- Deutsche Rechtspartei
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German Right Party
Deutsche Konservative Partei – Deutsche RechtsparteiFounded 27 June 1946 Dissolved 21 January 1950;
merged into German Empire PartyIdeology National Conservatism Political position right-wing International affiliation N/A The German Right Party (Deutsche Rechtspartei, DRP) was a right-wing political party that emerged in the British zone of Allied-occupied Germany after the Second World War.
Also known as the Deutsche Konservative Partei - Deutsche Rechtspartei (the party used both names, varying the name used between different Länder, but had no direct links to the pre-World War I German Conservative Party), the initially national conservative party was formed in June 1946 by a merger of three smaller groups - the Deutsche Konservative Partei, the Deutsche Aufbaupartei of the Völkisch politician Reinhold Wulle and the Deutsche Bauern- und Landvolk Partei.[1] Its manifesto was in large parts authored by Hans Zehrer.
Originally intended as a continuation of the German National People's Party, it soon attracted a number of former Nazis and its programme changed towards a more neo-Nazi stance,[2] while many centrist members left to join the German Party (DP). In the 1949 federal elections to the first Bundestag, the party captured five seats,[1] among the deputies was also Fritz Rössler (alias Dr. Franz Richter), who soon became notorious for his radical attitudes.
Despite this success, the DRP was also weakened that same year when the Socialist Reich Party (Sozialistische Reichspartei, SRP) was formed and a number of members around Otto Ernst Remer and Gerhard Krüger left to join the more openly neo-Nazi party.[3] Within the Bundestag, the DRP began to work closely with a number of more minor groups on the far-right, such as the National Democrats (a minor group that should not be confused with the later National Democratic Party of Germany). Between 1950 and 1951, the remaining DRP MPs around Fritz Rössler sought to merge with these groups in order to form a larger grouping, which resulted in the creation of the German Empire Party (Deutsche Reichspartei). [4] Rössler had to vacate his party offices for his contacts with SRP chairmen, he joined the party in September 1950.
Although effectively defunct, a report on the party was produced by the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany in the context of the SRP ban in 1952. The report claimed that the party had actively tried to organise members of earlier right wing groups, although no action was taken as the party had ceased to exist.[5]
References
- ^ a b D. Childs, 'The Far-Right in Germany since 1945', L. Cheles, R. Ferguson & M. Vaughan, Neo-Fascism in Europe, Harlow: Longman, 1992, p. 70
- ^ R. Eatwell, Fascism: A History, London: Pimlico, 2003, p. 277
- ^ Childs, 'The Far-Right in Germany', p. 71
- ^ Eatwell, Fascism: A History, p. 279
- ^ Karl Dietrich Bracher, The German Dictatorship, Harmondworth: Penguin, 1973, p. 579
Categories:- Political parties established in 1946
- Defunct political parties in Germany
- Far-right and fascist parties in Germany
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