London-area neo-Nazi Martin Weiche has died.
The one-time leader of the extremist Canadian National Socialist Party died Friday night at 90 years old, his son Alan confirmed Sunday.
Weiche was a well-known and self-described racist who held KKK cross and Swastika-burning rallies outside his Hyde Park area home and once tried to get the city to declare a European Heritage Week, during which he planned to promote racism.
In the past decade or so, he has been less politically active, but his views have remained strong, said Alan Weiche — one of Martin Weiche's nine children.
"Up to a week ago, he was still feisty and talking politics," said Alan Weiche. "He was elaborating on his thesis of why (Moammar) Gadhafi was driven out of power.
"I wouldn't say he felt angry anymore, but he was still disturbed . . . about the system."
Though Alan Weiche insisted his dad was not truly a racist, because he rented apartments in his home to people with many racial backgrounds and once had a Chinese tenant for Christmas dinner, he agreed Martin Weiche spent a great deal of energy protesting multiculturalism.
A former luftwaffe pilot for Hitler during WWII, Martin Weiche immigrated to Canada in 1951, and became active in real estate in London. Within a few years, he started building apartment buildings in London and Sarnia.
He didn't become politically active until about 1965, after reading an autographed copy of Adolph Hitler's book Mein Kampf. When a London Free Press headline declared the local developer to be a Nazi, he decided to "stand up for his beliefs," said Alan Weiche.
In the 1968 federal election, he ran as a National Socialist.
Those white supremacist beliefs — were not well received in Canada It wasn't easy growing up a Weiche in London, where all the siblings attended Medway High School, said Alan Weiche.
"In school we were picked on a lot. As a young man, there were times in my early twenties, I could be pulled over 3 times a day. There was a lot of harassment and telephone calls . . ."
It was the phone calls that eventually broke up his parents' marriage, said Alan. His mom wanted her husband to stop being so outspoken, but he would not back down.
In all, Martin Weiche was married four times. Once in Germany before he divorced and married Alan Weiche's mom Lina, whom he shares seven children with. They divorced and he married and had one child with Christa Weiche before they divorced and Martin Weiche married his now-widow Jenette. They also have one child together.
He has 16 grandchildren and eight grandchildren.
"We're all coming to grips with (his death) now," said Alan Weiche, who is a tower crane operator, and said he and most of his siblings share their father's political views.
"When you lose an influence like that, you kind of realize that you're on your own."
jennifer.obrien@sunmedia.ca
London Free Press Link