National Democratic Party of Germany

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Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands
Leader	Udo Voigt
Founded	28 November 1964
Headquarters	Berlin
Political Ideology	Pan-Germanism Nationalism Third position White Nationalism
International Affiliation
European Affiliation	European National Front
European Parliament Group	None
Colours	Black, White, Red
Website	http://www.npd.de/
See also	Politics of Germany Political parties Elections

The National Democratic Party of Germany (German: Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands, NPD) is a far right, pan-German nationalist and neo-Nazi^[1][2] political party founded on 28 November 1964. The Party is a successor to the German Reich Party (German: Deutsche Reichspartei, DRP). Udo Voigt has led the Party since 1996.^[3]

The NPD has been accused by its opponents and by some in the mainstream media as a Nazi organization for various reasons, particularly for the party's opposition to the increasing number of non-Germans and Muslims living in Germany, the Party rejects this depiction and states it is a "moderate" nationalist group. The German federal intelligence agency, Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz, classifies the NPD as a "threat to the constitutional order" because of its platform and philosophy, and the party is under their observation.^[3]

In recent years, the Party has focused on broader social issues such as unemployment and economic problems.^[4] The Party currently is represented in two of Germany's sixteen state parliaments with no seats at the federal level.

[edit] Platform and philosophies

Udo Voigt, leader of the NPD, standing in front of a banner depicting Rudolf Hess. Hess is considered a martyr by the NPD.

The NPD's political philosophy coincides with the notion of a third political position, an idea which developed amidst criticisms of both liberal capitalism and communism. The NPD also endorses certain beliefs about human nature. NPD leader Udo Voigt states that the philosophy of the NPD differs from both communism and social liberalism in that it acknowledges people as unequal products of their societies and environments, largely governed by what is called natural law. Voigt states that the party is also influenced by the views of modern sociologists such as Konrad Lorenz and Irenäus Eibl-Eibesfeldt. The NPD calls itself a party of "grandparents and grandchildren" because the 1960s generation in Germany, known for the leftist student movement, seldom supports the NPD's policies. The NPD's economic program promotes social security for Germans and control against plutocracy, but the party does not oppose private property. Voigt has demanded the "dismantling" of the "liberal-capitalist system". ^[5]

The NPD argues that NATO fails to represent the interests and needs of European people. The party considers the European Union to be little more than a reorganisation of a soviet style Europe along financial lines. ^[6] Although highly critical of the EU, as long as Germany remains a part of it, the NPD opposes Turkey's incorporation into the organisation. Voigt envisions future collaboration and continued friendly relations with other nationalists and European national parties.

A political poster of the NPD depicting its critical view on non-Germans. (Inspired by a similar poster of the Swiss People's Party, the text saying "We're cleaning up")

The party's platform says that Germany is larger than the present-day Federal Republic, and calls for revision of the post-war border acknowledgements. ^[7] A map of Germany on the party's website omits the border that divides Germany from Austria and leaves out the Oder-Neisse Line, which established the limits of federal Germany to the east and was agreed upon with Poland in 1990. ^[8] While this suggests a desire to renegotiate the status of historical eastern Germany, it may be a populist effort to capitalise on the bitter sentiments of Germans expelled from these regions (especially Silesia, Pomerania, Danzig, and East Prussia). The 2005 report of the Verfassungsschutz federal agency contains the following description:

"The party continues to pursue a "people's front" of the nationals [consisting of] the NPD, DVU, and forces not attached to any party, which is supposed to develop into a base for an encompassing "German people's movement". The aggressive agitation of the NPD unabashedly aims towards the abolition of parliamentary democracy and the democratic constitutional state, although the use of violence is currently still officially rejected for tactical reasons. Statements of the NPD document an essential affinity with National Socialism; its agitation is racist, antisemitic, revisionist, and intends to disparage the democratic and lawful order of the constitution." ^[9]

According to Deutsche Welle, its administration is in "serious financial trouble", having to deal with a 2.5 million euro fine enacted in April 2009 for filing incorrect financial statements.^[10]

[edit] Statements on the election of Barack Obama

In November 2008, the NPD wrote that the election of Barack Obama as the first African-American President of the United States was the result of "the American alliance of Jews and Negroes" in a document entitled "Africa conquers the White House." The NPD also stated that the extensive support for Obama in Germany "resembles an African tropical disease" and that Obama aimed to destroy the United States' "white identity." The NPD claimed that "A non-white America is a declaration of war on all people who believe an organically grown social order based on language and culture, history and heritage to be the essence of humanity" and that "Barack Obama hides this declaration of war behind his pushy sunshine smile."^{[11][12][13][14]}

[edit] International connections

Udo Voigt and prominent American white nationalist David Duke.

