Socialist Reich Party
Encyclopedia
The Socialist Reich Party of Germany was a West German
far-right political party founded in the aftermath of the World War II
in 1949 as an openly Nazi
orientated split-off from the national conservative German Right Party
(DKP-DRP). The SRP was the first party to be banned by the Federal Constitutional Court
in 1952.
, a former Wehrmacht
major general who had played a vital role in defeating the 20 July plot, the Völkisch
author Fritz Dorls and Gerhard Krüger
, former leader of the German Student Union
, after they had been excluded from the DKP-DRP. The SRP saw itself as legitimate heir of the Nazi Party, most party fellows were former NSDAP members. The foundation was backed by former Luftwaffe
Oberst Hans-Ulrich Rudel
.
The party claimed Chancellor Konrad Adenauer
was a United States
puppet and that Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz
was the last legitimate President of the German Reich appointed by Adolf Hitler
. It denied the existence of the Holocaust
, claimed that the USA built the gas ovens of the Dachau concentration camp after the War and that films of concentration camps were faked. The SRP also advocated Europe
, led by a reunited German Reich, as a "third force
" against both capitalism
and communism
. It demanded the re-annexation of the former eastern territories of Germany and a "solution
of the Jewish question".
The SRP never openly criticised the Soviet Union
because the Soviet Union funded the SRP as it held anti-American and pro-Soviet views. The Communist Party of Germany
, on the other hand, did not receive Soviet funds because it was viewed as "ineffectual". Remer said that if the USSR ever did invade Germany, he would "show the Russians the way to the Rhine" and that SRP members would "post themselves as traffic policemen, spreading their arms so that the Russians can find their way through Germany as quickly as possible".
Dorls had been elected as a DKP-DRP deputy to the Bundestag
parliament in the 1949 election. The SRP gained a second seat in parliament, when MP Fritz Rössler
(alias Dr. Franz Richter) joined the party in 1950. In May 1951 it won 16 seats in the Lower Saxony
state assembly (Landtag
) election, receiving 11.0% of the votes with strongholds in the Stade region
(21.5%; Verden district
: 27.7%). In October 1951 it gained 7.7 % of the votes in Bremen
and won 8 seats in the city's Bürgerschaft
parliament.
The SRP had about ten thousand members. Affiliated associations were the Reichsfront paramilitary
organisation and the Reichsjugend youth wing
, which were banned by decision of the Federal Minister of the Interior
on 4 May 1951. On the same day, the West German cabinet
decided to file an application to the Federal Constitutional Court to find the SRP anti-constitutional and to impose a ban. On 23 October 1952 the court according to Article 21 Paragraph 2 of the Basic Law
adjudicated the party unconstitutional and dissolved, prohibited the founding of any successor organisations, withdraw all Bundestag and Landtag mandates and seized the party's assets (BVerfGE 2, 1). In view of the verdict, the SRP leaders had already declared the Party dissolved on 12 September.
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
far-right political party founded in the aftermath of the World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
in 1949 as an openly Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
orientated split-off from the national conservative German Right Party
Deutsche Rechtspartei
The German Right Party was a right-wing political party that emerged in the British zone of Allied-occupied Germany after the Second World War....
(DKP-DRP). The SRP was the first party to be banned by the Federal Constitutional Court
Federal Constitutional Court of Germany
The Federal Constitutional Court is a special court established by the Grundgesetz, the German basic law...
in 1952.
History
It was established on 2 October 1949 in Hameln by Otto Ernst RemerOtto Ernst Remer
Otto-Ernst Remer was a German Wehrmacht officer who played a decisive role in stopping the 1944 20 July Plot against Adolf Hitler. During the war he was wounded nine times in combat...
, a former Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
major general who had played a vital role in defeating the 20 July plot, the Völkisch
Völkisch movement
The volkisch movement is the German interpretation of the populist movement, with a romantic focus on folklore and the "organic"...
author Fritz Dorls and Gerhard Krüger
Gerhard Krüger
Gerhard Krüger was a Nazi Party student leader and later a leading figure within the neo-Nazi movement.-Early years:...
, former leader of the German Student Union
German Student Union
The German Student Union from 1919 until 1945, was the merger of the general student committees of all German universities, including Danzig, Austria and the former German universities in Czechoslovakia.Originally founded during the Weimar Republic period as a democratic representation of...
, after they had been excluded from the DKP-DRP. The SRP saw itself as legitimate heir of the Nazi Party, most party fellows were former NSDAP members. The foundation was backed by former Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
Oberst Hans-Ulrich Rudel
Hans-Ulrich Rudel
Hans-Ulrich Rudel was a Stuka dive-bomber pilot during World War II and a member of the Nazi party. The most highly decorated German serviceman of the war, Rudel was one of only 27 military men to be awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds, and the only...
.
The party claimed Chancellor Konrad Adenauer
Konrad Adenauer
Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer was a German statesman. He was the chancellor of the West Germany from 1949 to 1963. He is widely recognised as a person who led his country from the ruins of World War II to a powerful and prosperous nation that had forged close relations with old enemies France,...
was a United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
puppet and that Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz
Karl Dönitz
Karl Dönitz was a German naval commander during World War II. He started his career in the German Navy during World War I. In 1918, while he was in command of , the submarine was sunk by British forces and Dönitz was taken prisoner...
was the last legitimate President of the German Reich appointed by Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
. It denied the existence of the Holocaust
The Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
, claimed that the USA built the gas ovens of the Dachau concentration camp after the War and that films of concentration camps were faked. The SRP also advocated Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, led by a reunited German Reich, as a "third force
Third Position
Third Position is a revolutionary nationalist political ideology that emphasizes its opposition to both communism and capitalism. Advocates of Third Position politics typically present themselves as "beyond left and right", instead claiming to syncretize radical ideas from both ends of the...
