Freebund

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The Freibund is a German youth association with around one hundred young and two hundred and fifty adult members, which is part of the New Right .

Program

Statements on the program of the Freibund can be found in the “Freiburg Declaration” from 2005, the only published programmatic document of the organization. After an abbreviated presentation of the history of the organization, the goals are presented in three sections: “People and nature”, “People and culture”, “Freedom and bond”. According to Baumgärtner, these are based on "internalized, ethnic and ethno-pluralistic concepts of society". In line with its turn to forms of youth movement , the Freedom League refers to the Bündische Jugend and the Meißner formula of 1913.

Essential elements of the work are the implementation of tent camps and hiking trips, regular group lessons, solstice celebrations , lecture events and the "maintenance of customs", in particular the maintenance of folk songs and folk dance . Reports on these events and comments on political issues are published in the association's magazine “Naklar!”, Which is published four times a year.

history

In Germany in 1957 in Franconia and in other regions in 1958, several regionally restricted organizations were founded under the name Bund Heimattreuer Jugend (BHJ), which were based on the example of the Austrian Bund Heimattreuer Jugend , which was banned in 1961 because of re-involvement in the Nazi regime . These regional leagues came together in Passau in 1960 to form a nationwide league of youth loyal to home , which grew rapidly. At the beginning of 1962 it comprised 49 local groups in the Federal Republic of Germany, in South Tyrol and in South Africa . At Pentecost 1962 this organization, which was not protected by association law, broke up due to internal conflicts into two factions, which both disbanded after a short time.

The Frankish residual groups of the first BHJ founded in September 1962 in Nuremberg a new covenant Heimattreuer youth e. V. in the expectation that the entry promised greater stability. The new association was joined by the remaining groups of the previous organization, from which it also took over membership in the Kameradschaftsring Nationaler Jugendverbände (KNJ). In 1962 the Federal Minister of the Interior prohibited the German BHJ from wearing uniforms .

Within the KNJ, the BHJ worked closely with the Wiking-Jugend and other nationalist associations, an essential joint program item was the implementation of the annual “Whitsun Camps of the National Youth”. After almost all member organizations of the KNJ had lost their importance from the mid-1960s, Wiking-Jugend and BHJ agreed on a cooperation in 1966, which included free double memberships. Both organizations jointly took on the sponsorship of the “Pentecost Camps of National Youth”.

At the beginning of the 1970s there was a dispute over the direction in the federal leadership of the BHJ between a wing close to the NPD and the Wiking Youth and a parliamentary group that was oriented towards the traditions of the Bundestag youth . The “Bundische” wing was able to prevail in this conflict in 1974 and initiated an internal renewal process, in the course of which, among other things, the cooperation with the Wiking youth was terminated and honorary memberships were revoked.

The reforms within the BHJ led to a significant loss of importance for the association; its membership was estimated at between 500 and 1000 in 1979, but collapsed to between 100 and 200 in the 1980s. At the same time the conflicts of direction within the BHJ persisted, in 1983 the "Leitstelle West" in North Rhine-Westphalia split off as a community of people loyal to the youth .

In 1990, the remnants of the right-wing extremist wing left the BHJ / Freibund and founded Die Heimattreue Jugend , from which the neo-Nazi Heimattreue Deutsche Jugend emerged in 2001 , which was mainly active in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Brandenburg . The HDJ quickly developed into the spiritual successor to the banned Wiking-Jugend and was banned as an anti-constitutional organization on March 30, 2009 by Federal Minister of the Interior Schäuble.

The renewal process of the BHJ was ended in 1990 when it was renamed Bund Heimattreuer Jugend - Der Freibund (later: Der Freibund - Bund Heimattreuer Jugend, today: Der Freibund); since 1990 only the term Der Freibund has been used in public .

Well-known members and speakers

In 1966 the BHJ appointed Hans-Ulrich Rudel , Stuka flyer and DRP member, and Konrad Windisch , founding personality of the BHJ Austria, honorary members, around 1970 Herbert Böhme was also offered honorary membership. In 1974 all honorary memberships were revoked as part of the association's realignment.

