Franz Xaver Schönhuber (10 January 1923 – 27 November 2005) was a German
right-wing extremist
journalist, politician, and author. He gained fame as a founder and eventual chairman of the
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 ...
German party
The Republicans.
He was a member of the
Waffen-SS
The (, "Armed SS") was the combat branch of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscripts from both occup ...
during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.
Career
Schönhuber attended
Gymnasium in Munich and gained his
Abitur
''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...
in 1942. As a nineteen-year-old he was a member of the
Hitler Youth
The Hitler Youth (german: Hitlerjugend , often abbreviated as HJ, ) was the youth organisation of the Nazi Party in Germany. Its origins date back to 1922 and it received the name ("Hitler Youth, League of German Worker Youth") in July 1926. ...
and a member of the
Nazi Party
The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...
. He voluntarily joined the
Waffen-SS
The (, "Armed SS") was the combat branch of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscripts from both occup ...
and was deployed at the front. He has claimed to have been an instructor and translator for the
French ''Charlemagne'' brigade. As a SS-''
Unterscharführer
''Unterscharführer'' (, ) was a paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party used by the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) between 1934 and 1945. The SS rank was created after the Night of the Long Knives. That event caused an SS reorganisation and the creation o ...
'', he gained a second class
Iron Cross
The Iron Cross (german: link=no, Eisernes Kreuz, , abbreviated EK) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, and later in the German Empire (1871–1918) and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). King Frederick William III of Prussia est ...
.
After the war during the
denazification
Denazification (german: link=yes, Entnazifizierung) was an Allied initiative to rid German and Austrian society, culture, press, economy, judiciary, and politics of the Nazi ideology following the Second World War. It was carried out by remov ...
process, the Allies classified him as a key participant. He then began a career as a journalist and wrote for several established newspapers including the ''
Münchner Abendzeitung'' and the ''
Deutsche Woche''. He was also chief editor for
tz. At the same time, he hosted television programs for the
Bayerischer Rundfunk
Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR; "Bavarian Broadcasting") is a public-service radio and television broadcaster, based in Munich, capital city of the Free State of Bavaria in Germany. BR is a member organization of the ARD consortium of public broadcas ...
, first ''
Gute Fahrt'' and later ''
Jetzt red' i''. In 1975 he was the division leader of Bayerischer Rundfunk in the area of "Bavaria Information".
From 1975 to 1981 he was chairman of the
Bayerischer Journalisten-Verband (Bavarian Journalist Union) and member of the
Deutscher Presserat. His career was hit when in 1981 he published his autobiography ''Ich war dabei'' (I was there). He was accused of minimizing the grave crimes of
National Socialism
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hit ...
, although within a lawsuit he also won a determination that the book did not represent an identification with the Nazi regime. He was forced off his program and from the chairmanship of the Bayerischen Journalisten-Verband.
Political career
Together with former CSU deputies
Franz Handlos and
Ekkehard Voigt, Schönhuber founded the
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 Establ ...
party
"Die Republikaner" (The Republicans) in 1983 and became its acting chairman. In the 1980s, the party had substantial successes in the state and European elections. From 1989 to 1994, he was a deputy in the European Parliament. However, deteriorating results led to internal conflicts, and Schönhuber criticized several members of the party, including
Harald Neubauer
Harald Neubauer (born 3 December 1951 in Hamburg) is a German politician and journalist from the far right scene. He was a Member of the European Parliament from 1989 to 1994.
Neubauer was trained as an overseas buyer and undertook military serv ...
, for having had associations with the
National Democratic Party (NPD), which was deemed to be at the same time too "
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
-like" and too "leftist", in that it proposed major socialist popular reform plans not shared by Schönhuber's more bourgeois-nationalist and more conservative Republicans. Later on, Schönhuber would take back his harsh criticism of the NPD and its primary politicians. Schönhuber was forced to give up his post as party chairman on 25 May 1990.
With the help of his many supporters, he was made Bundesvorsitzender in 1990, but was again unseated four years later because of contacts with DVU-chairman
Gerhard Frey
Gerhard Frey (; born 1 June 1944) is a German mathematician, known for his work in number theory. Following an original idea of Hellegouarch, he developed the notion of Frey–Hellegouarch curves, a construction of an elliptic curve from a pur ...
.
In 1998, he was a candidate for the
German Bundestag
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
with the
Deutsche Volksunion. In 2001, together with
Horst Mahler
Horst Mahler (born 23 January 1936) is a German former lawyer and political activist. He once was a far-left militant and a founding member of the Red Army Faction who later became a Maoist, before switching to neo-Nazism. Between 2000 and 200 ...
, he published the book ''Schluss mit dem deutschen Selbsthass'' (An End To German Self-Hatred). He also wrote for the
Deutsche Nationalzeitung
The ''National-Zeitung'' (NZ, ''National Newspaper'') was a weekly, extreme right newspaper, published by Gerhard Frey, who also founded the far right Deutsche Volksunion (German People's Union) as an association in 1971, turning it into a politic ...
and the magazine ''
Nation und Europa
''Nation Europa'' (also called ''Nation und Europa'') was a far-right monthly magazine, published in Germany. It was founded in 1951 and was based in Coburg until its closure in 2009. It is also the name of the publishing house that developed th ...
''.
After the death of
Kerstin Lorenz in September 2005, the NPD made Schönhuber the direct candidate in the election district of Dresden I for the
German federal election in 2005. As a direct candidate, he received 2.42% of the votes.
Publications
*''Ich war dabei''
*''Freunde in der Not''
*''Macht''
*''Trotz allem Deutschland''
*''Die Türken''
*''In Acht und Bann''
*''Die verbogene Gesellschaft''
*''Le Pen - Der Rebell''
*''Woher? Wohin? Europas Patrioten''
*''Schluß mit deutschem Selbsthaß'' (together with
Horst Mahler
Horst Mahler (born 23 January 1936) is a German former lawyer and political activist. He once was a far-left militant and a founding member of the Red Army Faction who later became a Maoist, before switching to neo-Nazism. Between 2000 and 200 ...
)
*''Welche Chancen hat die Rechte?''
*''Der missbrauchte Patriotismus''
*''Die Volksverdummer - Persönliche Erfahrungen mit deutschen Medienleuten''
References
External links
Appearanceson
C-SPAN
Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American cable and satellite television network that was created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a nonprofit public service. It televises many proceedings of the United States ...
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schonhuber, Franz
1923 births
2005 deaths
People from Traunstein (district)
Leaders of political parties in Germany
The Republicans (Germany) politicians
SS non-commissioned officers
Waffen-SS personnel
Recipients of the Iron Cross (1939), 2nd class
German nationalists
Bayerischer Rundfunk people
Hitler Youth members
Nazi Party members
Politicians affected by a party expulsion process