The German Party (german: Deutsche Partei, DP) is a minor

national conservative National conservatism is a nationalist variant of conservatism that concentrates on upholding national and cultural identity. National conservatives usually combine nationalism with conservative stances promoting traditional cultural values, f ...

German political party. It sees itself as the successor of the defunct conservative

German-Hanoverian Party The German-Hanoverian Party (german: Deutsch-Hannoversche Partei, DHP), also known as the Guelph Party (german: Welfenpartei), was a conservative, federalist political party in the German Empire and the Weimar Republic. History The party was fou ...

and the German Party established in 1947, which until 1961 was represented in 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 ...

parliament.

History

The defunct German Party had continued to exist as an association, but it was re-founded as a political party at

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel and the district of the same name and had 201,048 inhabitants in December 2020 ...

in May 1993 and has since worked with other

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 ...

parties such as the

national liberal National liberalism is a variant of liberalism, combining liberal policies and issues with elements of nationalism. Historically, national liberalism has also been used in the same meaning as conservative liberalism (right-liberalism). A seri ...

''Bund freier Bürger'' (BFB). The new party was led by Johannes Freiherr von Campenhausen until 2001 when the former FDP and BFB politician Heiner Kappel took his place. Upon the 2003 merger with the ''Freiheitliche Deutsche Volkspartei'' (FDVP), a

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 ...

splinter group of the

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) in the state of

Saxony-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt (german: Sachsen-Anhalt ; nds, Sassen-Anholt) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.18 million inhabitants, making it the ...

, it adopted the name affix ''Die Freiheitlichen'' referring to the

Freedom Party of Austria The Freedom Party of Austria (german: Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs, FPÖ) is a right-wing populist and national-conservative political party in Austria. It was led by Norbert Hofer from September 2019 to 1 June 2021.Staff (1 June 2021"Aus ...

and changed its course towards a more radical stance. Kappel was deposed in January 2005 after attempting to agree an alliance with the national conservative Republicans and the German Social Union, even though the membership had supported working with the far-right DVU and the National Democratic Party (NPD). A joint leadership of Eberhard Lehmann, Claudia Wiechmann (former chair of the FDVP) and Ulrich Paetzold took over and demanded Kappel's exclusion, later Lehmann was sidelined in favour of a joint leadership. Kappel successfully filed a lawsuit against the new executive committee, but has not further interfered with the DP policies. The party has been investigated by the state's Offices for the Protection of the Constitution in

Thuringia Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million. Erfurt is the capital and larg ...

and

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 ...

as possibly extreme right, with the conclusion made that contacts exist. A party convention in July 2007 elected Alfred Kuhlemann chairman and by resolution condemned the coup against Kappel. As of 2007, the party is no longer monitored by the intelligence service. The DP currently defines itself as a conservative party. It produces a monthly newspaper, the ''Deutschland-Post''. Some members have left to join the Republicans whilst co-operate with the far-right NPD.

Results

The party has concentrated its efforts to achieve seats in the

Landtag A Landtag (State Diet) is generally the legislative assembly or parliament of a federated state or other subnational self-governing entity in German-speaking nations. It is usually a unicameral assembly exercising legislative competence in non- ...

e parliaments of

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 ...

and

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

, though to no avail. It currently has no representation at any major level, having only a small number of local seats in

External links

Party website
Conservative parties in Germany German nationalist political parties National conservative parties Nationalist parties in Germany Organisations based in Lower Saxony Political parties established in 1993 Right-wing populist parties 1993 establishments in Germany

History

Results

See also

External links