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Template:Infobox German Political Party The National Democratic Party of Germany (Template:Lang-de, NPD) is a radical right and pan-German nationalist political party founded on 28 November 1964. The Party is a successor to the German Reich Party (Template:Lang-de, DRP). Udo Voigt has led the Party since 1996.

The mainstream media and political opponents of the NPD often label the party as a Neo-Nazi organization. Some of the reasons include the party`s refusal to include non-white Germans and Muslims in the party, for their associations with individuals such a David Duke, for using the colors of Nazi Germany as their party colors and for making reference to the Bundestag as the Reichstag(what is was called during the era of Nazi Germany).. The Party rejects this depiction and states it stands for the interests of the German people and for a German state. However, the NPD is actively working with neo-Nazis and is endorsing the cooperation with protagonists and members of unconstitutional and illegal organisations, and active neo-Nazis themselves are gaining influence in the party. 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.

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

Platform and philosophies

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".

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. 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.

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. 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. 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 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."

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.

Statements on the election of Barack Obama

In November 2008, shortly after the 2008 United States Presidential Election, the NPD published a document entitled "Africa conquers the White House" which stated 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" 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." The NPD also stated that the extensive support for Obama in Germany "resembles an African tropical disease."

International connections

Voigt has held meetings with various white nationalist proponents, such as American politician David Duke. In 2009, Udo Pastörs said that the NPD supports Russia and the Russian point of view in the 2008 South Ossetia War.

History

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 reacted by claiming loyalty to the constitution and lack of opposition to the current system of government to create a less extremist image. Major themes included German reunification, building nationalistic feelings about the history of Germany, and promoting ethnic pride.

The NPD achieved 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 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 to that goal in the 1969 election, when it got 4.3 percent of the vote.

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, which worked to the party's advantage. When the center-right broke away, around 75 percent of NPD voters switched to it.

However, the Party had less success in the 1970s and 1980s, 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..

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.

Recent history

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.

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 1,000 party applications to push the membership total over 7,200. In 2008, the trend of a growing number of members has been reversed and NPD's membership is estimated at about 7000.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

Activism and controversy

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." 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 was going to sponsor a 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 decided against the demonstration; only a counter-demonstration took place that day, in support of Israel. 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 for the German national team in the years before the World Cup, proceeded to file a lawsuit against the party. Owomoyela is a 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).

The NPD also took part in a "holocaust vigil" for Gaza against Israel during Operation Cast Lead in support of the Palestinians. Charlotte Knobloch, the head of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, warned ""Joint hatred of everything Jewish is unifying neo-Nazis and Islamists... German-Palestinians protestors unashamedly admitted that they would vote for the NPD during the next election."

