Fritz Rössler (17 January 1912 – 11 October 1987) was a low-level official in the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...

who went on to become a leading figure in German

neo-Nazi Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazism, Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and Supremacism#Racial, racial supremacy (ofte ...

politics. In his later life he was more commonly known as Dr. Franz Richter.

Nazi activity

Rössler was born in

Bad Gottleuba-Berggießhübel Bad Gottleuba-Berggießhübel is a spa town in the district Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge in Saxony, Germany. The municipality borders the Czech Republic in the south. The municipality was formed on 1 January 1999 by the merger of the former ...

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

. After attending university in

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

(where he did not complete a degree), Rössler became a Nazi in 1930 and soon became a technical adviser to the Gau of Saxony where he specialized in plans for resettlement of the East. By the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Rössler was heading up the main office of the

Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda The Reich Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda (; RMVP), also known simply as the Ministry of Propaganda (), controlled the content of the press, literature, visual arts, film, theater, music and radio in Nazi Germany. The ministry ...

before fleeing the Eastern Front to

Saarland The Saarland (, ; french: Sarre ) is a state of Germany in the south west of the country. With an area of and population of 990,509 in 2018, it is the smallest German state in area apart from the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg, and ...

Philip Rees Philip Rees (born 1941) is a British writer and librarian formerly in charge of acquisitions at the J. B. Morrell Library, University of York. He has written books on fascism and the extreme right. Works *'' Fascism in Britain'' (Harvester Pr ...

, ''

Biographical Dictionary of the Extreme Right Since 1890 The ''Biographical Dictionary of the Extreme Right Since 1890'' is a reference book by Philip Rees, on leading people in the various far right movements since 1890. It contains entries for what the author regards as "the 500 major figures on the ...

'', p. 328

Dr. Franz Richter

As the war came to an end, Rössler emerged in

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

where he claimed to be Dr. Franz Richter, a

Sudeten German German Bohemians (german: Deutschböhmen und Deutschmährer, i.e. German Bohemians and German Moravians), later known as Sudeten Germans, were ethnic Germans living in the Czech lands of the Bohemian Crown, which later became an integral part ...

teacher. The ruse was accepted, and Rössler moved to Luthe in Saxony where he found teaching work. Fired from his position in 1949 for teaching the

Stab-in-the-back legend The stab-in-the-back myth (, , ) was an antisemitic conspiracy theory that was widely believed and promulgated in Germany after 1918. It maintained that the Imperial German Army did not lose World War I on the battlefield, but was instead b ...

, he soon joined the

Deutsche Rechtspartei The German Right Party (german: Deutsche Rechtspartei, DRP) was a far-right political party that emerged in the British zone of Allied-occupied Germany after the Second World War. Also known as the ''Deutsche Konservative Partei - Deutsche Recht ...

and its successor the

Deutsche Reichspartei The Deutsche Reichspartei (DRP, ''German Reich Party'', ''German Imperial Party'' or ''German Empire Party'') was a nationalist, far-right and later Neo-Nazi political party in West Germany. It was founded in 1950 from the German Right Party (ge ...

. Bearing a passing resemblance to

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

due to his

toothbrush moustache The toothbrush moustache is a style of moustache in which the sides are vertical (or nearly vertical) rather than tapered, giving the hairs the appearance of the bristles on a toothbrush that are attached to the nose. It was made famous by such ...

and habit of wearing

Jodhpurs Jodhpurs, in their modern form, are tight-fitting trousers to the ankle, where they end in a snug cuff, and are worn primarily for horse riding. The term is also used as slang for a type of short riding boot, also called a ''paddock boot'' or ...

and

jackboots A jackboot is a military boot such as the cavalry jackboot or the hobnailed jackboot. The hobnailed jackboot has a different design and function from the first type. It is a combat boot that is designed for marching. It rises to mid-calf or highe ...

, he was elected to the

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Commons ...

in the 1949 election but was expelled from the party the following year due to his radical Nazi ideals and his habit of attending parliament drunk. Along with a number of other expellees from the DRP, he was a founder member of the

Socialist Reich Party The Socialist Reich Party (german: Sozialistische Reichspartei Deutschlands) 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 Par ...

, which called for a restoration of Germany's historic borders and "National-Socialist fundamental principles". Continuing to sit in the Bundestag, he made a notoriously

anti-Semitic Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

speech in November 1951 and was arrested soon afterwards for forging documents. In the course of investigations it was uncovered that Dr. Franz Richter was in fact Fritz Rössler, and he was sentenced to 18 months in prison for the forgery, on top of a three-month sentence for insulting Lower Saxon ministers and breaching electoral regulations. As Richter he also built up a close relationship with the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

Union Movement The Union Movement (UM) was a far-right political party founded in the United Kingdom by Oswald Mosley. Before the Second World War, Mosley's British Union of Fascists (BUF) had wanted to concentrate trade within the British Empire, but the Unio ...

, distributing

Mosleyite Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley, 6th Baronet (16 November 1896 – 3 December 1980) was a British politician during the 1920s and 1930s who rose to fame when, having become disillusioned with mainstream politics, he turned to fascism. He was a member ...

literature across Germany, whilst also establishing the All German Representations "pen club" to arrange contacts between British activists and German followers of

Europe a Nation Europe a Nation was a policy developed by the British fascist politician Oswald Mosley as the cornerstone of his Union Movement. It called for the integration of Europe into a single political entity. Although the idea failed to gain widespread ...

.G. Macklin, ''Very Deeply Dyed in Black - Sir Oswald Mosley and the Resurrection of British Fascism after 1945'', New York: IB Tauris, 2007, p. 89

Later years

Involved with the

European Social Movement The European Social Movement (German: ''Europäische soziale Bewegung'', ESB) was a neo-fascist Europe-wide alliance set up in 1951 to promote pan-European nationalism. History The ESB had its origins in the emergence of the Italian Social Move ...

, Rössler was expelled from the SRP before it was banned, and after his release from prison he moved to

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

, where a number of neo-Nazis operatives were based, and adopted the name Achmed Rössler. He returned to Germany in 1966 and became a businessman in

Essen Essen (; Latin: ''Assindia'') is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and D ...

. He died at age 75 in

Radstadt Radstadt (Central Bavarian: ''Rodstoud'' or ''Rodstod'') is a historic town in the district of St. Johann im Pongau in the Austrian state of Salzburg. Geography The town is part of the Salzburg Pongau region. It is located in the valley of the ...

, Austria.

References

External links

Report on the discovery of Rössler's faked identity
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rossler, Fritz 1912 births 1987 deaths People from Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge Nazi Party politicians Deutsche Rechtspartei politicians Socialist Reich Party politicians German neo-Nazis Members of the Bundestag for Lower Saxony Nazi propagandists German nationalists