The Deutsche Reichspartei (DRP, ''German

Reich ''Reich'' (; ) is a German noun whose meaning is analogous to the meaning of the English word "realm"; this is not to be confused with the German adjective "reich" which means "rich". The terms ' (literally the "realm of an emperor") and ' (lit ...

Party'', ''German Imperial Party'' or ''German Empire Party'') was a

nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Th ...

far-right Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...

and later

Neo-Nazi Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and racial supremacy (often white supremacy), attack ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 ...

. It was founded in 1950 from the German Right Party (german: Deutsche Rechtspartei), which had been set up in

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

in 1946 and had five members in the first

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Comm ...

Formation

The DRP was established in 1950 when the majority of the

Deutsche Rechtspartei The German Right Party (german: Deutsche Rechtspartei, DRP) was a far-right 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 Rechts ...

members of the

decided to establish a more formal party network under the DRP name. Cas Mudde, ''The Ideology of the Extreme Right'', Manchester University Press, 2000, pp. 25–26 The new party absorbed the "National Democrats", a splinter group from

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major historic cities are ...

. Karl Dietrich Bracher, ''The German Dictatorship'', Penguin Books, 1971, p. 581 The party took its name from an earlier group of the same name that had existed during the

German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...

period.Luciano Cheles, Ronnie Ferguson & Michalina Vaughan, ''Neo-Fascism in Europe'', Longman, 1991, p. 71 The initial three deputy chairmen,

Wilhelm Meinberg Wilhelm Meinberg (1 March 1898 – 8 February 1973) was a German Nazi Party politician and agricultural expert who served as the head of the ''Reichsnährstand'' and on the board of directors of the industrial conglomerate Reichswerke Hermann Gö ...

Otto Hess Otto C. Hess (October 10, 1878 – February 25, 1926) was a Swiss-born pitcher for the Cleveland Bronchos/Cleveland Naps (1902 and 1904–08) and Boston Braves (1912–15). In 1914, Hess was a member of the Braves team that went from last place ...

and Heinrich Kunstmann, had all been members of the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...

. From 1951 the group published its own newspaper ''Reichsruf'' ("Call of the Reich").

Development

The party moved towards explicit

neo-Nazism Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and racial supremacy (often white supremacy), attack ...

in 1952, when the Socialist Reich Party (SRP) was declared unconstitutional and disbanded by the

Federal Constitutional Court of Germany The Federal Constitutional Court (german: link=no, Bundesverfassungsgericht ; abbreviated: ) is the supreme constitutional court for the Federal Republic of Germany, established by the constitution or Basic Law () of Germany. Since its in ...

. Much of its membership then joined the DRP. The membership of

Hans-Ulrich Rudel Hans-Ulrich Rudel (2 July 1916 – 18 December 1982) was a German ground-attack pilot during World War II and a post-war neo-Nazi activist. The most decorated German pilot of the war and the only recipient of the Knight's Cross with ...

in 1953 was seen as marking out the party as the new force of neo-Nazism and he enjoyed close ties to

Savitri Devi Savitri Devi Mukherji (born Maximiani Julia Portas, ; 30 September 1905 – 22 October 1982) was a French-born Greek fascist, Nazi sympathizer, and spy who served the Axis powers by committing acts of espionage against the Allied forces in I ...

and

Nazi mysticism The association of Nazism with occultism occurs in a wide range of theories, speculation, and research into the origins of Nazism and into Nazism's possible relationship with various occult traditions. Such ideas have flourished as a part of pop ...

. Stability under chancellor

Konrad Adenauer Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer (; 5 January 1876 – 19 April 1967) was a German statesman who served as the first chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1949 to 1963. From 1946 to 1966, he was the first leader of the Christian Dem ...

of the Christian Democratic Union and the growth experienced during the ''

Wirtschaftswunder The ''Wirtschaftswunder'' (, "economic miracle"), also known as the Miracle on the Rhine, was the rapid reconstruction and development of the economies of West Germany and Austria after World War II (adopting an ordoliberalism-based social ma ...

'' meant that the DRP struggled for support, averaging around only 1% of the national votes in the federal elections of

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito is chosen President of Yugosl ...

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th year ...

and

1961 Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba (Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 (K ...

. The party's only major breakthrough came in 1959 in the regional election for

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...

, where it won 5.1% of the vote and thus was able to send deputies to the assembly. In 1962 the party took part in an international conference of far-right groups hosted in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

by Oswald Mosley and signed up as members of his National Party of Europe. This initiative did not take off as Mosley had hoped, however, as few of the member parties, including the DRP, were interested in changing their name to National Party of Europe, as he had hoped they would. One of the party's last acts in 1964 saw it sponsor a tour of Germany by controversial American historian David Hoggan.

Dissolution

The lack of national success however saw the leaders of the DRP seek to extend their influence further, and they made contact with the leaders of other rightist parties such as the German Party and its successor (following that organisation's merger with the

All-German Bloc/League of Expellees and Deprived of Rights The All-German Bloc/League of Expellees and Deprived of Rights (german: Gesamtdeutscher Block/Bund der Heimatvertriebenen und Entrechteten or GB/BHE) was a right-wing political party in West Germany, which acted as an advocacy group of the German ...

), the Gesamtdeutsche Partei seeking close ties.Mudde, ''The Ideology of the Extreme Right'', p. 26 It was soon decided that a more formal union with other rightist groups was desirable. They held their final party conference in

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ru ...

in 1964 in which they voted to form a new union of "national democratic forces". The party was symbolically liquidated, with the National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD) established immediately afterwards.

References

{{Authority control German nationalist political parties Defunct political parties in Germany Political parties established in 1950 Far-right political parties in Germany Fascist parties in Germany Political parties disestablished in 1964 1950 establishments in West Germany Neo-Nazism in Germany Anti-communist parties