Echoes from an Unhappy Past

Virtually everywhere they campaign, the scene is the same: Helmeted police, chanting, angry demonstrators, occasional scuffles, the din of derisive "Sieg Hell" and "Nazis out!" Not since the 1920s, when the Nazis were reaching for power, has a German political party provoked so much tumult and violence as the far-right, ultranationalist National Democratic Party. Chancellor Kiesinger, admitting that the N.P.D. is not purely neo-Nazi, describes it as "extremely harmful." Judging from the intensity of the oratory directed against the N.P.D., there are times when it sounds as if it were the party in power.

There is, of course, no danger that Adolf ("Bubi") von Thadden, 48, the party's aristocratic, articulate leader, will sweep into power--or anywhere near it --in next Sunday's general elections; after all, there are but 30,000 card-carrying members. Von Thadden's goal is far more modest: to poll at least 5% of the national vote, the minimum required for representation in the Bundestag. Even that prospect alarms many Germans, who are concerned about the bad name the N.P.D. is giving their country abroad. Anti-party banners proclaim N.P.D. = ATHLETE'S FOOT OF THE NATION, and ONE ADOLF WAS ALREADY TOO MANY. As Von Thadden likes to quip in his campaign speeches, "People are always telling me that the Americans won't buy any more Volkswagens when we are in the Bundestag." Though the N.P.D. won only 2% of the vote in the 1965 general election, he grandly predicts that the party will garner 8% to 12% this time. One reason for his confidence is the fact that the party won 7.4% of the vote in state elections in Bavaria in 1966, rose to 9.8% in Baden-Wruettemberg two years later, and is now represented in seven of Germany's ten state legislatures.

Von Thadden vehemently denies that he or his party is neo-Nazi. His own background is impeccable. As far as is known, he was not a member of the Nazi Party, and his distinguished Prussian Junker family was active in the anti-Hitler resistance (a half-sister was executed by the Nazis in 1944). He is not a rabble-rouser by any means: he speaks forcefully but with little passion, devoting much of his speeches to denying charges of Nazism. When hecklers interrupt, he either rebuffs them with sarcasm or stands coolly by, purling on a cigarette, until the ruckus dies down. Occasionally, he has even given his detractors time on the rally dais.

For all that, the beefy Ordner (order keepers) at N.P.D. rallies remind all too many Germans of Nazi storm troopers. The party's platform appeals not only to German self-pity but also to glories of another time. Von Thadden tells Germans there is no reason to feel guilty, to "beat ourselves with the past." He advocates German reunification, a greater German voice in NATO, and tough measures against criminals and protesters. The N.P.D.'s slogan: "Security Through Law and Order." Goodly numbers of Germans share some of these sentiments, but they shrink from Von Thadden for fear of Nazism and the violence that surrounds the party.

To Germany's New Left, of course, Von Thadden's preachments are anathema. In Dortmund last week, 10,000 demonstrators taunted Von Thadden with such thunderous "Sieg Heils" that he could not be heard. In Kassel, two anti-N.P.D. demonstrators were shot and wounded; the party claimed that it had no idea who the gunman was. To protect himself from flying eggs, tomatoes and rocks, Von Thadden speaks at open-air meetings from behind a glass cage, and a bulletproof Mercedes-Benz limousine whisks him from rally to rally.

Young People. The N.P.D. finds support largely among farmers, lower-middle-class burghers, blue-collar workers, the military and, surprisingly, some young people, mostly high school graduates. Sociologist Erwin Scheuch of the University of Cologne describes N.P.D. sympathizers as "society's relative losers, members of an affluent society who are, relatively speaking, not prospering enough." Less gently, Kiesinger describes them as "the peripheral beings --the malcontents and the moaners who somehow cannot come to terms with the world." To be sure, Von Thadden appeals to those with overpowering personal frustrations. But he also aims at a far wider audience--those who feel a sense of frustrated nationalism growing out of Germany's division and its dependence on other powers.

Despite much public and political pressure for banning the party as undemocratic, the government has so far declined to do so, for fear it could not win in court. The squeeze on the N.P.D. has been applied in more subtle ways: many cities refuse to rent the party municipally owned halls for rallies, newspapers reject its ads, and television has all but blacked out its campaign. Preparing his alibis in advance, Von Thadden says he will appeal the election returns in court on the grounds that the N.P.D. has not been given a fair chance of presenting its case to the voters. If he wins 5% or more, he is unlikely to bother. As a result, many Germans are hoping that they will see Bubi in court before long.

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