Matthias Koehl Jr. (January 22, 1935 – October 9/10, 2014) was an American neo-Nazi activist and religious leader who served as the second leader of the American Nazi Party from 1967 to 2014. He joined the party in 1960 following membership in various white supremacist groups, and succeeded to leadership following the assassination of the founder of the party, George Lincoln Rockwell, in 1967.
Koehl became unpopular in the movement, alienating the party's members and attempting to consolidate power by removing his opposition from the party; often those cut off went on to form opposition groups. Koehl was very concerned with his unpopular image and made alliances with worldwide neo-fascists such as Hans-Ulrich Rudel and Povl Riis-Knudsen. Koehl cut down on the organisation's previous publicity stunts under Rockwell.
In 1983, Koehl renamed the organization the New Order and transformed it into a religious organization, influenced by the fascist writer Savitri Devi. The New Order promoted occult veneration of Adolf Hitler as an avatar of God. Eventually in 1985 the group came under financial troubles and relocated from Washington DC to Wisconsin and Michigan. Koehl revealed little personal information to the group's members, who were low in number but sturdy. Koehl died in 2014, aged 79, and was succeeded by Martin Kerr.
Early life
Koehl was born on January 22, 1935 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to Hungarian immigrants of German descent. Koehl's father, Matthias Koehl Sr., claimed that his son rarely spoke with him about personal matters, but "was more talkative to his mother". There, he played the violin alongside the civic opera. He subsequently enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and spent two years under them.
Politics
alt=Black-and-white photo Koehl holding an American flag|left|thumb|Koehl, pictured at a National Renaissance Party rally in 1953|upright=.5
In 1956, Koehl visited the "We the People" convention at the La Salle Hotel, where he was told by a member of the Sons of the American Revolution about George Lincoln Rockwell's plans to form a Nazi party. Koehl was initially shocked by the concept, but hoped it was legitimate.
Koehl subsequently moved between various white supremacist parties. He helped with the organization of the United White Party, and visited its founding meeting. Koehl became the national organizer of the National States' Rights Party, where he first met Rockwell in 1958; they worked on John G. Crommelin's campaign. By 1959, he was a member of the Fighting American Nationalists, a front group for Rockwell's American Nazi Party (ANP), before he joined the ANP proper in 1960. but Koehl was selected as leader by a group of 16 Party members and succeeded Rockwell as commander of the National Socialist White People's Party, the-at-the-time name of the American Nazi Party.
As party leader
thumb|alt=Koehl giving a sieg heil salute with a swastika behind him|Koehl giving a speech at the party's headquarters in 1971
Immediately after Rockwell's death, groups like the American Jewish Committee believed he would be incapable of keeping the loyalty of the Nazis, believing him not as charismatic as Rockwell. This prediction proved to hold weight, as soon after achieving the position, Koehl became unpopular. His style of leadership alienated old members and made many new members leave. Shortly after Koehl gained power, two other high-ranking members of the Party, Robert Lloyd and William Luther Pierce, requested that he share power between the three of them. Koehl responded distastefully and Pierce was forced to leave the organization. Future Atomwaffen Division advisor James Mason lost faith in Koehl's leadership because of the incident, but stayed in the organization because he "didn't know what else to do". Many former members of the group were purged of their positions in Koehl's attempt to compose the Party of people completely loyal to him. He took control of the World Union of National Socialists (WUNS), and his leadership there was also criticized.
Koehl suspended Joseph Tommasi, a California-based Party member, and soon after the group's Cleveland organizer, Casey Kalemba, left; both formed their own Neo-Nazi groups outside of the ANP. An article in The Record Herald claimed he lacked the way Rockwell carried himself and commanded respect. One plot Koehl's party became known for during the 1980s were "Victory Bonds", a scheme mimicking War bonds where money invested would be given back once Koehl achieved power. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission shut down Victory Bonds after they became aware of it in a failed suit from Rick Cooper to get his money back.
In the New Order
Koehl came to believe that "all the problems [faced] in North America are fundamentally spiritual in origin", and claimed that Hitler said at the end of his life that Nazism could be revived "as a religious movement". He came to believe that the Party was inherently religious, and should stop attempting to pursue politics. Therefore, in 1983, Koehl renamed the organization the New Order and made it more overtly religious, espousing that Hitler had been sent down to Earth by a divine entity, reflecting his inspiration from fascist author Savitri Devi.
Ideology and beliefs
Koehl was an obsessive adherent to classic German Nazism and admired Adolf Hitler, being strongly antisemitic. Even from his entrance into the ANP, Koehl was interested in joining the group because of his great respect for the German Führer. While writing for National Socialist World, he depicted him as a visionary ideological thinker with more roots in White nationalism than German nationalism, and thought of Nazism as a new faith. He saw the ideology not as pushing for something political or social, but for a "universal transformation of ideas and things." Koehl was, according to Simonelli, a "rabid germanophile" who opposed the removal of the swastika from the group's image by Rockwell.
In an Associated Press interview from after he took power, Koehl claimed he had been "born a racist", opposed miscegenation, and believed in the establishment of an "all-white America". He went on to say that race war was "just around the corner." He pushed to first build up the Party within, constructing a "revolutionary cadre", and then to form a "Grassroots movement in American politics".