The German People's Union (, DVU, also ''Liste D'') was a
far-right nationalist
Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, 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. In 2011, it merged with the
National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD).
The party never reached the five-percent minimum in
federal elections that is generally necessary to enter the
Bundestag
The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet (assembly), Diet") is the lower house of the Germany, German Federalism in Germany, federal parliament. It is the only constitutional body of the federation directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag wa ...
. The DVU won seats in several state parliaments.
The party, throughout its history, was financially completely dependent on Frey, something that caused it to be dubbed "Frey's Party".
History
The DVU was formed as an association, not a party, by Gerhard Frey and twelve others, former members of other right-wing organisations or conservative parties as well as from various groups in the
Federation of Expellees. In the early years, before the organisation became a party in 1987, it was predominantly active in propagating
revisionist views about the Holocaust and Germany's role in
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, predominately through Frey's media empire and his ''
National Zeitung.
With the decline of the
far-right National Democratic Party of Germany, the NPD, from 1969 onward, the German People's Union became a new home for many former supporters of this party. The DVU, however, stayed away from party politics and instead organised protest marches against the German government's ''
Ostpolitik'', the rapprochement with Poland and Eastern Europe. It formed a number of action committees:
*''Volksbewegung für Generalamnestie'' (1979) – People's Movement for General Amnesty
*''Initiative für Ausländerbegrenzung'' (1980) – Initiative for the limitation of foreigners
*''Aktion deutsches Radio und Fernsehen'' (1981) – German action for radio and television
*''Ehrenbund Rudel - Gemeinschaft zum Schutz der Frontsoldaten'' (1983) – Honour federation Rudel – Community for the protection of the front soldiers (named after
Hans-Ulrich Rudel and established during a memorial service after the latter's death)
*''Deutschen Schutzbund für Volk und Kultur'' – German Protective Association for People and Culture
*''Aktion Oder-Neiße'' - Action Oder-Neisse

Membership in the DVU fluctuated in the following years but stood at 12,000 by 1986, making it the largest registered far-right organisation in Germany at the time. On 5 March 1987, the association became a party with the help of a large number of former NPD officials, something Frey had started planning the year before. Initially the party was called ''Deutsche Volksliste'', which soon changed to ''Deutsche Volksunion-Liste D'' and, in 1991, just ''Deutsche Volksunion''.
Frey's official reason for forming a party at the time was his disappointment with the German conservative-liberal Federal Government in regards to foreigners, security and policy towards East Germany. The new party formed an alliance with the NPD, generally agreeing not to compete with each other in elections. The DVU was financially well-off, courtesy of Frey's personal wealth, but lacked election expertise, while the NPD had the latter but was financially weak.
In September 1987, the DVU became the first far-right party in Germany in 20 years to win a seat in a state parliament when it entered the
Parliament of Bremen, courtesy to winning 5.4 percent of the votes in
Bremerhaven
Bremerhaven (; ) is a city on the east bank of the Weser estuary in northern Germany. It forms an exclave of the Bremen (state), city-state of Bremen. The Geeste (river), River Geeste flows through the city before emptying into the Weser.
Brem ...
. Despite missing the five percent cut off in Bremen overall, gaining only 3.41 percent of the vote in the city-state, the special provisions in Bremen allowed for a party to enter parliament if it passed the five percent mark in one of the two parts of the state.
Frey had spent more money on the Bremen campaign than the major party in the state combined and benefited from targeting protest voters.
Karl Heinz Sendbühler, a high-ranking member of the NPD, stated in 1989 that, with Frey's money, the charisma of
Franz Schönhuber, leader of
The Republicans at the time, and the NPD organisation, no German parliament would be safe from such an alliance. However, the personal dislike between Schönhuber and Frey made such an alliance impossible, with Frey accusing Schönhuber of being in league with the German conservatives while the latter called Frey a trader of
devotional articles.

Frey continued to spend heavily on elections, investing
DM 17 million on the
1989 European Parliament election, but winning only 1.6 percent of the votes in Germany, compared to 7.1 percent for their right-wing competitors, The Republicans (REP). Despite this financial and political defeat, the DVU expanded its membership to 25,000 by 1989, and won six seats in the Parliament of Bremen in 1991, becoming the third-largest party there. In the following year it won 6.3 percent in the state elections in
Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein (; ; ; ; ; occasionally in English ''Sleswick-Holsatia'') is the Northern Germany, northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical Duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of S ...
but failed to win seats in the
Hamburg
Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...
state election in September 1993, where competition between the DVU and REP kept both out of parliament.
