The German League for People and Homeland (german: Deutsche Liga für Volk und Heimat or ) is a far-right political organization in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

History

The DVLH had its origins in the power struggle within ''

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 Democr ...

'' between moderate leader

Franz Schönhuber 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 German party The Republicans. He was a membe ...

and his more extreme deputy Harald Neubauer, which culminated in Schönhuber being forced to temporarily resign in 1990.Mudde, ''The Ideology of the Extreme Right'', Manchester University Press, 2000, p. 34 However he soon gained the upper hand and, returning to the leadership, forced Neubauer out of the party and replaced him as vice-chairman with Rolf Schlierer. With Neubauer and a number of his followers purged, they regrouped in January 1991 under the banner of the ''Deutsche Allianz-Vereinigte Rechte'', before adopting the DVLH sobriquet later that same year. The new group had the declared aim of uniting the many factions on the far-right under a single banner and initially had some success, attracting three Republikaner MEPs ( Johanna Grund, Peter Köhler and Hans-Günther Schodruch) and the support of the influential ''

Nation 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 ...

'' journal. Neubauer, Rudolf Kendzia and

Jürgen Schützinger Jürgen or Jurgen is a popular masculine given name in Germany, Estonia, Belgium and the Netherlands. It is cognate with George. Notable people named Jürgen include: A * Jürgen Ahrend (born 1930), German organ builder *Jürgen Alzen (born 1 ...

were part of a three-man leadership team. Although former NPD chiefs

Martin Mussgnug Martin Mussgnug (22 February 1936 – 2 February 1997) was a German politician and leader of the National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD) from 1971 to 1991. Life Mussgnug was born in Heidelberg. He first came to prominence in 1956 when he set up ...

and

Franz Glasauer Franz may refer to: People * Franz (given name) * Franz (surname) Places * Franz (crater), a lunar crater * Franz, Ontario, a railway junction and unorganized town in Canada * Franz Lake, in the state of Washington, United States – see ...

were also given leading roles the new group made little impression in the state elections of 1992, the first in which it ran candidates.Veen, Lepszy & Minch, ''The Republikaner party in Germany'', p. 27 It gained its first political representation that same year when a

German People's Union The German People's Union (german: Deutsche Volksunion, DVU, also ''Liste D'') was a political party in Germany. It was founded by publisher Gerhard Frey as an informal association in 1971 and established as a party in 1987. Financially, it was l ...

(DVU) member of the

Free Hanseatic City of Bremen Bremen (), officially the Free Hanseatic League#Lists of former Hansa cities, Hanseatic City of Bremen (german: Freie Hansestadt Bremen; nds, Free Hansestadt Bremen), is the smallest and least populous of States of Germany, Germany's 16 states. ...

state legislature joined the party. During the 1990s other DVU members in

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; da, Slesvig-Holsten; nds, Sleswig-Holsteen; frr, Slaswik-Holstiinj) is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Sc ...

also joined the party, although the process went into decline from 1995 as they returned to the DVU. In the 1996 election the party captured only 0.2% of the Schleswig-Holstein vote, underlining their decline in the area. As a result, the group ceased to organise as a political party in 1997, continuing as a political association. Despite this, they ran in local elections in 2004, capturing 6.2% of the vote and two seats in Villingen-Schwenningen.

References

Far-right political parties in Germany German nationalist political parties Political parties established in 1991 1991 establishments in Germany {{Germany-org-stub