NSDAP/AO

The NSDAP/AO was the foreign organization branch of the NSDAP. AO is the abbreviation of the German compound word "Auslands-Organisation" (English: Foreign Organization). Only actual citizens of Germany with a German passport could become members.

Ideological training and congruity of all party comrades with the interests of the German nation were the principal tasks of the NSDAP/AO. It was assigned the mandate of uniting all NSDAP party members (and members of NSDAP-affiliated organizations) living abroad in a loosely affiliated group and to educate them in the philosophy, ideology and political programs of the NSDAP for the betterment of Germany. The AO was not a Fifth Column organization and had ten basic principles to be followed that included:

1. "Obey the laws of the country in which you are a guest.
2. "Let the citizens take care of the internal policy of the country where you are a guest; do not mix in these matters, even by way of conversation.
3. "Identify yourself to all, on all occasions, as an NSDAP party member.
4. "Always speak and act on behalf of the NSDAP movement, thus doing honor to the new Germany. Be honest, honorable, fearless and loyal.
5. "Look out for all your fellow Germans, men of your blood, style and being. Give them a hand, irrespective of their class. We are all creators of our people."

Between 1933 and 1945, Ernst Wilhelm Bohle was the director. He was as a defendant at the "Ministries Trial", one of the Nuremberg trials, and was sentenced to five years imprisonment for "Membership in a criminal organization, the NSDAP and the SS", but other charges were dropped and he was soon pardoned.

See also

• NSDAP/AO (1972) - Claimed continuation organization.

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