German Right Party

The German Right Party (German: Deutsche Rechtspartei, DRP) was a far-right political party that emerged in the British zone of Allied-occupied Germany after the Second World War. Also known as the Deutsche Konservative Partei – Deutsche Rechtspartei (the party used both names, varying the name used between different states, but had no direct links to the pre-World War I German Conservative Party), the initially national-conservative and monarchist party formed in June 1946 through a merger of three smaller groups – the Deutsche Konservative Partei, the Deutsche Aufbaupartei of the Völkisch politician Reinhold Wulle, and the Deutsche Bauern- und Landvolk Partei. Its manifesto was in large parts authored by Hans Zehrer (1899–1966). Originally intended as a continuation of the Weimar-era German National People's Party (DNVP) of 1918–1933, the DRP soon attracted a number of former Nazis and its programme changed towards a more neo-Nazi stance, while many moderate members left to join the German Party (DP). Ahead of the 1949 federal elections to the first Bundestag, the party attempted a fusion with DP and the Hessian Nationaldemokratische Partei (not to be confused with the current party of the same name, formed in 1964), but the British administration responded that they would refuse to grant a license to such a party, so the party instead merged with the Gemeinschaft unabhängiger Deutscher ("Association of Independent Germans", GuD) which members included former Nazis like Fritz Dorls, Gerhard Krüger and Fritz Rössler (alias Dr. Franz Richter), who became notorious for his radical positions. At the federal elections at the time, the 5% hurdle applied only to the states, not nationwide – in Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg and NRW the party remained under 2%, but in Lower Saxony, it received 8.1% of the vote, which entitled it to five seats; its deputies were Dorls, Rössler/Richter, Adolf von Thadden,...