Fritz Dorls (September 9, 1910 – January 25, 1995) was a

far-right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on the far end of the ...

German politician and former

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...

member. He was chairman of the

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

-oriented

Socialist Reich Party The Socialist Reich Party () was a West German political party founded in the aftermath of World War II in 1949 as an openly neo-Nazi-oriented splinter from the national conservative German Right Party (DKP-DRP). The SRP achieved some electoral ...

, which was banned by the German Federal Constitutional Court in 1952.

Early life

Dorls joined the Nazi Party in 1929. He claimed to have graduated from

Heidelberg University Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (; ), is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1386 on instruction of Pope Urban VI, Heidelberg is Germany's oldest unive ...

with a PhD, but in 1960 the university reported no records of him having earned it. Dorls worked as a

farmer A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer ...

and

forester A forester is a person who practises forest management and forestry, the science, art, and profession of managing forests. Foresters engage in a broad range of activities including ecological restoration and management of protected areas. Fores ...

on his father's estate. He was also a member of the

Sturmabteilung The (; SA; or 'Storm Troopers') was the original paramilitary organisation under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party of Germany. It played a significant role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power, Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and early 1930s. I ...

. Starting in March 1945, he taught history classes at the

German Labor Front The German Labour Front (, ; DAF) was the national labour organization of the Nazi Party, which replaced the various independent trade unions in Germany during the process of ''Gleichschaltung'' or Nazification. History As early as March 1933, ...

Reich School in

Erwitte Erwitte () is a town in the Soest (district), district of Soest, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Erwitte is situated approximately 8 km south of Lippstadt and 15 km east of Soest, Germany, Soest. Neighbouring municipali ...

. Dorls joined the

Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...

in 1940. He was arrested by

British authorities His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government or otherwise UK Government, is the central government, central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

in 1946 as he was a member of the "automatic arrest" category.

Career

Dorls joined the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) after being released. and became an editor for one of its newspapers in Hannover. In 1948, he was removed from the newspaper due to his Nazi beliefs. He left the CDU to join the German Right Party (DRP) and was one of five members it elected to the

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet (assembly), Diet") is the lower house of the Germany, German Federalism in Germany, federal parliament. It is the only constitutional body of the federation directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag wa ...

in the 1949 election. Dorls was expelled from the DRP for allegedly contacting

Otto Strasser Otto Johann Maximilian Strasser (also , see ß; 10 September 1897 – 27 August 1974) was a German politician and an early member of the Nazi Party. Otto Strasser, together with his brother Gregor Strasser, was a leading member of the party's ...

. He formed the

(SRP) on 2 October 1949, with multiple DRP county and municipal branches joining it. In the 1951 elections the SRP received over 400,000 votes, worth around 11% of the vote, Lower Saxony and 7.7% in Bremen. The party claimed a membership of 30,000-40,000. The West German government requested the SRP be banned on 16 November 1951, and the

Federal Constitutional Court The Federal Constitutional Court ( ; abbreviated: ) is the supreme constitutional court for the Federal Republic of Germany, established by the constitution or Basic Law () of Germany. Since its inception with the beginning of the post-W ...

ruled in favor of banning the party on 23 October 1952.

Life after the SRP ban

After the SRP was banned by the German government, Dorls fled to Spain to avoid arrest. Upon his return in 1955, he was arrested. In 1957, he was sentenced to 14 months in prison for his leadership in an anti-constitutional organization, insulting Chancellor

Konrad Adenauer Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer (5 January 1876 – 19 April 1967) was a German statesman and politician who served as the first Chancellor of Germany, chancellor of West Germany from 1949 to 1963. From 1946 to 1966, he was the first leader of th ...

, and fraud. He died in 1995 at the age of 84.

References

Works cited

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dorls, Fritz 1910 births 1995 deaths People from Brilon 20th-century German politicians Socialist Reich Party politicians Sturmabteilung personnel German politicians convicted of crimes People convicted of speech crimes Prisoners and detainees of the British military Prisoners and detainees of Germany