The Right – Party for Referendum, Sovereignty and Homeland Protection () was a
far-right
Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on the far end of the ...
political party in Germany
The Federal Republic of Germany has a plural multi-party system. Historically, the largest by members and parliament seats are the Christian Democratic Union (Germany), Christian Democratic Union (CDU), with its sister party, the Christian Socia ...
.
History
The party was founded in 2012 by the neo-Nazi
Christian Worch, along with many members of the
German People's Union
The German People's Union (, DVU, also ''Liste D'') was a far-right nationalist political party in Germany. It was founded by publisher Gerhard Frey as an informal association in 1971 and established as a party in 1987. In 2011, it merged with ...
(DVU) in protest against the merger of their party into the
National Democratic Party (NPD). The party name was inspired by
Die Linke
Die Linke (; ), also known as the Left Party ( ), is a democratic socialist political party in Germany. The party was founded in 2007 as the result of the merger of the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) and Labour and Social Justice – The ...
, a left-wing political party. In May 2012 circles of the dissolved DVU announced the establishment of a new party in competition with the NPD was planned. In June 2012, articles of association and the party program were forwarded to the Federal Returning Officer for examination. On 13 October 2012 the second federal convention of The Right took place in Ludwigshafen on the Rhine.
In January 2013, the Public Prosecutor's Office in Dortmund concluded that the founding of the North Rhine-Westphalian State Association was insufficient reason for a preliminary investigation. It examined a violation in August 2012 of the prohibition of association for the National Resistance Dortmund ('' Nationaler Widerstand Dortmund'', NWDO). The "hard core" of the NWDO (Dennis Giemsch, Michael Brück and
Siegfried Borchardt) had created a party on 15 September 2012.
On 5 July 2014, the 5th Federal Party Congress took place in
Hamm (NRW), where Christian Worch was once again elected Federal Chairman. Ingeborg Lobocki resigned as Deputy Chairman and Treasurer for health reasons, replaced by Tatjana Berner.
On 13 January 2016, it was announced that the party's websites were deleted from the
Facebook
Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...
social network for violations of the company's
Terms of Service.
On 28 October 2017, Worch was confirmed as chairman at the federal party convention with 78.4% of the votes. Subsequently, however, the Thuringian State Association demanded that the federal party should decide "that the party is fully committed to the rights of the German national community." Worch held a counter-speech and rejected the request for legal and political reasons. The majority of the members followed the Thuringian state association and not Worch. Worch then resigned and left the party.
Dutch Neo-Nazi and Hitler lookalike
Stefan Wijkamp ">l/sup> was a former board member for the party.
Worch's successor was the multiply convicted Dortmund neo-Nazi squad Christoph Drewer. On 1 April 2018, Bruck and Sascha Krolzig were elected as federal co-chairmen at a federal party conference; At the same time, the party added in its name the wording "Party for Referendum, Sovereignty and Homeland Protection".
For the European elections in 2019, The Right chose the imprisoned, repeatedly sentenced 90-year-old Holocaust denier Ursula Haverbeck
Ursula Hedwig Meta Haverbeck-Wetzel ( Wetzel; 8 November 1928 – 20 November 2024) was a German neo-Nazi activist from Vlotho. Since 2004, she had been the subject of multiple lawsuits and convictions for Holocaust denial, which is a criminal ...
as its top candidate.
In 2023, the Dortmund section, which had several municipal advisors, joined The Homeland
''The Homeland'' is an album by Chicago-based rocker Bobby Conn and his backing band, the Glass Gypsies released on January 20, 2004, on Thrill Jockey records. It is noteworthy for taking a more openly political approach than any of Conn's prev ...
, considerably weakening Die Rechte. The party announced its dissolution in 2025.
Election results
Federal Parliament (''Bundestag'')
European Parliament
References
{{Authority control
2012 establishments in Germany
Eurosceptic parties in Germany
Neo-Nazi political parties in Germany
Political parties established in 2012
Political parties disestablished in 2025
Anti-immigration politics in Germany