- Wolfgang Droege
Wolfgang Walter Droege (or Dröge) (
September 25 ,1949 -April 13 ,2005 ) was a Canadianwhite supremacist ,neo-Nazi and founding leader of theHeritage Front .Biography
Early life
Droege was born in Forchheim,
Germany . His parents and grandparents had been enthusiastic supporters of the Nazi Party, andJulius Streicher was a friend of the family. Droege and his mother moved toCanada in 1962. In 1967, he moved back to Germany to join the military but was rejected due to health reasons. He moved back to Canada and became a Canadian citizen in the early 1970s.1970s
Droege became interested in
far-right politics and joined an extremist group, the Western Guard, in 1974 at the prompting ofDon Andrews and later joined Andrews'sNationalist Party of Canada . He was arrested, charged, and convicted of damage to property and mischief in 1975 after spraying "white power" slogans along the route of the African Liberation Day march in Toronto. In December 1976 he joined theKu Klux Klan , then led byDavid Duke , after attending the "International Patriotic Congress" inNew Orleans organized by Duke. Droege was second in command to Canadian Grand WizardJames Alexander McQuirter and the pair attempted to start a KKK branch inToronto and also organized for the Klan inBritish Columbia where he spread Duke's "one law for all " and "equal rights for everyone" slogans.1980s
In 1981, Droege helped organize a failed attempt, codenamed "
Operation Red Dog ", to invade theCaribbean nation ofDominica and overthrow its government and restore deposed Prime MinisterPatrick John to power. According to testimony presented at the trial of Droege and his nine co-conspirators, in exchange for restoring John to power, Droege would have been permitted to use the island as the centre of a drug-refinement andtrafficking operation.The attempted
coup went awry after a CFTR radio reporter who had been approached about an "exclusive story" decided to contact the police. Droege was sentenced to a three-yearprison sentence for hismercenary activities. As it was launched fromNew Orleans , this event was derided as the "Bayou of Pigs" fiasco by critics such as Don Andrews.In 1985 he was arrested in
Alabama as anillegal alien and charged withcocaine possession, as well as possession of an illegal knife. He served four years of a 13-year sentence. Upon his release from jail in 1989, Droege went toLibya to attend a congress of what became theInternational Third Position and then returned to Canada to found the Heritage Front. The growth of the neo-Nazi group prompted the creation ofAnti-Racist Action (ARA) in Toronto which devotes itself to combating the Front and other groups.1990s
In 1992, Droege's connections with racist organizations led to his expulsion from the
Reform Party of Canada — Droege and a number of others from this community were trying to enter the Reform Party when it expanded in Ontario, and to take advantage of the party's inexperience. Later, in the 1993 Federal Election, Droege and other Heritage Front members made a point of being seen outside of Reform Party events in the city of Toronto. It was rumoured that he was being paid to do this by a Conservative organizer. In 1993, following an attack with ARA members in retaliation for their attack on the house ofGary Schipper , the Heritage Front's spokesman, Droege was charged and convicted ofaggravated assault and possession of dangerous weapons, and he served two months of a three-month sentence. Following his release from prison, Droege drifted away from organized racial activity and worked for a time as abailiff with a longtime acquitance Alan Overfield. After losing his job, he returned to cigarette and drug trafficking as well as auto theft. In 1998 he pleaded guilty to possession of a stolen car.2000s
Droege's fifty-fifth birthday party was held at Jack Astor's restaurant in
Etobicoke, Ontario , just weeks after the same restaurant was the site of a confrontation betweenAnti-Racist Action and supporters ofErnst Zündel .Droege was found shot to death on April 13, 2005, dumped in the hallway of his lowrise
apartment inScarborough, Ontario outside of his door. Investigators discovered that Droege's apartment contained a suspect who had barricaded himself inside; after negotiations with theEmergency Task Force , Keith Deroux submitted to arrest without further incident.Droege's remains were cremated and returned to his native Germany.
On 16 June, 2006, Deroux pleaded guilty to
manslaughter and was sentenced to ten years in prison without regard for time in pre-trial custody. According to an agreed statement of facts read out incourt , Deroux was an alcoholic with paranoid delusions fuelled bycocaine , who murdered his dealer (Droege), convinced that he was keeping his house under audio and videosurveillance . Deroux furthermore believed that people were burrowing into his house through a tunnel, and that all of this was Droege's revenge for Deroux's having laughed at Droege's political views.Max French , a friend of Droege's, told the "Toronto Star " that Droege's racist and extremist political stance and previous convictions made it difficult for him to find regular jobs. [http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&call_pageid=971358637177&c=Article&cid=1150494610540]Associates
*
George Burdi
*Marc Lemire
*Max French
*Paul Fromm
*Al Overfield External links
* [http://www.thedominican.net/articles/droege.htm White Supremacist Who Tried to Overthrow Dominica Government]
* [http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/people/d/droege-wolfgang/ Wolfgang Droege information] (Nizkor Project )
* [http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1113501689061_108910889 Love triangle may have triggered Droege murder] (CTV News)
* [http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1113430343180_108839543 Prominent white supremacist killed in Toronto] (CTV News)
* [http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2005/04/13/droege-050413.html Heritage Front founder reportedly shot dead] (CBC News)
* [http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/TorontoSun/News/2005/04/16/pf-999776.html No Love Triangle: Woman denies relationship with neo-Nazi] ("Toronto Sun ")
* [http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&call_pageid=971358637177&c=Article&cid=1150494610540 Droege's killer gets 12 years] ("Toronto Star", June 17, 2006)
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