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

See also

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

Notes

1. ^ Austrian ´neo-Nazi´ joins NPD’s executive committee. Austrian Times. Published April 8, 2009.
2. "Neo-Nazi NPD party takes hold in municipal vote in Saxony". . 9 Jun 08. Retrieved June 10, 2009. The neo-Nazi NPD party has representatives in every county council in the eastern German state of Saxony after it increased its share of the vote in municipal elections on Sunday. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); External link in |publisher= (help)
3. "Neo-Nazis push into town councils". . 9 Jun 09. Retrieved June 10, 2009. The neo-Nazi NPD party is entering several German city parliaments for the first time after this weekend's local elections, news magazine Der Spiegel reported on Monday. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); External link in |publisher= (help)
4. "Poll shows majority of Germany believe NPD to be non-democratic and damaging to Germany's image". . 22 Sep 06. Retrieved July 21, 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); External link in |publisher= (help)
5. "Rechtsextremismus". Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung . 2006 - 2008. Retrieved August 23, 2009. Auch zeigte sich die NPD nun bereit, mit radikalen Kräften aus dem parteiungebundenen Spektrum zusammenzuarbeiten. Formal gilt nach wie vor ein Unvereinbarkeitsbeschluss der NPD-Mitgliedschaft mit der Mitgliedschaft in verbotenen Gruppierungen. Faktisch jedoch setzt sich die NPD mit ihrer Strategie bewusst über die offizielle Verlautbarung hinweg. Die NPD wolle in Zukunft mit denjenigen zusammenzuarbeiten, die dazu bereit seien, "als politische Soldaten zu denken und zu handeln", so die neue Strategie. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); External link in |publisher= (help)
6. "Zusammenspiel zwischen NPD und Neonazis im niedersächsischen Landtagswahlkampf". Landesamt für Verfassungsschutz Bremen. 30 November 2007. Retrieved August 2, 2009. Die Kooperation zwischen der NPD und den Freien Nationalisten (Angehörige von neonazistischen Kameradschaften) prägt das Auftreten der Partei im niedersächsischen Landtagswahlkampf. Bekannte Neonazis treten für die NPD als Direktkandidaten an, z.B. Dennis BÜHRIG in Bergen, Klaus HELLMUND in Celle, Mathias BEHRENS in Soltau oder Dieter RIEFLING in Hildesheim.
7. "Neonazis in der NPD auf dem Vormarsch". . 19 May 2009. Retrieved August 23, 2009. Das neonazistische Spektrum hat seinen Einfluss innerhalb der NPD ausgebaut. {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
8. Verfassungsschutzbericht 2008. . May 2009. p. 51. Retrieved August 23, 2009. Auch 2008 ist es in der Kooperation zwischen der NPD und der Neonazi-Szene zu erheblichen Spannungen gekommen. {{cite book}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
9. Verfassungsschutzbericht 2008. . May 2009. p. 63. Retrieved August 23, 2009. Ungeachtet der andauernden engen Kooperation zwischen Teilen der „Freien Kräfte" und der NPD war das Verhältnis zeitweise von Anspannung und Misstrauen geprägt. Gleichwohl scheint die Neonazi-Szene weiterhin gewillt zu sein, die als schwierig empfundene Kooperation mit der NPD fortzuführen, da sie darin eine realistische Perspektive sieht, wenigstens einen Teil ihrer politischen Vorstellungen in den öffentlichen Raum einzubringen. {{cite book}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
10. Suddenly, Germany's Far Right Isn't So Far Out. Business Week. Published Feb. 28, 2005 .
11. Annual Report of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution 2004, p. 56.
12. NPD party programme (in German) http://npd.de/medien/pdf/parteiprogramm.pdf
13. Party program, p. 13. ("Deutschland ist größer als die Bundesrepublik! ... Wir fordern die Revision der nach dem Krieg abgeschlossenen Grenzanerkennungsverträge.")
14. Map of Germany on NPD's website http://www.npd.de
15. Report of the Versfassungsschutz
16. Far-right politician convicted over racist World Cup flyers. Deutsche Welle. Published April 24, 2009.
17. German pol decries ‘Jewish-Negro’ alliance, Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA), November 11, 2008 (retrieved on December 5, 2008.)
18. Jewish group mulls charges over neo-Nazi Obama slurs, BreitBart.com, November 10, 2008.
19. Calls for prosecution after German politician says Obama win 'a declaration of war' by Jon Swaine, Telegraph.co.uk, November 11, 2008.
20. Racism Rears Its Head in European Remarks on Obama by Craig Whitlock, Washington Post, page A15, November 11, 2008 (retrieved on December 5, 2008.)
21. David Duke. "My Awakening: A Path to Racial Understanding". Free Speech Press. Retrieved 2007-09-17.
22. NPD Meck. Pom.
23. ^ Chapin, Wesley D. (1997). Germany for the Germans?. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 70–73.
24. Kerstin Lorenz, ehem. Landeschefin der Republikaner in Sachsen, tritt in die NPD ein! http://www.wno.org/newpages/par46b.html
25. BBC News update
26. Spiegel
27. "Verfassungsschutzbericht 2008". . May 2009. p. 79. Retrieved August 23, 2009. Mit rund 7.000 Mitgliedern verzeichnete die NPD im Vergleich zum Vorjahr (7.200) einen leichten Rückgang, bleibt jedoch mitgliederstärkste Partei im rechtsextremistischen Spektrum. {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
28. German court rejects attempt to ban neo-Nazi party | The Guardian | Guardian Unlimited
29. State politicians introduce document about NPD |tagesschau
30. Hannah Cleaver, "German ruling says Dresden was a holocaust", Telegraph.co.uk, April 12, 2005.
31. "Neo-Nazis hijack Dresden ceremony in the biggest far-right demonstration since Hitler".
32. Patrick Donahue. "Skinheads, Neo-Nazis Draw Fury at Dresden 1945 'Mourning March'". Retrieved 2009 02 14. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
33. Deutsche Welle article
34. BBC News article
35. "NPD leader charged for racist campaign against black player in national football team". . 25 Mar 08. Retrieved July 21, 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); External link in |publisher= (help)
36. NPD-Chef Voigt zu Bewährungsstrafe verurteilt, sueddeutsche.de, 25. April 2009
37. http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull&cid=1232292928927
38. http://www.eurojewcong.org/ejc/news.php?id_article=3517

External links

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

• Articles needing cleanup from May 2009
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• Political parties in Germany
• Political parties established in 1964
• Far-right and fascist parties in Germany
• Nationalist parties
• Neo-Nazi political parties