Karl-Heinz Priester

Karl-Heinz Priester (1913 – 16 April 1960) was a German far-right political activist. Although he played only a minor role in Nazi Germany he became a leading figure on the extreme right in Europe after the Second World War. A native of Hesse-Nassau, Priester joined the regiment of the Hitler Youth that covered the south of the territory in 1932. He would go on to serve as head of propaganda for the Hitler Youth. He also acted as executive director of Kraft durch Freude from 1935 to 1939. Following the outbreak of the Second World War Priester applied to join the Schutzstaffel but was rejected and instead enlisted in the Luftwaffe as a war correspondent. Subsequently switching to the army as a lieutenant, he ended the war as a liaison officer for the Waffen SS. During the course of his war service he was seriously injured. Priester was interned by the American occupation forces from 1946 to 1948. When released he joined the National Democratic Party, a rightist party led by Heinrich Leuchtgens and mainly active in Wiesbaden (and distinct from the later National Democratic Party of Germany). Act as the group's propagandist, he helped to ensure that the group secured local representation. However Priester's neo-Nazi tendencies put him at odds with the more conservative leadership and in December 1949 his wing broke away. This group, largely based in Hesse, linked up with the Fatherland Union of Karl Freitenhansl to form a new party, the Nationaldemokratische Reichs-Partei (NDRP). The new group co-operated with the Socialist Reich Party for a time but merger discussions floundered as Priester became isolated from his colleagues due to his heavy-handed style of leadership. Eventually Priester was expelled from the NDRP in December 1950, establishing his own Deutsch-Soziale Bewegung in March of the following year. Priester was keen to develop supranational co-operation between extreme right groups and to this end he was central to the organisation of a conference in Rome from 22–25 October 1950 at which representatives of several such movements were in attendance.