Voigt has held meetings with various white nationalist proponents, such as American politician David Duke.^[15] In a recent speech, Udo Pastörs made it clear that the NPD is supportive of Russia and the Russian point of view in the 2008 South Ossetia War.^[16]

[edit] History

[edit] Early history

At the time of the NPD's founding in 1964, the ruling political coalition labeled it "a neo-Nazi party hiding behind a democratic facade." The Party attempted to create a more careful image by emphasizing its loyalty to the constitution and its lack of opposition to the current system of government. Major themes included German reunification, building nationalistic feelings about the history of Germany, and fomenting ethnic pride.^[17]

NPD achieved surprising success in the late 1960s, winning local government seats across Germany. In 1966 and 1967, it won 15 seats in Bavaria, 10 in lower Saxony, 8 in Hesse, and several other seats. However, it has never received then since the minimum 5 percent of votes in federal elections that allow a party to send delegates to the German Parliament. The NPD came the closest in the 1969 election, where it got 4.3 percent of the vote.^[17]

The Party's limited gains arose partially from the severe economic downturn at that time. As well, the coalition government between the center-right Christian Democratic Party and the center-left Social Democratic Party left a vacuum in the traditional political right wing that extremists could exploit. When the center-right broke away, around 75 percent of NPD voters switched to it.^[17]

The mainstream parties considered having the NPD declared a direct successor to the Nazi Party, and thereby disbanded in accordance with West German law. The vast majority of public opinion supported such a crackdown. However, the government decided that retaining the NPD prevented extremists from fragmenting into dangerous group or creating smaller, harder to trace front organizations.^[17]

The Party's fortunes declined through the rest of the century. It suffered an internal split over its failure to get into the German Parliament. The issue of immigration spurred a partial rebound from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s, but this proved shortlived and with only limited successes in local elections.^[17]

[edit] Recent history

[edit] Electoral history

In the 2004 state election in Saxony, the NPD won 9.2% of the overall vote. The NPD currently sends 12 representatives to the Saxony state parliament, the Landtag. During the 2004 election, the NPD entered a non-competition agreement with the German People's Union (DVU) and has since maintained that only one of the two parties will compete in any given election. The third white nationalist-oriented party, the Republicans (REP), has so far refused to join this agreement. However, Kerstin Lorenz, a local representative of the Republicans in Saxony, sabotaged her party's registration to help the NPD in the Saxony election. ^[18]

In the 2005 federal elections, the NPD received 1.6 percent of the vote nationally. It garnered the highest percent of votes in the states of Saxony (4.9 percent), Thuringia (3.7 percent), Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (3.5 percent) and Brandenburg (3.2 percent). In most other states, the party won around 1 percent of the total votes cast. In the 2006 Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state election, the NPD received 7.3% of the vote and thus achieved state representation there, as well. ^[19]

The NPD had 5,300 registered party members in 2004. ^[20] Over the course of 2006, the NPD processed roughly 1,000 party applications to put the membership total at 7,000. The DVU has 8,500 members. ^[21]

[edit] The 2001-2003 banning attempt

In 2001, the federal government, the Bundestag, and the Bundesrat jointly attempted to ban the NPD in a trial before the Federal Constitutional Court, the Bundesverfassungsgericht, the highest court in Germany with the exclusive power to ban parties if they are found to be "anti-constitutional". However, the case was thrown out in 2003 after it was discovered that a number of the NPD's inner circle were in fact undercover agents or informants of the German secret services, like the federal Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz. They include a former deputy chairman of the party and author of an anti-Semitic tract that formed a central part of the government's case. Since the government assemblies were unwilling to fully disclose their agents' identities and activities, the court found it impossible to decide which moves by the party were based on genuine party decisions and which were controlled by the secret services in an attempt to further the ban. "The party was, in part, responding to the government's dictates," the court said. "The presence of the state at the leadership level makes influence on its aims and activities unavoidable," it concluded. ^[22]

Horst Mahler (NPD), a former member of the far left terrorist organisation Red Army Faction, defended the NPD before the court. In May 2009, several state politicians published an extensive document^[23] which they claim proves the NPD's opposition to the constitution without relying on information supplied by undercover agents. This move is intended to lead up to a second attempt to have the NPD banned.

