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:
- "Obey the laws of the country in which you are a guest.
- "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.
- "Identify yourself to all, on all occasions, as an NSDAP party member.
- "Always speak and act on behalf of the NSDAP movement, thus doing honor to the new Germany. Be honest, honorable, fearless and loyal.
- "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.