Adolf on the Skids

WEST GERMANY Adolf on the Skids

West Germany's noisy National Democrats, whose election successes in the late 1960s triggered fears of a Nazi revival, in recent months have adopted a new salute. It is an upraised hand with two fingers and thumb spread to form a W, standing for Widerstand (resistance). As last week's state elections in Schleswig-Holstein indicated, what the National Democrats are trying to resist is total obliteration. Though they polled 5.8% of the vote in the north German state in the 1967 elections, their latest effort attracted only an insignificant 1.3%. That is well below the 5% required for representation in the state parliament.

It was the ninth successive setback in the past 18 months for the party whose symbols and sympathies are disturbingly reminiscent of the Nazis. A few years ago, the National Democrats were polling as much as 9.8% of the vote in state elections and seemed headed toward becoming West Germany's third largest party. In addition to the Schleswig-Holstein defeat, the National Democrats have lost their seats in Bavaria, Hesse and Lower Saxony. They retain only 19 delegates in two state parliaments (Baden-Wuerttemberg 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."

One reason for the party's decline is the steady recovery of the West German economy. The mild recession in 1966 frightened many West Germans and made them susceptible to the National Democrats' highly nationalistic economic preachings. Another reason is the breakup of the Grand Coalition of Christian Democrats and Social Democrats, which had denied the country an effective parliamentary opposition. After Willy Brandt took office in late 1969, the opposition Christian Democrats proved successful in attracting much of the archconservative and protest vote that had briefly backed the National Democrats.

Meanwhile the Free Democrats, whose 27 Bundestag delegates give Brandt a narrow six-seat majority, are also losing voters. In Schleswig-Holstein, the Free Democrats polled only 3.8% of the vote, and lost their four seats in the state legislature. The Free Democrats also lost their representation in Lower Saxony and the Saar. If the present trend continues, only the two big parties are likely to emerge intact from the 1973 national elections.

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