Wolfgang Droege | |
|---|---|
 Droege leaving court during his trial (1993) | |
| Born | Wolfgang Walter Droege (1949-09-25)25 September 1949 |
| Died | 13 April 2005(2005-04-13) (aged 55) |
| Cause of death | Gunshot wounds |
| Known for | Founder of theHeritage Front |
Wolfgang Walter Droege (orDröge) (25 September 1949 – 13 April 2005) was a German-born Canadianwhite supremacist,neo-Nazi and founding leader of theHeritage Front. He was killed during a bungled drug deal in 2005.
Droege was born inForchheim, Germany. His parents and grandparents had been enthusiastic supporters of theNazi Party, andJulius Streicher was a friend of the family. Droege and his mother moved toCanada in 1962. In 1967, he moved back to Germany to join the military but was rejected for health reasons, so he returned to Canada and became a Canadian citizen in the early 1970s.[1]
Droege became interested infar-right politics. He joined an extremist group, theWestern Guard, in 1974 at the prompting ofDon Andrews and later joined Andrews'sNationalist Party of Canada. He was arrested, charged, and convicted of damage to property and mischief in 1975 after spraying "white power" slogans along the route of the African Liberation Day march in Toronto. In December 1976, he joined theKu Klux Klan, then led byDavid Duke, after attending the "International Patriotic Congress" inNew Orleans organized by Duke. Droege was second in command to Canadian Grand WizardJames Alexander McQuirter and the pair attempted to start a KKK branch inToronto. He also organized for the Klan inBritish Columbia where he spread Duke's "one law for all" and "equal rights for everyone" slogans.[2]
In 1981, Droege helped organize a failed attempt, codenamed "Operation Red Dog", to invadeDominica, overthrow its government, and restore deposed Prime MinisterPatrick John to power. According to testimony presented at the trial of Droege and his nine co-conspirators, in exchange for restoring John to power, Droege would have been permitted to use the island as the centre of adrug-refinement and trafficking operation.
The attemptedcoup went awry after aCFTR radio reporter who had been approached about an "exclusive story" decided to contact the police. Droege was sentenced to a three-yearprison sentence for hismercenary activities. As it was launched fromNew Orleans, this event was derided as the "Bayou of Pigs" fiasco by critics such as Don Andrews.
A book about the plot, by Canadian journalist Stewart Bell, was published in August 2008.[1]
In 1985, he was arrested inAlabama as anillegal alien and charged withcocaine possession, as well as possession of an illegal knife. He served four years of a 13-year sentence. Upon his release from jail in 1989, Droege went toLibya to attend a congress of what became theInternational Third Position and then returned to Canada to found the Heritage Front.[2]
In 1992, Droege's connections with racist organizations led to his expulsion from theReform Party of Canada—Droege and a number of others from this community were trying to enter the Reform Party when it expanded in Ontario, and to take advantage of the party's inexperience. Later, in the 1993 Federal Election, Droege and other Heritage Front members made a point of being seen outside of Reform Party events in the city of Toronto. In 1993, following an attack withARA members in retaliation for their attack on the house ofGary Schipper, the Heritage Front's spokesman, Droege was charged and convicted ofaggravated assault and possession of dangerous weapons, and he served two months of a three-month sentence. Following his release from prison, Droege drifted away from organized racial activities and worked for a time as abailiff with a longtime acquaintance,Al Overfield. After losing his job, he returned to cigarette and drug trafficking as well as auto theft.
Droege ran forScarborough city council in the1994 municipal elections, receiving 802 votes in a two-person contest. In 1998, he pleaded guilty topossession of a stolen car.
Droege's fifty-fifth birthday party was held atJack Astor's restaurant inEtobicoke, Ontario, just weeks after the same restaurant was the site of a confrontation betweenAnti-Racist Action and supporters ofErnst Zündel.[2]
Droege was found shot to death on 13 April 2005 in the hallway of his lowriseapartment inScarborough,Ontario, outside of his door. The gunman, Keith Deroux, had approached him to purchase cocaine. Deroux shot Droege in the throat, and panicked before shooting him in the head. On 16 June 2006, Deroux pleaded guilty tomanslaughter and was sentenced to ten years in prison. According to an agreed statement of facts read out incourt, Deroux was analcoholic withparanoid delusions.[3]
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
