Die Deutschen Konservativen (The German Conservatives) is a German conservative anti-communist organisation, which developed out of a conservative campaign to support Franz Josef Strauß

Franz Josef Strauß

Franz Josef Strauss was a German politician. He was the leader of the Christian Social Union, member of the federal cabinet in different positions and long-time minister-president of the state of Bavaria....

 in the 1980 federal election. Formally established circa 1986, its President was former Berlin Senator for the Interior Heinrich Lummer, and the Chairman was the well-known journalist and later Latvian MP Joachim Siegerist

Joachim Siegerist

Werner Joachim Siegerist is a German-Latvian journalist, author and conservative politician. He is chairman of the anti-communist German Conservatives and co-publisher of the Konservative Deutsche Zeitung...

. The organisation was fined in 1987 for "causing offence" to former Chancellor Willy Brandt

Willy Brandt

Willy Brandt, born Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm , was a German politician, Mayor of West Berlin 1957–1966, Chancellor of West Germany 1969–1974, and leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany 1964–1987....

, in their condemnation of what they saw as his appeasement policies towards communism.

One the weekend of August 12-13, 1989, Die Deutschen Konservativen held a vast anti-communist rally at Mölln, near Lübeck

Lübeck

The Hanseatic City of Lübeck is the second-largest city in Schleswig-Holstein, in northern Germany, and one of the major ports of Germany. It was for several centuries the "capital" of the Hanseatic League and, because of its Brick Gothic architectural heritage, is listed by UNESCO as a World...

, with a procession of torchlit boats down the local canal, each carrying flags of the 'lost provinces' (Silesia

Silesia

Silesia is a historical region of Central Europe located mostly in Poland, with smaller parts also in the Czech Republic, and Germany.Silesia is rich in mineral and natural resources, and includes several important industrial areas. Silesia's largest city and historical capital is Wrocław...

, East Prussia

East Prussia

East Prussia is the main part of the region of Prussia along the southeastern Baltic Coast from the 13th century to the end of World War II in May 1945. From 1772–1829 and 1878–1945, the Province of East Prussia was part of the German state of Prussia. The capital city was Königsberg.East Prussia...

, Danzig, Sudetenland

Sudetenland

Sudetenland is the German name used in English in the first half of the 20th century for the northern, southwest and western regions of Czechoslovakia inhabited mostly by ethnic Germans, specifically the border areas of Bohemia, Moravia, and those parts of Silesia being within Czechoslovakia.The...

, Pomerania

Pomerania

Pomerania is a historical region on the south shore of the Baltic Sea. Divided between Germany and Poland, it stretches roughly from the Recknitz River near Stralsund in the West, via the Oder River delta near Szczecin, to the mouth of the Vistula River near Gdańsk in the East...

, etc) with a large barge in the receiving lake holding visiting dignitaries from all over Europe, including a delegation from the UK's Western Goals Institute

Western Goals Institute

The Western Goals Institute was a conservative pressure group in Britain, re-formed in 1989 from Western Goals UK, which originated in 1985 as an offshoot of the U.S. Western Goals Foundation...

, who made inflammatory anti-communist speeches. These were broadcast by high-level loud-speakers across the nearby East-West border to several towns sited just across the border. Some 20,000 people gathered for the demonstration, which ended with a huge march at midnight, led by the flags of the 'lost provinces' to the ancient town centre where a further closing speech was made by Heinrich Lummer.

The association published regular newsletters and held an annual conference.