" against both capitalism
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
and communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
. It demanded the re-annexation of the former eastern territories of Germany and a "solution
Final Solution
The Final Solution was Nazi Germany's plan and execution of the systematic genocide of European Jews during World War II, resulting in the most deadly phase of the Holocaust...
of the Jewish question".
The SRP never openly criticised the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
because the Soviet Union funded the SRP as it held anti-American and pro-Soviet views. The Communist Party of Germany
Communist Party of Germany
The Communist Party of Germany was a major political party in Germany between 1918 and 1933, and a minor party in West Germany in the postwar period until it was banned in 1956...
, on the other hand, did not receive Soviet funds because it was viewed as "ineffectual". Remer said that if the USSR ever did invade Germany, he would "show the Russians the way to the Rhine" and that SRP members would "post themselves as traffic policemen, spreading their arms so that the Russians can find their way through Germany as quickly as possible".
Dorls had been elected as a DKP-DRP deputy to the Bundestag
Bundestag
The Bundestag is a federal legislative body in Germany. In practice Germany is governed by a bicameral legislature, of which the Bundestag serves as the lower house and the Bundesrat the upper house. The Bundestag is established by the German Basic Law of 1949, as the successor to the earlier...
parliament in the 1949 election. The SRP gained a second seat in parliament, when MP Fritz Rössler
Fritz Rössler
Fritz Rössler was a low-level official in the Nazi Party who went on to become a leading figure in German neo-Nazi politics. In his later life he was more commonly known as Dr. Franz Richter.-Nazi activity:...
(alias Dr. Franz Richter) joined the party in 1950. In May 1951 it won 16 seats in the Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony is a German state situated in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen states of Germany...
state assembly (Landtag
Landtag
A Landtag is a representative assembly or parliament in German-speaking countries with some legislative authority.- Name :...
) election, receiving 11.0% of the votes with strongholds in the Stade region
Stade (region)
The Stade Region emerged in 1823 by an administrative reorganisation of the dominions of the Kingdom of Hanover, a sovereign state, whose then territory is almost completely part of today's German federal state of Lower Saxony...
(21.5%; Verden district
Verden (district)
Verden is a Kreis in the centre of Lower Saxony, Germany. Adjoining it are the districts of Osterholz, Rotenburg, Heidekreis, Nienburg and Diepholz, as well as the city of Bremen.-Geography:...
: 27.7%). In October 1951 it gained 7.7 % of the votes in Bremen
Bremen (state)
The Free Hanseatic City of Bremen is the smallest of Germany's 16 states. A more informal name, but used in some official contexts, is Land Bremen .-Geography:...
and won 8 seats in the city's Bürgerschaft
Bürgerschaft of Bremen
The Bremische Bürgerschaft is the state diet of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. It currently consists of 83 members from five parties. The current majority is a coalition of the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance '90/The Greens, supporting Mayor and Senate president Jens Böhrnsen...
parliament.
The SRP had about ten thousand members. Affiliated associations were the Reichsfront paramilitary
Paramilitary
A paramilitary is a force whose function and organization are similar to those of a professional military, but which is not considered part of a state's formal armed forces....
organisation and the Reichsjugend youth wing
Youth wing
A youth wing is a subsidiary, autonomous or independently-allied front of a larger organization that is formed in order to rally support and allegiance for that organization's campaigns from members and potential members of a younger age...
, which were banned by decision of the Federal Minister of the Interior
Federal Ministry of the Interior (Germany)
The Federal Ministry of the Interior is a ministry of the German federal government. Its main office is in Berlin, with a secondary seat in Bonn. The current minister of the interior is Dr...
on 4 May 1951. On the same day, the West German cabinet
Cabinet of Germany
The Cabinet of Germany is the chief executive body of the Federal Republic of Germany. It consists of the Chancellor and the cabinet ministers. The fundamentals of the cabinet's organization are set down in articles 62 to 69 of the Basic Law.-Nomination:...
decided to file an application to the Federal Constitutional Court to find the SRP anti-constitutional and to impose a ban. On 23 October 1952 the court according to Article 21 Paragraph 2 of the Basic Law
Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany
The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany is the constitution of Germany. It was formally approved on 8 May 1949, and, with the signature of the Allies of World War II on 12 May, came into effect on 23 May, as the constitution of those states of West Germany that were initially included...
adjudicated the party unconstitutional and dissolved, prohibited the founding of any successor organisations, withdraw all Bundestag and Landtag mandates and seized the party's assets (BVerfGE 2, 1). In view of the verdict, the SRP leaders had already declared the Party dissolved on 12 September.
External links
- Germany's New Nazis 1951 pamphlet about the SRP and other neo-nazi groups by the Anglo-Jewish AssociationAnglo-Jewish AssociationThe Anglo-Jewish Association was a British organisation formed in 1871 for the 'promotion of social, moral, and intellectual progress among the Jews; and the obtaining of protection for those who may suffer in consequence of being Jews'. Many Anglo-Jewish businessmen, such as Jacob Behrens, were...