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| Europe |
| Former SS Member Campaigns in Dresden |
| 2005-09-17 |
| The neo-Nazi NPD party has named a former member of the Waffen SS as their candidate in Dresden to stand in general elections Sunday. Franz Schönhuber, 82, was nominated after NPD candidate Kerstin Lorenz died of a stroke earlier this month. Because of her death, the district will not vote Sunday but on Oct. 2 and the results could decide the election if the race is very close. Schönhuber, a journalist and author, fought in World War II in France and on the eastern front. After the war, he was able to use documents questioning his qualifications for promotion to show that he opposed the Nazis, according to the Süddeutsche Zeitung daily. He later published a controversial book in defense of the Waffen SS. For years, Schönhuber headed another extreme right-wing party, the Republikaner, which won seats in West Berlin's parliament in 1989. After serving as a member of the European Parliament from 1989 to 1994, he was ousted as party leader and began to publicly back the NPD, though he was not a member. The NPD won 9.2 percent of the state elections in Saxony last year and has 12 members in the state parliament. It's a small world. I knew a former Waffen SS paratrooper, who had taught political science at a major US university, became a city councilman in a neighboring city, and ended up a powerful State legislator. His son became a US Airborne Infantry officer. Maybe it's in the blood. |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #2 All I know is if any former SS member comes within arms reach of me, I'll have my hands around his throat before you could say "Heil!" |
| Posted by: Scooter McGruder 2005-09-17 13:09 |
| #1 The NPD won 9.2 percent of the state elections in Saxony last year and has 12 members in the state parliament. Orp. Are they really Nazis? I would hope that actual Nazis wouldn't get 9% of the vote anywhere outside of Gaza. |
| Posted by: Jackal 2005-09-17 11:10 |