The former members of the BHJ include the Holocaust denier and lawyer Jürgen Rieger , the lawyer Gisa Pahl , who temporarily worked with Rieger , the terrorist Heinz Lembke , the former neo-Nazi and terrorist Odfried Hepp (left the BHJ in 1974 because of the association's reorientation), Sigrun von Schlichting , the chairwoman of the Armanen Order , the right-wing extremist publisher Uwe Berg and the neo-pagan songwriter Swantje Swanhwit (actually Iris-Katrin Fischer ), who was also active at the time the association was renamed.

Before the renaming to Der Freibund , the Holocaust denier David Irving in 1979 and the sociologist Werner Georg Haverbeck in 1985 gave lectures at events organized by the Federation of Heimattreuer Jugend . Karlheinz Weißmann , one of the founders of the Institute for State Policy , was a speaker at an event in 2007 of the Freibund.

criticism

Critics accuse the Freibund of continuing to represent right-wing extremist positions despite the official departure from right-wing extremism in the 1980s. So Stefan von Hoyningen-Huene sees in this process only a turn to the New Right , which is also evident from an interview with Alain de Benoist in the association magazine Naklar! or by switching from the Odal rune to a black flag as a federal symbol. Others point to the lack of reappraisal of their own history, the strong emphasis on the terms home , people and nation in work and repeated visits to events in recent years in which right-wing extremists and organizations such as the Sturmvogel or the Heimattreue Deutsche Jugend have taken part were. The accusation of legal bias was also made by the journalist Andrea Röpke .

In 2003, the Freibund declared in its magazine Naklar! :

“Despite all the differences between today's free alliance and the youth loyal to home federation of the 60s and 70s, the basic principles have remained the same: self-education (youth leads youth!), Commitment to our identity as Germans, commitment to our people and to the diversity of peoples, European sentiment . "

Assessment of the constitution protection authorities

Since it was founded in 1958, the Federation of Heimattreuer Jugend has been observed by the authorities for the protection of the constitution and mentioned in the federal reports on the protection of the constitution until 1986. In the answer of October 10, 1994 to a small question from MP Ulla Jelpke and the group of the PDS / Linke Liste, the federal government announced that the Freedom Federation was not classified as right-wing extremist at that time. On September 30, 2008, the federal government replied to another small request from the party Die Linke in the German Bundestag that no current information was available on the free alliance.

Since 2002 the association has been mentioned under the names "Bund Heimattreuer Jugend" and "Bund Heimattreuer Jugend - Der Freibund" in connection with the Heimattreuer German youth in the reports on the protection of the Constitution of the federal states of Berlin and Brandenburg. In December 2007, when asked by the Freedom Federation, the Berlin authorities announced that the reports on the protection of the constitution from 2006 and earlier “do not contain any statement that the Freedom Federation is viewed as a right-wing extremist group.” It is not intended to be included in the 2007 report on the protection of the constitution in Berlin.

In January 2010, in response to a small question from MP Pia-Beate Zimmermann , the Lower Saxony state government announced that the free alliance was "known to the constitution protection authority [...]." Classification as an "object to be observed" was "currently" not justified on the basis of the available findings. However, "the Office for the Protection of the Constitution is following the development with great attention to check whether the line to anti-constitutional efforts has been exceeded."

