National Democratic Party of Germany facts for kids

Quick facts for kids The Homeland Die Heimat
Party Chairman	Frank Franz
Founder	Waldemar Schütz [de] Adolf von Thadden ...and others
Founded	28 November 1964; 59 years ago (1964-11-28)
Merger of	Deutsche Reichspartei DNVP (1962)
Headquarters	Carl-Arthur-Bühring-Haus, Seelenbinderstrasse 42, 12555 Berlin
Newspaper	Deutsche Stimme
Youth wing	Junge Nationalisten
Membership	3,000 (2022 est.)
Ideology	Neo-Nazism Ultranationalism Revanchism
Political position	Far-right
European affiliation	Alliance for Peace and Freedom
European Parliament group	Non-Inscrits
Colors	Gold      Brown (NPD customary)      White
Slogan	Die soziale Heimatpartei (The Social Homeland Party)
Bundestag	0 / 736
Bundesrat	0 / 69
State Parliaments	0 / 1,897
European Parliament	0 / 96
Heads of State Governments	0 / 16
Politics of Germany Political parties

The Homeland (German: Die Heimat), previously known as the National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD; German: Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands), is a far-right Neo-Nazi and ultranationalist political party in Germany.

The party was founded in 1964 as successor to the German Reich Party (German: Deutsche Reichspartei, DRP). Party statements also self-identify the party as Germany's "only significant patriotic force". On 1 January 2011, the nationalist German People's Union merged with the NPD and the party name of the National Democratic Party of Germany was extended by the addition of "The People's Union".

As a neo-Nazi organization, it has been referred to as "the most significant neo-Nazi party to emerge after 1945". The German Federal Agency for Civic Education, or BPB, has criticized the NPD for working with members of organizations which were later found unconstitutional by the federal courts and disbanded, while the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), Germany's domestic security agency, classifies The Homeland as a "threat to the constitutional order" because of its platform and ideology, and it is under their observation. An effort to outlaw the party failed in 2003, as the government had many informers and agents in the party, some in high position, who had written part of the material used against them. Since its founding in 1964, The Homeland has never managed to win enough votes on the federal level to cross Germany's 5% minimum threshold for representation in the Bundestag; it has succeeded in crossing the 5% threshold and gaining representation in state parliaments 11 times, including one-convocation entry to seven West German state parliaments between November 1966 and April 1968 and two-convocation electoral success in two East German states of Saxony and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern between 2004 and 2011. Since 2016, The Homeland has not been represented in state parliaments. Udo Voigt led the NPD from 1996 to 2011. He was succeeded by Holger Apfel, who in turn was replaced by Udo Pastörs in December 2013. In November 2014, Pastörs was ousted and Frank Franz became the party's leader. Voigt was elected the party's first Member of the European Parliament in 2014. The party lost the seat in the 2019 European Parliament election. In June 2023, the party renamed itself to Die Heimat after a party vote.

History

20th century

NPD logo until the end of 2010

In the 1950s, despite the lack of complete de-Nazification, early right-wing extremist parties in West Germany failed to attract voters away from the moderate government that had presided over Germany's recovery. In November 1964, however, right-wing splinter groups united to form the NPD. One of the four founding members was Adolf von Thadden, who entered politics as a member of the German Right Party and Deutsche Reichspartei before joining the NPD and serving as its chairman from 1967 to 1971. Owing to von Thadden's effective leadership the NPD achieved success in the late 1960s, winning local government seats across West Germany. In 1966 and 1967, fueled by West German discontent with a lagging economy and with the leadership of Chancellor Ludwig Erhard, the NPD won 15 seats in Bavaria, 10 in lower Saxony, 8 in Hesse, and several other seats. However, the NPD did not then and has never since received the minimum 5% of votes in federal elections that allow a party to send delegates to the German Parliament. The NPD came closest to that goal in the 1969 election, when it received 4.3 percent of the vote. Helping pave the way for these NPD gains were an economic downturn, frustrations with the emerging leftist youth counter-culture, and the emergence of a tripartite Grand Coalition among the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the Christian Social Union (the CDU's present-day sister party), and the centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD). The coalition government had created a vacuum in the traditional political right wing, which the NPD tried to fill. Additionally, the party benefited from hostility to the growing immigrant population and fears that the government would relinquish claims to the "lost territories" (pre-World War II German territory east of the Oder-Neisse River). The historian Walter Laqueur has argued that the NPD in the 1960s cannot be classified as a neo-Nazi party.

