Rolf Henne (7 October 1901 – 25 July 1966) was a Swiss politician who supported a form of

National Socialism Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Naz ...

. Born in

Schaffhausen Schaffhausen (; gsw, Schafuuse; french: Schaffhouse; it, Sciaffusa; rm, Schaffusa; en, Shaffhouse) is a town with historic roots, a municipality in northern Switzerland, and the capital of the canton of the same name; it has an estimate ...

, Henne was a distant relative of

Carl Jung Carl Gustav Jung ( ; ; 26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded analytical psychology. Jung's work has been influential in the fields of psychiatry, anthropology, archaeology, literature, phi ...

on his father's side. Henne's own father was himself a prominent physician.Alan Morris Schom, ''A Survey of Nazi and Pro-Nazi Groups in Switzerland: 1930-1945''
Chapter 1
/ref> Educated at Zurich and

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

, Henne worked as a lawyer.

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 Pres ...

, ''

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 r ...

'', 1990, p. 178 He joined the New Front in 1932, serving as ''Gaufuehrer'' for his hometown. On 4 February 1934, he took over as leader of the by then renamed National Front at a time when the movement was in trouble over the extent of its support for the

Third Reich Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

. Henne, a strong pro-German, struggled to retain control and in 1938 he was replaced by the more moderate Robert Tobler, his close links to the National Socialists and his advocacy of the

Protocols of the Elders of Zion ''The Protocols of the Elders of Zion'' () or ''The Protocols of the Meetings of the Learned Elders of Zion'' is a fabricated antisemitic text purporting to describe a Jewish plan for global domination. The hoax was plagiarized from several ...

making him too extreme for many National Front members. Unable to serve under Tobler, Henne left to form the fiercely pro-National Socialist ' with

Hans Oehler Hans Oehler (18 December 1888 – 7 January 1967) was a Swiss journalist and a sympathizer of Nazism. Initially a journalist, Oehler turned his attention towards producing pro-German material. Later he was one of the founders of the ''Schweizer ...

and Jakob Schaffner. Henne was overlooked for leadership of this group, although he was confirmed as Gauführer for Schaffhausen. In 1940 he became a co-founder of the '' Nationale Bewegung der Schweiz''. He took no further role in politics after the war, instead heading up the Argus der Presse press-cuttings agency. He died in

Küsnacht Küsnacht is a municipality in the district of Meilen in the canton of Zurich in Switzerland. History Küsnacht is first mentioned in 1188 as ''de Cussenacho''. Earliest findings of settlement date back to the stone age. There are also finding ...

in 1966.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Henne, Rolf 1901 births 1966 deaths People from Schaffhausen People associated with the University of Zurich Heidelberg University alumni Swiss Nazis 20th-century Swiss lawyers National Front (Switzerland) politicians