Word: thadden
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...Democrats have lost their seats in Bavaria, Hesse and Lower Saxony. They retain only 19 delegates in two state parliaments (Baden-Württemberg and Bremen), and they have, of course, no representation in the national Bundestag. "Four years ago, success followed success," said Party Leader Adolf ("Bubi") von Thadden. "Now one failure leads to another...
This was an election that could easily have earned Germany new notoriety in the international community. The right-wing National Democrats of Adolf ("Bubi") von Thadden might have won 5% of the national vote and thereby earned the right to sit in the Bundestag (parliament); in that case, fears of renascent Nazism would have chilled much of the world. As it turned out, the National Democrats were able to draw only 4.3%. Far from becoming a black mark against West Germany's name, the election turned into what could well prove a historic turning point...
...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...
...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...
...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...