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Matthias Koehl stands inside American Nazi party headquarters in Arlington, Va., heir apparent to slain commander, George Lincoln Rockwell. Aides in background are Donald Parson, left, and George Parker. -ap wirepnotoFormer Nazi Officer Accused as AssassinBy HARRY F. ROSENTHALARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — Police held the former Nazi firebrand accused of slaying party chief George Lincoln Rockwell under heavy guard today while Rockwell's heir apparent vowed “we will carry on.”Rockwell, 49, founder of the American Nazi party, was killed in his car Friday by two cleanly placed shots as he was leaving the parking lot of a small j shopping center.Five hours later, policecharged 29-year-old John C. Pat-ler, former No. 4 man in the small party's hierarchy, with | murder. Bond was set atI $50,000.Matthias Koehl, second in command to Rockwell, told newsmen: “I don’t know of anyone who can fill his shoes ... but we’ll all do everything we can to carry on.”Koehl said Patler was ex-f pelled from the party last April because of his “Bolshevik lean-; ings.” He had been a member* of the group which directs its : hate toward Negroes and Jews, t almost since its founding in ( 1958.Rockwell once described Patler as the party’s propaganda ! minister and Patler edited -i the organization’s magazine . “Stormtrooper” until early this » year.Patler, also of Arlington, wasto appear in court Monday toII determine the date of his i preliminary hearing. Mrs. Helen j Lane, an Arlington lawyer, waswith Patler during his interrogation by police.1 Rockwell was shot after leav-* ing a coin-operated laundry in r the shopping center, one block . from party headquarters. Theshots, fired from a low roof over a barber shop, struck him in the 0 head and chest. He fell out of the right side of the 10-year-old rusted car. soap powder mixing e with his blood.^ On the seat were his trade-marks, a corn-cob pipe and sun-glasses.q\ Patler was arrested 45 min-utes later, a half-mile from the s scene. Police would not say if a weapon had been found or e whether he had made a state-r ment.“I haven’t done anything, thisis a nightmare,” he said to reporters as he was led, manacled, into police headquarters.Patler often was in the forefront of Nazi party harassing activities and it brought him a long string of arrests.He changed his name from John Patsalos in 1960, married a 19-year-old girl, and was discharged honorably from the Marines in the wake of a party rally at which he was arrested.Patler wrote later, “Enormous pressure was exerted by the Jew war veterans and I once again found myself in the middle of a battle on account of my political beliefs.”When Patler was five, his father shot and killed his wife and was sent to Sing Sing prison. On his release, the father battled in court with his grandmother for custody of John and his younger brother, George.Patler once wrote, “I learnedearly vhat the only way you stop! terrorism and force is with su-j perior terrorism and superior; force.”That might sum up Rockwell’s philosophy too.Rockwell, in lectures at college campuses, said often, “I am a racist.”The Sept. 1 issue of a party publication, “White Power,” shows a drawing of Rockwell that has him saying: “Let me show you how we can smashReader IndexPage Sec.Business and Finance 31 3Church ___________ 8 1Comics ___________24 3Classified ------- -25 3Editorial __________18 2Farm ____________EmpireFeatures 19 2Home and Garden _ Empire Local Section 13 2Oil __ 31 3Picture Pcge 32 3Radio 10 1Real Estate ___ EmpireSports ___________ 15 2Theaters ________11 1Tv ....... 10 1Vital Statistics 30 3Women's----------21 3nigger power ... we need a national white gang.”Rockwell, who idolized AdolfHitler and claimed he could recite every word of Hitler’s book “Mein Kampf” (My Battle), advocated “transporting all Ne-:groes to Africa, stripping Jews of property and sterilizing them.”He was In the Navy in World ;War II and during the Korean War and attained the rank of commander before he was released from actve duty in 1954. The Navy discharged him from the reserves in 1960 because of his conduct.Rockwell refused to say how many members were in the party, but knowledgeable people said it has fewer than 100 members. The headquarters, in Arlington, is on 23 acres and less than 10 miles from the nation's capital.Ironically, the last Rockwell publication, “Rockwell Report,” headlines “Assassin Misses Commander.”“Over the past eight years, Ihave been attacked regularly in various ways, from gasoline bombs to gunfire,” he wrote. “But most of the attacks have been very poorly planned and hastily executed, causing little damage.”He then told of a shot from ambush as he stopped the car at an obstruction placed in the driveway of his “barracks.”Rockwell was a commanding figure and a persuasive speaker. He sought publicity, good or bad.Part of his plan for taking over, he told an interviewer for Playboy magazine, was “just raising hell to keep people aware that there’s such a thing as the American Nazi party, not caring what they call us, as long as they call us something.”He told people he would be elected president in 1972 on a (Nazi party ticket.His campaign platform, heaid. would be: ‘I’m going tocompletely separate the black and white races and preserve white Christian domination in this country, and I’m going to have the Jew Communists and any other traitors gassed for treason.”At a recent college appear-see Rockwell—page 2
Newspaper Details
Bakersfield Californian
Bakersfield, California, US
Sat, Aug 26, 1967
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Richard N.
NA, 15 Apr 2025
Other Publications Near Bakersfield, California
The Berkshire County Eagle
Southern Californian and Kern Weekly Courier
The Weekly Californian
Kern County Californian
Daily Californian
