Alfred Loritz (born 24 April 1902 in Munich – died 14 April 1979 in Vienna) was a German lawyer and politician who briefly rose to prominence in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War.
A Munich lawyer, the Catholic Loritz was a right-wing opponent of the Nazi regime. In early 1939, he made contact with a group of Bavarian monarchists in an ultimately-abortive attempt to foment discontent.[1] Ultimately he would spend most of the war in exile in Switzerland.[2]
In 1945, he established his own political party, the Wirtschaftliche Aufbau-Vereinigung (WAV) and soon gained a reputation as a demagogic speaker.[3] A believer in a strong federal Germany, Loritz's fiery rhetoric attracted attention both in Germany itself and from the occupiers, with some even suggesting that he might prove to be "a new Hitler".[3] However, although he belonged to the political right, Loritz's populism lacked a strong ideological basis, and he appealed mainly to internal refugees who saw him as a strong voice for their defence.[3] He was also a strong advocate of denazification and under the Bavarian government of Hans Ehard was chosen to head up a special ministry for that purpose.[4]
Always at best a loose organisation, the WAV won twelve seats in the Bundestag in the 1949 election but by then had already largely disintegrated as an organisation and saw its vote collapse in the state elections of 1950 and the municipal elections of 1952, when its vote share had fallen to 0.3%.[3] In the Bundestag, the party quickly fell apart, with four deputies breaking away in October 1950 to link up with the Centre Party.[5] That was followed by six more in December 1951 leaving WAV to join the German Party, along with a seventh, who joined the Deutsche Rechtspartei.[5] Loritz was thus left as the sole member in the Bundestag and, although a handful of far-right independents linked up with him in 1953, his influence had largely gone.[5]
In the late 1950s Loritz sought to relaunch his political career in Bremen, but before this could take off he was arrested on charges of incitement to perjury.[6] Loritz escaped to Austria where he was eventually granted political asylum.[6] He would live out his days there, dying in a Vienna hospital in 1979.[6]
^James Donohoe, Hitler's Conservative Opponents in Bavaria, 1930–1945: A Study of Catholic, Monarchist, and Separatist Anti-Nazi Activities, Brill Archive, 1961, pp. 142–143
^Jose Raymund Canoy, The Discreet Charm of the Police State: The Landpolizei and the Transformation of Bavaria, 1945–1965, BRILL, 2007, p. 65
Dorls (from 13 December 1950 WAV-Gast, from 17 January 1951 WAV, from 26 September 1951 Non-attached, am 23 October 1952 Mandatsaberkennung)
Frommhold (from 7 September 1949 Nationale Rechte, from 5 October 1950 Non-attached (DRP), from 26 March 1952 DP-Gast, from 11 February 1953 Non-attached)
Miessner (from 5 October 1950 FDP-Gast, from 20 December 1950 FDP)
Rößler (from 15 September 1949 Nationale Rechte, from 6 September 1950 Non-attached, from 13 December 1950 WAV-Gast, from 17 January 1951 WAV, from 26 September 1951 Non-attached, until 21 February 1952)
Thadden (from 15 September 1949 Nationale Rechte; 1950 DRP, from 20 April 1950 Non-attached)
Ott (Non-attached, from 4 May 1950 WAV-Gast, from 13 October 1950 BHE/DG, from 21 March 1952 Non-attached, from 26 March 1952 DP/DPB-Gast, from 26 June 1952 Non-attached)
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