The National Democratic Party (''Nationaldemokratische Partei'', NDP) was a

far-right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on the far end of the ...

political party in

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

from 1967 until 1988 when its status was revoked for violating the country's anti-Nazi legislation.

Party history

The NDP was registered as an association in 1966 in

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; ) is the capital of Tyrol (federal state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the Wipptal, Wipp Valley, which provides access to the ...

. Its first meeting as a national organisation took place in February 1967 in

Linz Linz (Pronunciation: , ; ) is the capital of Upper Austria and List of cities and towns in Austria, third-largest city in Austria. Located on the river Danube, the city is in the far north of Austria, south of the border with the Czech Repub ...

. The party was founded by

Norbert Burger Norbert is a Germanic given name and infrequent surname, from ''north, nord'' "north" and ''berht'' "bright". People with the given name Academia * Norbert Angermann (born 1936), German historian * Norbert A’Campo (born 1941), Swiss mathematici ...

, former chairman of the ''Ring Freiheitlicher Studenten'', the student wing of the

Freedom Party of Austria The Freedom Party of Austria (, FPÖ) is a political party in Austria, variously described as far-right, right-wing populist, national-conservative, and Eurosceptic. It has been led by Herbert Kickl since 2021. It is the largest of five part ...

(FPÖ). Burger remained the key figure in the NDP until its dissolution. Further members included Herbert Fritz, and a number of "

South Tyrol South Tyrol ( , ; ; ), officially the Autonomous Province of Bolzano – South Tyrol, is an autonomous administrative division, autonomous provinces of Italy, province in northern Italy. Together with Trentino, South Tyrol forms the autonomo ...

activists" (''Befreiungsausschuss Südtirol''). The Austrian NDP was based on the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

sister party, the

National Democratic Party of Germany National Democratic Party of Germany (, NPD), officially called The Homeland () since 2023, is a Far-right politics, far-right, Neo-Nazism, neo-Nazi and Ultranationalism, ultranationalist political party in Germany. It was founded in 1964 as ...

. Its first chairman was student Rudolf Watschinger. The party ran in the 1970 legislative election, receiving 2,631 (0.1%) of the votes cast. It advocated the ''

Anschluss The (, or , ), also known as the (, ), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into Nazi Germany on 12 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a "German Question, Greater Germany") arose after t ...

'' of Austria into Germany and the re-introduction of the

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...

. It also agitated against "superalienation" and "infiltration" by foreign workers (''

Gastarbeiter ; ; both singular and plural) are foreign or migrant workers, particularly those who had moved to West Germany between 1955 and 1973, seeking work as part of a formal guest worker program (). As a result, guestworkers are generally considered t ...

''). Burger ran in the 1980 presidential election "for a German Austria", gaining 140,741 votes (3.2%). Two years later he and Gerd Honsik initiated a petition for a referendum "against superalienation", which however was not achieved.

Disbandment and prohibition

On 25 June 1988 the NDP was banned by a verdict of the

Constitutional Court of Austria The Constitutional Court ( or ) in Austria is the tribunal responsible for judicial review. It verifies the constitutionality of statutes, the legality of ordinances and other secondary legislation, and the constitutionality of decisions of ...

on the basis of the

Verbotsgesetz 1947 The Verbotsgesetz 1947 (Prohibition Act 1947), abbreviated VerbotsG, is an Austrian constitutional law originally passed on 8 May 1945 ( Victory in Europe Day) and amended multiple times, most significantly in February 1947 and in 1992. It banned ...

and Article 9 of the

Austrian State Treaty The Austrian State Treaty ( ) or Austrian Independence Treaty established Austria as a sovereign state. It was signed on 15 May 1955 in Vienna, at the Schloss Belvedere among the Allied occupying powers (France, the United Kingdom, the Uni ...

(''Disbandment of Nazi Organisations''), revoking its legal capacity as a political party. In its explanatory statement the court determined that the NDP's "key principles and demands" are based on "biological-racist ideology ("Volksbegriff")" and also that its "pan-German Propaganda" is in agreement with the main goals of the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...

. As an association the NDP was disbanded on 21 November 1988.

Bibliography

DÖW The Documentation Centre of Austrian Resistance (DÖW) was established in 1963. Its main topics deal with research concerning resistance and persecution from 1938 until 1945, exile, Nazi crimes, right-wing extremism after 1945, and victims' repar ...

(Hg.): ''Handbuch des österreichischen Rechtsextremismus'', Deuticke, Wien 1993 (2. Auflage),

External links

VfGH-Erkenntnis B999/87
{{DEFAULTSORT:National Democratic Party (Austria, 1967-88) Defunct political parties in Austria Banned far-right parties Far-right political parties in Austria German nationalist political parties Nationalist parties in Austria Neo-Nazism in Austria German nationalism in Austria 1967 establishments in Austria 1988 disestablishments in Austria Political parties established in 1967 Political parties disestablished in 1988 Freedom Party of Austria breakaway groups