[edit] World War II and Holocaust memory controversies

On 21 January 2005, during a silence in the Saxon state assembly in Dresden to mark the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi Auschwitz extermination camp, twelve members of the NPD walked out in protest. The NPD was upset that a moment of silence was being held for those who died in the Auschwitz camp and that none was being given for those who died during the bombing of Dresden in World War II, with the anniversary of both events falling relatively close to each other. Holger Apfel, leader of the NPD in Saxony and deputy leader of the party nationwide, made a speech in the Saxon State Parliament in which he called the Allied forces of the United States of America and Britain "mass murderers" because of their role in the bombing. His colleague, Jürgen Gansel went on to describe the bombing itself as a "holocaust of bombs".

Voigt voiced his support and reiterated the statement, which some controversially claimed was a violation of the German law which forbids Holocaust denial. However, after judicial review, it was decided that Udo Voigt's description of the 1945 RAF bombing of Dresden as a holocaust was an exercise of free speech and "defamation of the dead" was not the purpose of his statement.^[24]

In 2009, the NPD joined the Junge Landsmannschaft Ostdeutschland in a march of mourning on the anniversary of the Bombing of Dresden in World War II. Over 8000 people took part in the event.^{[25] [26]}

[edit] Activism and controversy

Supporters of the NPD, during a march in Berlin, 2005.

The NPD's strategy has been to create "national free-zones" and circumvent its marginal electoral status by concentrating on regions where support is strongest. In March 2006, musician Konstantin Wecker tried to set up an in-school anti-fascist concert in Halberstadt, Saxony-Anhalt two weeks before the state elections. The NPD argued that because of politics, the date and the venue, the concert "was an unacceptable form of political campaigning." ^[27] In protest, the NPD vowed to buy the tickets and turn up en masse at Wecker's show, which led local authorities to cancel the event. The Social Democrats and the Greens were outraged by the decision, which the Central Council for Jews called "politically bankrupt".

The NPD planned to march through Leipzig on 21 June 2006, as the 2006 World Cup was going on. The party wanted to show its support for the Iranian national football team, which was playing in Leipzig, and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. However, the NPD cancelled its sponsorship at the last minute and no supportive demonstration took place; only a counter-demonstration in support of Israel. ^[28] However, during the World Cup, the party's web site complained that due to the prevalence of people of non-German descent on the German national football team, the team "was not really German". That same year, the party designed leaflets which said "White - not just the color of a jersey! For a true National team!" This design was never mass produced for public distribution, but copies were confiscated during a raid on the NPD's headquarters. Authorities had been hoping to find material linking the party to Nazism. When news of the poster spread, it was discovered by Patrick Owomoyela, who noted that the image depicted a footballer wearing a white jersey with his name on it. Owomoyela, who played in the World Cup for the German national team that year, noted that the jersey number in the image was his and proceeded to file a lawsuit against the party. Owomoyela is a non-white German citizen of Nigerian descent. The party was able to delay the procedures but in April 2009 three party officials (Udo Voigt, Frank Schwerdt and Klaus Bieler) were sentenced for Volksverhetzung (Voigt and Bieler to 7 months on probation, Schwerdt to 10 months on probation)^[29].

[edit] Party leaders of NPD

• Friedrich Thielen 1964-1967
• Adolf von Thadden 1967-1971
• Martin Mussgnug 1971-1990
• Günter Deckert 1991-1996
• Udo Voigt 1996-present

[edit] See also

• Politics of Germany
• List of political parties in Germany
• Frank Rennicke

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• NPD web site (German)
• Party Platform of the NPD (PDF) (German)
• History of the National Democratic Party (English)
• NPD Russia
• Critical documentation of the NPD in the local Parliament of the German state of Saxony (German) (English)
• BBC news: Poll boost for German far right (English)

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