Yet, when the coalition fell apart, around 75 percent of those who had voted for the NPD drifted back to the centre-right. During the 1970s, the NPD went into decline, suffering from an internal split over failing to get into the German Parliament. The issue of immigration spurred a small rebound in popular interest from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s, but the party only saw limited success in various local elections.

Recent history

In September 2019, NPD politician Stefan Jagsch was elected as representative of Altenstadt-Waldsiedlung. The unanimous election of the NPD politician by the local council led to irritation and horror in other parties, such as Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), and the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP), whose local council members had voted for Jagsch.

Electoral history

Since its founding in 1964, The Homeland has only won seats in regional assemblies. Its successes in state parliaments can be grouped into two periods: the late 1960s (1966 in Hesse; 1967 in Bremen, Lower Saxony, Rhineland-Palatinate, and Schleswig-Holstein; and 1968 in Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria), and former East Germany since reunification (2006 and 2011 in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, 2004 and 2009 in Saxony).

In the 2004 state election in Saxony, the NPD won 9.2% of the overall vote. After the 2009 state election in Saxony, the NPD sent eight representatives to the Saxony state parliament, having lost four representatives since the 2004 election. The NPD lost their representation in Saxony in the 2014 state election. They also lost all representation in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in the 2016 state election.

The NPD maintained a non-competition agreement with the German People's Union (DVU) between 2004 and 2009. The third 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.

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.

The NPD had 5,300 registered party members in 2004. Over the course of 2006, the NPD processed roughly 2,000 party applications to push the membership total over 7,200. In 2008, the trend of a growing number of members has been reversed and the party's membership is estimated at 7,000.

In the 2014 European elections, Udo Voigt was elected as the party's first Member of the European Parliament.

2001–2003 banning attempt

In 2001, the federal government, the Bundestag, and the Bundesrat jointly attempted to have the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany ban the NPD. The court, the highest court in Germany, has the exclusive power to ban parties if they are found to be "anti-constitutional" through the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany. However, the petition was rejected in 2003 after it was discovered that a number of the NPD's inner circle, including as many as 30 of its top 200 leaders were 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 secret services 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 court determined that so many of the party's actions were influenced by the government that the resulting "lack of clarity" made it impossible to defend a ban. "The presence of the state at the leadership level makes influence on its aims and activities unavoidable," it concluded.

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

Merger with DVU

Logo of the NPD after its merger with the DVU until 2013

At the 2010 NPD party conference at Bamberg it was announced that the party would ask its members to approve a merger with the German People's Union (DVU). After the merger on 1 January 2011, the combined party briefly used the name NPD – Die Volksunion (NPD - The People's Union). Between 2004 and 2009 the two parties had agreed not to compete against each other in elections. However, on 27 January 2011, Munich's Landgericht (regional court) in a preliminary injunction declared the merger null and void.

The Green Movement

The Homeland has recently supported the green movement. This is one of many strategies the party has used to try to gain supporters. Historically the opposing party the German Greens have fully supported the green movement in Germany. The German Greens group was a successful European ecological group that began in 1980. Kate Connolly who is a correspondent for The Guardian wrote the article: German far-right extremists tap into green movement for support. In the article Connolly explains the opposition between these two political groups pertaining to the green movement. The Artaman league is essential in understanding the green movements history. This was a farming movement that was inspired by the "blood and soil" ruralist ideology adopted from the Nazis. This farming movement affected the Mecklenburg region of Germany during the 19th century. Settlers at this time took advantage of the cheap cost of land in these rural communities. These settlers were in support of the Artaman league and continued to reinforce the ideology.

The NDP's plans are to take the ecological movement back from the German Greens group. Connolly spoke to different farmers, organizations, and employees of the government to represent the different perspectives of the ecological movement. Hans-Gunter Laimer, a farmer who ran for office for the NPD, mentions his frustration that the German Greens groups has dominated the organic farming market for too long. He has also been linked to other German groups specifically Umwelt and Aktiv. Both political parties are concerned with the ways they are in opposition to one another. The Homeland supporters of the green movement are in favor of local produce. However, they are against GMOS, pesticides, and intensive livestock. Organizations involved in the farming industry have lost consumers because they are not able to state what the political views of the farmers products are to the consumer. For example, BioPark is an organic cultivation organization with a vetting process to certify organic farmers. The vetting process is strictly based on cultivation methods and not on political affiliations. BioPark has lost costumers because left-leaning supporters worry buying local organic produce is supporting the far-right extremist.

