Neo-Nazi Groups

• Support for the Nazis never disappeared entirely. There were around 70 neo-Nazi groups in Germany by the early 1960s. In 1964, there was a call for these to unite into a unified neo-Nazi party, the National Democratic Party (NPD).
• The NPD emerged during a time of conditions making their revival appealing:

  • mid-1960s saw an economic recession - revived fears of the inter-war Depression
  • growing dislike of guest workers - seen as taking jobs from German workers
  • Germans were tired of feeling guilty - British historian David Irving studied the bombing of Dresden - argued all sides were guilty of atrocities during WW2
  • some reflected the apparent successes of the Nazi period - full employment, improved living conditions
• The NPD enjoyed some electoral successes, especially in state governments. The party won 8/100 seats in the Hesse parliament in October 1966. However, it failed to break through into the Bundestag - the party's best result was to win 4% of the federal vote in 1969.
• The NPD collapsed amid in-fighting. There were some reasons for its failure:

  • the NPD looked and acted like the NSDAP - NPD stewards beat up journalists at rallies, like the SA
  • the NPD harmed the FRG's international reputation
  • the recession that had fueled the growth of the NDP eased
• Other groups such as the far right Republikaner Party emerged in 1983, but their support was limited. The most vociferous of whom tended to be working class, often till-educated and underemployed Germans, giving the party a poor reputation.