By 1994, the DVU was in a financially difficult situation while also experiencing a breakdown of relations with the NPD. A short-term alliance with the REP did not last and it was unable to compete in elections for a time. The DVU membership declined and it lost its seats in the Bremen election of 1995, despite spending DM 2 million on the campaign. After losing its seats in Schleswig-Holstein the following year it achieved a better result in Hamburg in 1997, gaining 4,97 percent of the votes, just 190 votes short of earning seats in the state parliament.
Frey attempted to form alliances with the other two major far-right and right-wing parties in Germany but was rebuffed by the REP as being too extremist and by the NPD as being too moderate and business-orientated. In 1998 the DVU achieved its greatest election success, winning 12.8 percent, 16 seats, in Saxony-Anhalt, and a quarter of all votes of the young voters aged 18 to 25. However, by the following year, the DVU fraction was split by infighting and a number of the party's members of parliament left the DVU.
The final years of the party saw it lose a substantial number of members and the aging of the remainder.
By the time of its merger with the NPD in 2010 the party had just 3,000 members, half the number the NPD had.
In 2004, the DVU entered a non-competition agreement with the NPD for the state elections in
Brandenburg
Brandenburg, officially the State of Brandenburg, is a States of Germany, state in northeastern Germany. Brandenburg borders Poland and the states of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony. It is the List of Ger ...
and
Saxony
Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...
. Both parties passed the five-percent threshold in their respective states. The DVU reached 6.1 percent in the
Brandenburg state elections, and the NPD won 9.2 percent in the
Saxony state elections. After this relatively successful election, the parties formed an
electoral alliance
An electoral alliance (also known as a bipartisan electoral agreement, electoral pact, electoral agreement, electoral coalition or electoral bloc) is an association of political parties or individuals that exists solely to stand in elections.
E ...
for the
2005 federal elections. The joint NPD-DVU slate, which ran under the NPD's ballot line, won 1.6 percent of the total votes nationally.
In 2009, party founder Frey did not run for reelection as chairman and was replaced by
Matthias Faust. In 2010, a referendum of party members approved a merger of the DVU and the NPD. Several state sections of the DVU objected to the merger and achieved a
preliminary injunction
An injunction is an equitable remedy in the form of a special court order compelling a party to do or refrain from doing certain acts. It was developed by the English courts of equity but its origins go back to Roman law and the equitable reme ...
from the
Landgericht Munich based on irregularities during the referendum.
On May 26, 2012, these objections were withdrawn and the DVU was declared defunct. Several branches and individuals objected to the perceived links between the NPD and
Nazism
Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was fre ...
and instead joined with the smaller party
the Republicans, who were considered more moderate. This was especially true in North Rhine Westphalia and Bavaria, where the Republicans were traditionally strongest. Some other individuals formed a new party called
Die Rechte (meaning "the Right").
Assessment
The party was, from the start, under observation by the German
Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution,
who declared the party's policies to be in violation of the German constitution.
The DVU was classified as xenophobic, nationalistic, historical revisionist and as a protest party against the alleged failure of the mainstream political parties.
DVU candidates in state elections rarely made appearances, remaining in the background.
Instead of election rallies, the party invested in posters and flyers, targeting
protest vote
A protest vote (also called a blank, null, spoiled, or "none of the above" vote) is a vote cast in an election to demonstrate dissatisfaction with the choice of candidates or the current political system. Protest voting takes a variety of forms ...
rs. Candidates for state elections were hand-picked by Frey after private interviews, and not elected by the party.
Because of Frey's authoritarian leadership, the DVU was often dubbed the "Frey Party" and its financial dependence on Frey ensured that independent party activities were impossible. DVU fractions in state parliaments soon fractured because of Frey's overreaching control and the party soon folded after Frey stepped down in 2009.
''
The Irish Times
''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...
'', after the party's success in the 1998 Saxony-Anhalt state elections, described the DVU as "less a political party than the dangerous plaything of a millionaire", without any real party structure. At the time, Frey's personal fortune was estimated to be in excess of DM 500 million.
Election results
Federal Parliament (''Bundestag'')
European Parliament
References
Bibliography
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{{Authority control
Defunct political parties in Germany
Far-right political parties in Germany
Political parties established in 1971
Political parties disestablished in 2011
Right-wing populism in Germany
German nationalist political parties
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1971 establishments in West Germany
2011 disestablishments in Germany
Euronat members
Right-wing parties in Europe
Defunct conservative parties
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National conservative parties
Right-wing populist parties
Conservative parties in Germany