The department of rural enlightenment has supported the importance of distinguishing between these two political parties. The department created a brochure called "Nature Conservation Versus Right-wing Extremist". The brochure was created in order to help consumers distinguish from the far-right extremists. Other representatives from the government have spoken on this divide. For example, Connolly mentions a representative of the Centre for Democratic culture in Mecklenburg who chose to stay anonymous in order to protect themself. The representative stated the goal of the NDP is to build bridges between citizens. The NDP is strategic in the way they are going about this in a subtle quite manner. The result the NDP is trying to achieve is to reinforce the division between the two political parties for when NDP no longer becomes associated with politics.

2023 renaming to Die Heimat

The party renamed itself to Die Heimat ("The Homeland") at the party congress in Riesa in early June 2023. 77% voted in favor of the name change.

Platform and ideology

Udo Voigt, former leader of the NPD, standing in front of a banner depicting Nazi leader Rudolf Hess. Hess, who died in prison in 1987, is considered a martyr by the NPD, and the party attempted to nominate him for a Nobel Peace Prize in 2007.

The Homeland is a neo-Nazi political party. It calls itself a party of "grandparents and grandchildren" because the 1960s generation in Germany, known for the leftist student movement, strongly opposes the NPD's policies. The NPD's economic program promotes social security for Germans and control against plutocracy. They discredit and reject the "liberal-capitalist system".

The Homeland 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 reorganization of a Soviet-style government of Europe along financial lines. Although highly critical of the EU, as long as Germany remains a part of it, The Homeland opposes Turkey's incorporation into the organization. Voigt envisions future collaboration and continued friendly relations with other nationalists and European nationalist parties. The Homeland is strongly anti-Zionist, frequently criticizing the policies and activities of Israel.

The Homeland's platform asserts that Germany is larger than the present-day Federal Republic, and calls for a return of German territory lost after World War II, a foreign policy position abandoned by the German government in 1990.

In the early 21st century, long-standing efforts to ban the party were renewed. The 2005 report of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution contains the following description:

The party continues to pursue a "people's front" of the nationalists [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 Nazism; its agitation is racist, antisemitic, revisionist, and intends to disparage the democratic and lawful order of the constitution.

Holger Apfel, NPD leader from 2011 to 2013

International connections

Voigt has held meetings with various proponents of white nationalism, including David Duke, a US white nationalist, author, politician, and activist. Between 1989 and 1992, the International Third Position began to ally itself with the NPD in Germany and Forza Nuova in Italy.

Udo Voigt and prominent American white nationalist David Duke

The Homeland has also links with the Romanian neo-Legionary group Noua Dreaptă.

Connections with Croatian far right

The party also has connections with far-right parties and politicians in Croatia. In 2017, according to Dražen Keleminec, president of the marginal far-right Autochthonous Croatian Party of Rights (A-HSP), NPD party member Alexander Neidlein took part in the party's march to show their support and declare allegiance to then-recently elected American president Donald Trump. During the march, the party's members, dressed in black uniforms, waved NPD and American flags while shouting the Ustasha salute Za dom spremni. The following day, the U.S. embassy in Zagreb reacted by publishing a statement in which they strongly condemned the march and rejected any attempts to connect the United States with Ustasha ideology.

In 2018, Croatian far-right MP Željko Glasnović took part in the NPD party congress in the town of Büdingen, and expressed his support for the party.

Youth wing

Logo of the youth wing since 2018

Junge Nationalisten (short: JN; until 13 January 2018 Junge Nationaldemokraten) is the official youth organization of the party, founded in 1967. According to The Homeland's statutes, the JN are an "integral part" of the party.

