was the second-youngest member and was thus addressed by anSPD member as "Bubi", a nickname that stuck with him.[3] He became the main writer on the party organReichsruf, gaining a reputation both for his demagogy and for his extensive use of humour and wit.[4] He remained a Bundestag member to 1953 and served again from 1955 to 1959, was a Senator from 1952 to 1958 and a member of theLandtag of Lower Saxony from 1956 to 1959.[4]
In the 1950s he was befriended byWinifred Wagner, whose grandson Gottfried Wagner later recalled that
My auntFriedelind was outraged when my grandmother again slowly blossomed as the first lady of right-wing groups and received political friends such asEdda Goering,Ilse Hess, the formerNPD chairman (sic) Adolf von Thadden, Gerdy Troost, the wife of the Nazi architect and friend of HitlerPaul Ludwig Troost, the British fascist leaderOswald Mosley, the Nazi film directorKarl Ritter and the racist author and former Senator of the ReichHans Severus Ziegler."[6]
Having served as deputy to the Deutsche Reichspartei leaderWilhelm Meinberg,[4] Thadden became chairman of the party in 1961,[3] and in this position was one of the signatories of the European Declaration at Venice which set up theNational Party of Europe (NPE). Thadden was personally close to the BritishUnion Movement leader Oswald Mosley, on whose initiative the NPE was founded, and was attracted to Mosley's concept ofEurope a Nation.[7] He specifically denied any accusations ofneo-Nazism levelled at him, portraying himself as a supporter ofconservativenationalism.[3] However, he was frequently labelled a neo-Nazi[8]due to his prominent opposition to the notion of any German guilt for the Second World War.[3][need quotation to verify]
Thadden played a leading role in 1964 formation of theNational Democratic Party of Germany (NPD) by merging hisReichspartei with a number of other rightist groups, including a revivedGerman National People's Party.[3] He was initially overlooked as leader of the amalgamated group in favour ofFriedrich Thielen of theGerman Party.[4] Thadden regularly clashed with the more moderate Thielen, and both men became involved in several lawsuits against each other, each aiming at gaining control of the NPD and ousting his rival from membership.[4]
Thadden was eventually elected NPD chairman in 1967.[3][need quotation to verify][9]He moved the party to the right, bringing in policies such as withdrawal fromNATO, a return ofDanzig to a united Germany, wide-ranging reform of the constitution and possibly a secondAnschluss.[4] In one of his more widely reported activities, Thadden accidentally referred to the party as "National Socialists" rather than "National Democrats" in a television interview, something that was frequently brought up by critics who accused Thadden and his party of neo-Nazism.[4] He remained leader until 1971, achieving strong showings in regional elections, although the party failed to gain representation in the Bundestag under his leadership (and have never succeeded in doing so).[10] Although a loyal supporter of his successor,Martin Mussgnug, Thadden eventually left the NPD in 1975 afterGerhard Frey, who had previously been a harsh critic of von Thadden, was appointed Federal Administrator of the party.[11]
Thadden left active politics in 1974 and worked for a construction-firm, although he remained as chief editor of theDeutsche Wochenzeitung into the 1980s.[4] He maintained an interest in publishing for several years and was reported as acting on behalf of theGesellschaft für freie Publizistik [de], a far-right journalism organisation linked to the NPD[12][13]in 1981 and 1982.[4][need quotation to verify]
Thadden married Edith Lange, with whom he had two children.[14] He died on 16 July 1996, inBad Oeynhausen, at the age of 75. Since Thadden's death, it has been claimed that he was a secret agent of the United Kingdom's external security agency,MI6.[15]
Le Devoir quotedLe Monde, which stated that "everybody considers von Thadden's party to be neo-Nazi except that very party alone."La Presse reported that eighteen members of the party's executive were former Nazi leaders. Similar views were expressed in the English-language press.
On November 12, 1967, an overwhelming majority of the NPD national convention in Hanover elected Adolf von Thadden national chairman.
{{cite journal}}:Missing or empty|title= (help)Die mit etwa 500 Mitgliedern weiterhin größte rechtsextremistische Kulturvereinigung Gesellschaft für freie Publizistik e. V. (GfP) hat unter Leitung von Andreas MOLAU, dem stellvertretenden Chefredakteur der NPD-Zeitung Deutsche Stimme und zeitweiligen Berater der NPD-Fraktion im Sächsischen Landtag, ihren im Jahr 2005 eingeschlagenen Kurs der Annäherung an die NPD beibehalten.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)Harald Neubauer [...] ist Mitherausgeber der extrem rechten Monatszeitschrift „Nation & Europa" und Vorstandsmitglied der NPD-nahen „Gesellschaft für freie Publizistik".
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