Franz Handlos (born 9 December 1939 in Rusel,

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

, died 10 June 2013) was a German

right-wing Right-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position on the basis of natural law, economics, authorit ...

politician. Handlos first came to prominence as member of the

Christian Social Union of Bavaria The Christian Social Union in Bavaria (German language, German: , CSU) is a Christian democracy, Christian-democratic and Conservatism in Germany, conservative List of political parties in Germany, political party in Germany. Having a regionalis ...

(CSU), serving the party in both the

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 Commons ...

, where he represented Deggendorf, and the Landtag of Bavaria. Handlos, along with

Ekkehard Voigt Ekkehard (and Eckardt, Eckard, Eckart, Eckhardt, Ekkehart) is a German given name. It is composed of the elements ''ekke'' "edge, blade; sword" and ''hart'' "brave; hardy". Variant forms include Eckard, Eckhard, Eckhart, Eckart. The Anglo-Saxon fo ...

, represented the right of the party within the Bavarian CSU, with both men staunch critics of the leadership of

Franz Josef Strauss Franz Josef Strauss ( ; 6 September 1915 – 3 October 1988) was a German politician. He was the long-time chairman of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU) from 1961 until 1988, member of the federal cabinet in different positions between ...

. Handlos broke from the CSU in 1983 when Strauss agreed to accepting a major bank loan from

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

, a move Handlos saw as accepting partition and helping to stabilise the

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

state. As a result of the split Handlos and Voigt joined with well-known political commentator and former CSU activist Franz Schönhuber to form their own party,

Die Republikaner The Republicans (german: Die Republikaner, REP) is a national conservative political party in Germany. The primary plank of the programme is opposition to immigration. The party tends to attract protest voters who think that the Christian Democra ...

(REP) in 1983, with Handlos as the leader. Handlos saw the party as only slightly to the right of the CSU and aimed to REP as a basis to build a ''bundesweite'' (federal) version of the CSU, rather than simply concentrating on Bavaria. Cas Mudde, ''Ideology of the Extreme Right'', 2002, p. 31 This view was not shared by Schönhuber, who had a more

right-wing populist Right-wing populism, also called national populism and right-wing nationalism, is a political ideology that combines right-wing politics and populist rhetoric and themes. Its rhetoric employs anti-elitist sentiments, opposition to the Establi ...

outlook and was inspired by the success of the

French National Front The National Rally (french: Rassemblement National, ; RN), until 2018 known as the National Front (french: link=no, Front National, ; FN), is a far-rightAbridged list of reliable sources that refer to National Rally as far-right: Academic: * ...

. A bitter struggle for power ensued, with the radical wing winning out and in 1985 Handlos stood down as leader of the party and resigned his membership. Handlos formed his own ''Freiheitlichen Volkspartei'' and this group contested the 1986 Bavarian Landtag elections. However the new party gained only 0.4% of the vote, leaving Handlos on the fringes.Andreas Schulze, ''Kleinparteien in Deutschland'', 2004, p. 104

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Handlos, Franz 1939 births 2013 deaths The Republicans (Germany) politicians Members of the Bundestag for Bavaria Leaders of political parties in Germany Members of the Landtag of Bavaria Members of the Bundestag for the Christian Social Union in Bavaria