[4] Due to its anti-liberal stance the group has been characterised as radical right wing populist party by Betz and Immerfall.
[4] It also sought to reach out to demobilised soldiers and small-time former Nazi Party officials with only perfunctory connections to ideological Nazism who saw themselves as the victims of denazification plans.
[6] However the WAV went into decline as its lack of coherent policy and disaffection with Loritz's heavy-handed style of leadership led to around half of the party's local branches having been disbanded by 1948.
[2] This group, led by the radical nationalist Gunther Goetzendorff, had been barred by the American authorities from participating in the 1949 election and so worked with the WAV for convenience.
[15] No WAV candidates were put forward for the 1953 federal election and the party itself effectively disappeared soon after.