"Die Heimat": Right-wing extremist NPD gives itself a new name

Now it's officially over with the NPD. It is not yet known what the flag of "Die Heimat" will look like. © Stefan Sauer/dpa

The NPD becomes "Die Heimat": After years of decline, the right-wing extremist splinter party NPD is taking on a new name.

Riesa - Almost 60 years after its founding, the right-wing extremist NPD has acquired a new name. 77 percent of the delegates voted at a national party convention in Riesa, Saxony, for the renaming to "Die Heimat". According to the information, the concept for the renaming had been introduced by the Federal Executive Board. A year ago, the federal executive failed in its attempt to rename the NPD "Die Heimat".

The group wants to open a "new chapter", it said in a statement. It sees itself as an "anti-party movement and patriotic service provider". The name refers to a term that excludes non-ethnic Germans and immigrants living in Germany. "Die Heimat" wants to ensure that "the Germans" do not "have to live as an ethnic minority in the homeland of their fathers".

Völkisch worldview characterizes the NPD

This nationalist worldview has shaped the party since its founding in 1964. At that time, the National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD) was founded as a rallying point for right-wing extremist currents. With its racist, anti-Semitic and anti-democratic positions, it had at times limited success in elections under its then chairman Adolf von Thadden.

In the 1960s, for example, the NPD succeeded in entering seven of the then eleven state parliaments. In the 1969 Bundestag election, it narrowly failed to reach the five percent hurdle with 4.3 percent. But the ascent was only a temporary phenomenon. In the 70s, the party largely disappeared from the scene.

Rise of the AfD defeats the fate of the NPD

The NPD experienced a resurgence with new personnel after reunification. In the 60s it was still worn by old NSDAP supporters, but now it was able to score points especially in East Germany. She was a member of the state parliament in Saxony from 2004 to 2014 and in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania from 2006 to 2016. But after that, the rise of the AfD sealed the fate of the NPD. Apparently, the AfD was more attractive to many old NPD voters.

In the meantime, the NPD is no longer represented in any state parliament. It lost its last seats in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in 2016. In the 2021 federal election, it received only 0.1 percent. Since 2019, she is no longer represented in the European Parliament. At that time, ex-chairman Udo Voigt lost his mandate, which the NPD had won in 2014 with a result of 1.0 percent. This election had taken place without a threshold clause. In the coming year, Voigt will again fight for a seat in the European Parliament as the top candidate of the newly named party "Die Heimat".

The NPD as a case for the Constitutional Court

In recent years, the NPD has made a name for itself, especially in connection with the question of a party ban. In 2017, the Federal Constitutional Court rejected a ban, arguing that the NPD was too insignificant to be able to pose a concrete threat to democracy in Germany.

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Another case is currently pending before the Constitutional Court: it is about the question of whether the NPD should be excluded from state party financing. In this case, the tax breaks for donations and other contributions to the party would also cease to apply. It is the first procedure of its kind. Should the court in Karlsruhe confirm the exclusion from state party financing, the tax breaks for donations and other contributions to the NPD would also cease to apply. (cs/afp