Alfred Loritz

Who is Alfred Loritz?

Alfred Loritz was a German lawyer and politician who briefly rose to prominence in the immediate of the Second World War.

A Munich lawyer, the Catholic Loritz was a right-wing opponent of the Nazi regime and in early 1939 he made contact with a group of Bavarian monarchists in an ultimately abortive attempt to foment discontent. Ultimately he would spend most of the war in exile in Switzerland.

In 1945 he established his own political party, the Wirtschaftliche Aufbau-Vereinigung, and soon gained a reputation as a demagogic speaker. A believer in a strong federal Germany, Loritz's fiery rhetoric attracted attention both in Germany itself and from the occupiers, with some even suggesting that he might prove to be "a new Hitler". However whilst he belonged to the political right Loritz's populism lacked a strong ideological basis and he appealed mainly to internal refugees who saw him as a strong voice for their defence. He was also a strong advocate of denazification and under the Bavarian government of Hans Ehard he was chosen to head up a special ministry for that purpose.