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SECRET/NO FOREIGN DISSEMPage 3 of 4 PAGESCS-311/06103-69the Berlin party convention be postponed until October 1969, thenormal expiration date of the term of the present city ExecutiveCommittee and well after the national elections. The letter, whichwas read at several district meetings, also stipulated that the cityand district organizations were to restrict themselves to routinemonthly meetings with no speeches and no invited guests until nextOctober.8. In a tactical move to promote party unity, Party Chief   Kendzia resigned on 28 March. In response to von Thadden's letter,   the Berlin district pare unit leadership, which otherwise remained   intact, called a session of the Berlin Party Council (Landesausschuss)   on 10 April to approve the postponement of the party convention.   (Field Comment: The Party Council consists of the Executive Committee   plus the 12 district leaders.) Walter Seezen, a member of the na-   tional leadership, was present. The situation was ticklish because   the Berlin NPD statutes provide that if full membership meetings in   four of the 12 districts had voted for holding of the party conven-   tion in April, the postponement motion would fail; there was a dis-   tinct danger that this could occur. At the 10 April meeting, the   district leaders grumbled but approved the postponement until   11 October.9. On Kendzia's resignation, Guenther Mensel, a member of the   Executive Committee, was selected as Acting Pa. ty Chief and Speaker   of the Party Council until a new Executive Committee is elected in   October. Mensel, an attorney, was hesitant about accepting the job   because of its possible effect on his practice, and did not commit   himself until the 10 April executive meeting. Mensel's age (62) and   stability were the main reasons for his selection. The only other   replacement considered was Guenter Kleinert, also on the Executive   Committee, whom Kendzia did not trust. Mensel's duties are to con-   sist of calling and chairing pro-forma monthly Executive Committee   meetings and of presiding at the party congress next October.10. Kendzia considers his resignation a temporary tactical re-    treat caused by disagreements with the NPD national and Berlin dis-    trict leaders, by von Thadden's public rejection of his "Berlin    Program," loss of business because of unfavorable publicity, and a    hit-and-run car accident involving a bicyclist on 27 March. Kendzia    promised Mensel to remain active behind the scenes and set up a    vacant office in his place of business as party headquarters, with    desks for himself and Executive Committee members Frank Schwerdt,    Joachim Rebuschat and Hans Werner Andreas, the *de facto* heads of the    Berlin NPD.11. Kendzia and a majority of the NPD leaders hope that the fall    elections will bring some 25 to 35 NPD members into the Bundestag.    This, they feel, will make the party more acceptable to potential    right-wing voters in Berlin and thus enable the NPD to make a showing    in the 1971 Berlin communal elections. (Source Comment: The Berlin    NPD's major problem in Berlin is to keep its membership intact and    it's machinery functioning until 1971. Whether Kendzia will hold to    his promise to direct the Berlin NPD from behind the scenes indefi-    nitely, and whether he will emerge as leader in 1971, are open ques-    tions, because Kendzia has shown an interest in the current program    and policies of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and particularly in    its "General-Contract" concept, which fits in with his "Berlin    Program." A close friend of Kendzia's, (fnu) Nerchert, resigned from    the NPD to protest its participation in the presidential election in    Berlin on 5 March and has already made overtures to the FDP.)12. Since Kendzia's resignation and the 10 April executive meet-    ing, the Berlin City Executive Committee (under Kendzia's behind-the-    scenes tutelage) has kept the Berlin NPD functioning and loyal to the    Hanover leadership. Executive Committee members (especially Schwerdt,    Rebuschat and Andreas) have attended annual election meetings in all    12 party districts. Through their influence, pro-von Thadden or    neutral District Executive Committees have been elected in each case.s    The district officers who led the opposition to the self-dissolution 45321SECRET/NO FOREIGN DISSEM321