Soviet Union funded West German Neo-Nazi party

[Pavlov's House Party]

From 1949 to 1952, the "Socialist Reich Party", a split from the German Reich Party of West Germany was funded by the USSR in place of the communist party of Germany. Some policies of the Reich party included holocaust-denial and the recreation of a fascist German Reich with Karl Donitz as leader.


The SRP never openly criticised the Soviet Union[3] because the Soviet Union funded the SRP as it held anti-American and pro-Soviet views. The Communist Party of Germany, on the other hand, did not receive Soviet funds because it was viewed as "ineffectual".[4] Remer said that if the USSR ever did invade Germany, he would "show the Russians the way to the Rhine" and that SRP members would "post themselves as traffic policemen, spreading their arms so that the Russians can find their way through Germany as quickly as possible".

Although the text is from wikipedia, I wouldn't doubt the Soviet Union funding such reactionary political organizations for realpolitik reasons.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist_Reich_Party

[Nolan]

Clearly this is the proof that stalin was a nazi.

[Red Commissar]

I'm not sure where they are citing information about it. The sentence immediately following it cites from a book called "The Beast Reawakens" by Martin Lee. The whole article is actually citing from the same book, which deals with fascist groups in the Cold War and modern times, as well as Nazi shelter groups like ODESSA.

One will need to take a look at the book themselves to see these claims and see where the author got his source from.

[The Ben G]

Clearly this is the proof that stalin was a nazi.

No, it just says that the USSR funded a fascist party.

[Dimentio]

The Soviet Union funded everyone who were Anti-American. The Soviet Union should have, from an entire state-logical point-of-view. It is more unbelievable when leftist parties today are hosting Ahmadinejad.

[Jazzhands]

I'm finding this rather hard to believe. There's one source I've never even heard of, and that's the only one in the entire article. The only external link for this is a 1951 pamphlet on it from the Anglo-Jewish Association. Postwar anti-Soviet furor=unparalelled capacity for bullshit.

The odds of Stalin funding a fascist party so soon after WWII are rather unlikely, but it would make some sense in the context of the Doctor's Plot, etc.

[Tavarisch_Mike]

I'm finding this rather hard to believe. There's one source I've never even heard of, and that's the only one in the entire article. The only external link for this is a 1951 pamphlet on it from the Anglo-Jewish Association. Postwar anti-Soviet furor=unparalelled capacity for bullshit.

The odds of Stalin funding a fascist party so soon after WWII are rather unlikely, but it would make some sense in the context of the Doctor's Plot, etc.

Soo true, a couple of years ago there was someone (without good evidence) that claimed that the USSR had played a majot part in the holocoust. I wonder what next acusation will bee.

[gorillafuck]

Are there any sources on that outside of one book?

[Jazzhands]

Are there any sources on that outside of one book?

None. Only a passing mention on Stormfront. That's really the most credible source I could find. And I looked REALLY goddamn hard.

[Red Commissar]

I couldn't find a copy of the book in the library. Google books has it available for preview though, and I found the relevant passages,

Pg. 74

"In addition to conferring with erstwhile Nazis, SRP representatives took their case directly to the Russian authorities in East Germany. "I sent my people there," Remer admitted years later. "They were all received at the Soviet headquarters in Pankow"..... Apparently the Soviet intelligence saw the neo-Nazi SRP as a better investment than the ineffectual KPD. And the SRP, needing funds, was willing to go tango with the Russians. "It's one of thsoe funny parts of German history after the war," a close associate of Remer's explained. "For a while in the early 1950s, the Socialist Reich Party was funded by Russia, the KPD was not" (Pg 74).

"The State Department suspected that the SRP was consciously in cahoots with the Soviets. It is the "the first sizable party that shows clear signs of playing with the Communists," a State Department official warned in December 1950. A few months later, another State Department document indicated that the SRP "has gained something of a reputation of having ties to the East." Their suspicions were confirmed by a number of local SRP officials who quit the party after they learned of links to the Soviet bloc... As it turned out, the SRP was but one of several radical nationalist organizations that obtained support from the East" (pg 75)

He sources these statements, but that isn't available to see in the preview. It was a way to up the ante in West Germany, particularly after it became obvious that the allies were intent on propping that state up. If anything this relation was probably brief- they would be pointless as West Germany began to build itself up and stabilize.

[Chimurenga.]

I'm calling bullshit.

[Rjevan]

This is the second time I hear about this, and the second time there is only the same dubious source.
In school we did the time after WW2, the political situation and "potential threats to the young democracy by extremist parties" for many lessons and never was this mentioned. I also didn't ever hear/read about this in my private history researches and don't know any German book or TV documentation where this is mentioned. There is also not the slightest trace about this in the protocols (http://www.servat.unibe.ch/dfr/bv002001.html, in German) of the Bundesverfassungsgericht (Federal Constitutional Court), outlawing the SRP. Lots of links and connections between former high-ranking Nazis as well as anti-constitutional views and activities are reported but not a single note on being funded by the East, which would have surely been added at this time, just like the connections between the KPD, SED, GDR and USSR were for outlawing the KPD - this claim is not even mentioned in the German Wikipedia entry on the SRP!

I'd be very surprised if all the school- and historybooks, not to speak of the Bundesverfassungsgericht, left out this perfect chance to portray communism and fascism once again as "natural allies" and "essentially the same". And it should be obvious that I don't think Generalmajor Remer (who was on best terms with Hitler and Goebbels and proved his loyality beyond their death) "admitting" such a "fact" is a trustworthy source...

[Devrim]

No, it just says that the USSR funded a fascist party.