The JN are committed to the basic program of the party, but represent these points of view much more aggressively, which is evident both during demonstrations and in political style. They are observed by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution and classified as right-wing extremists. Their regular publication is called The Activist. In this central organ, under the heading "The Federal Leader Has the Word", they describe themselves as "representatives of the national revolutionary wing within the NPD". The youth organization criticizes those in The Homeland who have made the "fight for parliaments" the "most important goal". Instead, "resistance and criticism are appropriate, since these developments run the risk of gradual adjustment and bourgeoisie". The JN describe themselves as anti-imperialist. Among other things, they call for the withdrawal of German troops from Afghanistan, describe Israel as the "enemy of all peoples", and refer to it as becoming a parasitic state.

The JN maintains active contacts with a network of neo-Nazi organizations across Europe, like the Nordic Resistance Movement whose Finnish independence day march it has attended, along with National Corps of Ukraine, Bulgarian National Union, Serbian Action and others.

Groups within the party

The Homeland runs its own "security service" (Ordungsdienst). The group is led by Manfred Börm.

Chairmen of The Homeland

Election results and current representation

Federal Parliament (Bundestag)

Election year	Constituency			Party list			Seats won
	Votes	%	+/–	Votes	%	+/–
1965	587,216	1.8	1.8	664,193	2.0	2.0	0 / 518
1969	1,189,375	3.6	1.8	1,422,010	4.3	2.3	0 / 518
1972	194,389	0.5	3.1	207,465	0.6	3.7	0 / 518
1976	136,023	0.4	0.1	122,661	0.3	0.3	0 / 518
1980				68,096	0.2	0.1	0 / 497
1983	57,112	0.1	0.3	91,095	0.2	0.0	0 / 498
1987	182,880	0.5	0.4	227,054	0.6	0.4	0 / 497
1990	190,105	0.4	0.1	145,776	0.3	0.3	0 / 662
1998	45,043	0.1	0.3	126,571	0.3	0.0	0 / 669
2002	103,209	0.2	0.1	215,232	0.4	0.1	0 / 603
2005	857,777	1.8	1.6	748,568	1.6	1.2	0 / 614
2009	768,442	1.8	0.0	635,525	1.5	0.1	0 / 620
2013	634,842	1.5	0.3	560,828	1.3	0.2	0 / 630
2017	45,239	0.1	1.4	176,715	0.4	0.9	0 / 709
2021	1,089	0.0	0.1	64,608	0.1	0.3	0 / 709

European Parliament

Election year	# of overall votes	% of overall vote	# of overall seats won	+/–
1979	-	-	-	-
1984	198,633	0.8	0 / 81	0.8
1989	-	-	-	-
1994	77,227	0.2	0 / 99	0.2
1999	107,662	0.4	0 / 99	0.2
2004	241,743	0.9	0 / 99	0.5
2009	-	-	-	-
2014	301,139	1.0	1 / 99	1.0
2019	101,323	0.3	0 / 99	0.7

Literature

• Ackermann, Robert: Warum die NPD keinen Erfolg haben kann – Organization, Programm und Kommunikation einer rechtsextremen Partei. Budrich, Opladen 2012, ISBN: 978-3-86388-012-5.
• Brandstetter, Marc: Die „neue“ NPD: Zwischen Systemfeindschaft und bürgerlicher Fassade. Parteienmonitor Aktuell der Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung. Bonn 2012 (online)
• Brandstetter, Marc: Die NPD unter Udo Voigt. Organization. Ideologie. Strategie (= Extremismus und Demokratie. Bd. 25). Nomos Verlag, Baden-Baden 2013, ISBN: 978-3-383-29708-3.
• Prasse, Jan-Ole: Der kurze Höhenflug der NPD. Rechtsextreme Wahlerfolge in den 1960er Jahren. Tectum-Verlag, Marburg 2010, ISBN: 978-3-8288-2282-5.
• Philippsberg, Robert: Die Strategie der NPD: Regionale Umsetzung in Ost- und Westdeutschland. Baden-Baden 2009.
• apabiz e. V.: Die NPD – Eine Handreichung zu Programm, Struktur, Personal und Hintergründen. Zweite, aktualisierte Auflage. 2008. (online) (PDF; 671 kB)

See also

In Spanish: La Patria (partido político) para niños

• Far-right politics in Germany
• German nationalism
• Irredentism
• Politics of Germany
• List of political parties in Germany
• Frank Rennicke
• Frank Franz
• List of National Democratic Party of Germany politicians