Adolf von Thadden (7 July 1921 – 16 July 1996) was a German far-right politician who led the National Democratic Party.

Early life

Adolf von Thadden was born at the noble estate of Gut Trieglaff, near Greifenberg, Pomerania, on 7 July 1921, to Adolf Gerhard Ludwig von Thadden [de] and his second wife. He was a member of the Junker Thadden family.[1] His half-sister Elisabeth von Thadden was executed by the Nazis in 1944.[2]

Thadden was educated at the gymnasium in Greifenberg[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 the Wehrmacht in the Second 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 in Göttingen 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]

Political career

After the war, Thadden entered politics as a member of the Deutsche Rechtspartei and of its successor the Deutsche Reichspartei.[5] As a member of both, he served as a councilman in Göttingen from 1948 to 1958.[3] Elected to the Bundestag in 1949, he was the second-youngest member and was thus addressed by an SPD member as "Bubi", a nickname that stuck with him.[3] He became the main writer on the party organ Reichsruf, 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 the Landtag of Lower Saxony from 1956 to 1959.[4]

In the 1950s he was befriended by Winifred Wagner, whose grandson Gottfried Wagner later recalled that

Personal life

Thadden married Edith Lange, with whom he had two children.[14] He died on 16 July 1996, in Bad 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]

References

  1. ↑ Long 1968, p. 221.
  2. 1 2 3 Long 1968, p. 222.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Louis L. Snyder, Encyclopedia of the Third Reich, Wordsworth, 1998, p. 344
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Philip Rees, Biographical Dictionary of the Extreme Right Since 1890, Simon & Schuster, 1990, p. 387
  5. ↑ R. Eatwell, Fascism: A History, London: Pimlico, 2003, p. 281
  6. ↑ Gottfried Wagner, Wer nicht mit dem Wolf heult – Autobiographische Aufzeichnungen eines Wagner-Urenkels (Cologne, 1997), p. 69 (quotation translated from the German)
  7. ↑ Graham Macklin, Very Deeply Dyed in Black, IB Tauris, 2007, p. 90
  8. ↑ Compare: Bialystok, Franklin (2000). "'The Jewish Emptiness': Confronting the Holocaust in the late 1960s and Early 1970s". Delayed Impact: The Holocaust and the Canadian Jewish Community. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press. p. 159. ISBN 9780773520653. Retrieved 1 July 2023. Le Devoir quoted Le 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.
  9. ↑ Facts. 18–22. Anti-defamation League of B'nai B'rith (published 1968): 455. 30 August 1968 https://books.google.com/books?id=zdc3AQAAIAAJ. Retrieved 1 July 2023. 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)
  10. ↑ P. Ignazi, Extreme Right Parties in Western Europe, Oxford University Press, 2006, p. 67
  11. ↑ C.P. Blamires, World Fascism – A Historical Encyclopedia, ABC-CLIO, 2006, p. 658
  12. ↑ "Verfassungsschutzbericht 2006" (PDF) (in German). Berlin: Bundesministerium des Innern. 2006. p. 142. Archived from the original on 9 August 2007. Retrieved 1 July 2023. 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)
  13. ↑ Sager, Tomas; Peters, Jürgen (30 October 2008). "Die PRO-Aktivitaten im Kontext der extremen Rechten". In Häusler, Alexander (ed.). Rechtspopulismus als "Bürgerbewegung": Kampagnen gegen Islam und Moscheebau und kommunale Gegenstrategien (in German). Wiesbaden: Springer-Verlag. p. 126. ISBN 9783531911199. Retrieved 1 July 2023. Harald Neubauer [...] ist Mitherausgeber der extrem rechten Monatszeitschrift „Nation & Europa" und Vorstandsmitglied der NPD-nahen „Gesellschaft für freie Publizistik".
  14. ↑ Long 1968, p. 224.
  15. ↑ Neo-Nazi leader 'was MI6 agent', John Hooper, The Guardian, 13 August 2002, retrieved 24 June 2009

Works cited

source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_von_Thadden