Certainly the Soviets were not adverse to dealing with fascists. It is quite well known that the Bulgarian state was involved in the assassination attempt on the life of Pope Jean Paul II, which was carried out by the Turkish fascist Mehmet Ali Ağca. There are allegations that Bekir Celenk given the fascist leader, drug trafficker, assassin and coup organiser, Abdullah Çatlı 3,000,000 DM for the Grey Wolves organisation. Çatli later denied this. Ağca received training in Lebanon with the PLFP, which was paid for by the Bulgarian state, and of course the contacts between Turkish fascists and the Bulgarian secret services were all based around their cooperation in the drug trafficking business.

I don't think the Bulgarians would have got up to all this without their Soviet taskmasters being at least in the know, and probably in control.

Devrim

[thälmann]

this story is a bit strange. if this were true, the german media would talk about a lot. on the other hand, the SRP was not more aktive than the kpd. the kpd had an important role in the antimilitarist struggle against the new german army, or for example for the unity of the german nation. and they were always supported financially by the SU, it would be very strange if they stopped this for a year or so. it would against their whole strategy. in my opinion its an old nazi talking storys

[thälmann]

on of the aims of the SRP was to get the eastern areas back to the german reich, something the SU couldnt want.
in the german wiki article you cant find anything about the contacts with the SU.

[Nolan]

Yes, one thing that strikes me as extremely odd is a nazi party accepting aid from the Soviet Union right after the war (and at all), in addition to the ussr helping the people they just defeated at all.

It'd be like us making a deal with stormfront.

[rednordman]

This isnt actually that unfeesable when you think about it. I mean of course, the USSR would never seriously support the ideology of national socialism. What they would support however, is something that could shake the foundations of a fragile democracy, which happened to be side to side with the 'iron curtain'.

At the time, nazism and fascist parties where in essense a laughing stock, and totally condemned to the point that they where forgotton about in Europe. The communist parties however where the new enemy in the eyes of the west, so putting money into such an obvious source would have been totally futile as the western communist parties had all eyes and much much more looking at them.

Mabey the Russians believed that they could have played off an apparent nostagic sentiment for german nationalism after the defeat of hitler to weaken the wests grip as such and divide it. So perhaps this was just a bit of hopefull tactical play at the start of the cold war, who knows?

After all, if this is true, it wasnt only the USSR but more famously, the west that used far-right groups as porns during the cold war (south america anyone?)

[Devrim]

Yes, one thing that strikes me as extremely odd is a nazi party accepting aid from the Soviet Union right after the war (and at all), in addition to the ussr helping the people they just defeated at all.

It is a capitalist state and a bourgeois political group. Politics is a very dirty game at this level. The Libyans at one point were supporting both Republicans and Loyalists in Northern Ireland and both sides were being trained in Lebanon.

It shouldn't be at all surprising.

Devrim

[Nolan]

It is a capitalist state and a bourgeois political group. Politics is a very dirty game at this level. The Libyans at one point were supporting both Republicans and Loyalists in Northern Ireland and both sides were being trained in Lebanon.

It shouldn't be at all surprising.

Devrim

Yes, but the choice of organization is curious in that context. That we can all agree on. But I see your point.

[stripe66506]

Politics makes for strange bedfellows.

I think its probably be true. For the same reasons that the Capitalist powers provided funds and shelter to high ranking Nazis for anti-Soviet activity.

[The Grey Blur]

It is a capitalist state and a bourgeois political group. Politics is a very dirty game at this level. The Libyans at one point were supporting both Republicans and Loyalists in Northern Ireland and both sides were being trained in Lebanon.

It shouldn't be at all surprising.

Devrim
I've never heard of the Libyans offering support to Loyalists before, nor that they would ever have been trained in Lebanon (whether IRA men were even trained there is debatable).

[Devrim]

I've never heard of the Libyans offering support to Loyalists before, nor that they would ever have been trained in Lebanon (whether IRA men were even trained there is debatable).

I met both loyalist and republican militants in Lebanon. Both groups were being trained in camps that were quite near to each other.

Devrim

[Salyut]

This book covers it. (http://www.amazon.com/Beast-Reawakens-Resurgence-Spymasters-Right-Wing/dp/0415925460)

I really recommend reading it.

[Lenina Rosenweg]

My understanding is that the DDR actually had a nationalist party, the National Democratic Party of Germany, which had the support of former Wehrmacht officers, former Nazi supporters, and German nationalists.This party pushed German nationalism into an anti-US direction.I believe General Von Paulus, the German commander at Stalingrad, had some connection with the NDPD. As the DDR state began imploding in the late 80s the NDPD had some connection with fostering racist skinhead groups in East Germany.

[Tavarisch_Mike]

My understanding is that the DDR actually had a nationalist party, the National Democratic Party of Germany, which had the support of former Wehrmacht officers, former Nazi supporters, and German nationalists.This party pushed German nationalism into an anti-US direction.I believe General Von Paulus, the German commander at Stalingrad, had some connection with the NDPD. As the DDR state began imploding in the late 80s the NDPD had some connection with fostering racist skinhead groups in East Germany.

The DDR reichstag (parliment) had a national domocratic party, a liberal party, a christian and a farmers (center) party. Togheter those ones had around 100000 memebers and voters, the DDR worked hard against racism and xenophobia, they worked hard with tracking down nazis that where hidding in all corners of the globe and punish them. Neither where any former nazis allowed to have high ranking positions of any sort, so i dont think that Paulus would have had so much influences, after his release frome the gulag, in the 50s, he was "curred" frome his former belives.