Word: thadden
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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...
...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...
...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...
Unhasty Improvements. The Bundeswehr does have some friends of the kind that obviates the need for many enemies: the far-right National Democratic Party of Adolf von Thadden. In his convention speech at Stuttgart last month, Von Thadden spent 60 out of 90 minutes talking sympathetically about the Bundeswehr and deploring its problems. A number of officers are campaigning as National Democratic candidates in the September elections...
Serious Difficulties. With greater or less enthusiasm, the Social Democrats and Kiesinger favor 1) signing the treaty on the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons, 2) banning Adolf ("Bubi") von Thadden's reactionary National Democrats in order to deprive neo-Nazis of a shield of respectability, and 3) eliminating the legal deadline on murder charges to allow the judiciary to weed out the last remaining Nazi war criminals. Strauss takes the opposite position on each issue, and has been using his growing strength in his Hausmacht (power base) to give weight to his views...