literature

  • Maik Baumgärtner: The Freibund - Bund Heimattreuer Jugend e. V. In: Holidays in the Führerbunker . 2nd Edition. Educational Association Work and Life Lower Saxony East, Braunschweig 2008, ISBN 978-3-932082-32-0 , p. 152–159 ( excerpt ).
  • Maik Baumgärtner, Jesko Wrede: "Who wears the black flag there ..." Ethnic and new right groups in the waters of the Bündische Jugend today. Bildungsvereinigung Arbeit und Leben Niedersachsen Ost gGmbH, Braunschweig 2009, ISBN 978-3-932082-35-1 .
  • Rüdiger Schütte: We confess ... We believe ... We are ready ... 15 years of homely youth movement. Association of youth loyal to home, Braunschweig 1967.
  • Yury Winterberg: The rebel: Odfried Hepp - neo-Nazi, terrorist, dropout. Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 2004, ISBN 3-7857-2160-9 - biography with a detailed description of the BHJ around 1970.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Maik Baumgärtner: The free alliance - Bund Heimattreuer Jugend e. V. pp. 152-159.
  2. ↑ Freiburg Declaration. (pdf; 113 kB) The Freibund e. V., May 2005, archived from the original on October 10, 2007 ; Retrieved July 4, 2010 .
  3. ↑ State Office for the Protection of the Constitution of North Rhine-Westphalia (Ed.): Extremism reports from the Interior Ministry of North Rhine-Westphalia to the state parliament or state authorities 1963. (pdf; 178 kB) Interior Ministry of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, March 5, 2002, p. 22 , archived from the original on June 4, 2007 ; accessed on July 24, 2020 .
  4. ^ Ulrich Völklein: Right-wing extremism: "We went through hell" - conversations with young neo-Nazis. In: The time . March 14, 1979, archived from the original on March 11, 2016 ; accessed on July 24, 2020 .
  5. ↑ Klaus Bellmund, Kaarel Siniveer: Cults, leaders, figures of light: esotericism as a means of right-wing propaganda . Droemer Knaur, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-426-80085-3 , p. 301 . Rieger denied membership in the BHJ: Jürgen Rieger: At the beginning. In: juergen-rieger.de. Archived from the original on September 28, 2007 ; accessed on July 24, 2020 .
  6. ↑ Profile: Bund Heimattreuer Jugend (BHJ) - The Freedom Federation. In: apabiz.de . Retrieved July 24, 2020 (as of 1996).
  7. ↑ Julia Montalcino: The Gladio Nazi Connection: The trace of a Gladio weapons store leads to a Nazi terrorist. In: Zoom - magazine for politics and culture 4 + 5/1996. Vienna, 1996, archived from the original on October 11, 1999 ; accessed on July 24, 2020 . Terrorism: It's wolf time . In: Der Spiegel . No.
     46 , 1981, pp. 30-32 ( online ).
  8. ↑ Y. Winterberg: The rebel , passim
  9. ^ Stefanie von Schnurbein: New Germanic-pagan groups: Between New Age and right-wing extremism. (pdf; 620 kB) In: "New rights": What is behind it? Edited by Ulla Siebert, Hanni Haak. Information and Documentation Center for Anti-Racism Work , 2000, p. 26 , archived from the original on October 14, 2007 ; accessed on July 24, 2020 .
  10. ↑ Gabriele Nadlinger: The advertisers of the "Junge Freiheit" . In: The weekly newspaper "Junge Freiheit" . VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaft, Wiesbaden 2007, ISBN 978-3-531-15421-3 , p. 218 .
  11. ↑ Wartburg Festival 1997. (No longer available online.) In: antifaschistische-nachrichten.de. Formerly in the original ; Retrieved October 30, 2007 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.antifaschistische-nachrichten.de
  12. ^ David Irving, Holocaust Denial, and his Connections to Right Wing Extremists and Neo-National Socialism (Neo-Nazism) in Germany: Electronic Edition. Edited by Hajo Funke . In: hdot.org. Archived from the original on July 13, 2007 ; accessed on November 6, 2016 .
  13. ↑ Eckehard praise: The colder the winter, the higher the fires - Free Alliance: Karlheinz Weißmann recalls the icons of the youth movement / summer camp in East Prussia. In: Young Freedom . 28/07, July 6, 2007, archived from the original on August 10, 2009 ; accessed on November 6, 2016 .
  14. ↑ Stefan von Hoyningen-Huene: Religiosity in right-wing extremist youth . LIT Verlag, Münster 2003, ISBN 3-8258-6327-1 , p. 97 f .
  15. ↑ The Freedom Alliance. Ethnic wolf in sheepskin clothing. In: Antifaschistisches Infoblatt 59 , April 10, 2003, accessed on July 24, 2020 .
  16. ↑ Andrea Röpke : It's a girl thing! - Women in the neo-Nazi scene. Christoph Links Verlag, Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-86153-615-4 , p. 205 ( preview on Google Books ).
  17. ↑ o. T. In: Der Freibund e. V. (Ed.): Of course! No. 95 , April 2003, p. 13 .
  18. ↑ a b Drucksache 12/8565 - Answer of the federal government to the small question of the MP Ulla Jelpke and the group of the PDS / Linke Liste - Drucksache 12/8485 - Three-day meeting of European neo-fascist organizations in Diksmuide (Belgium). (pdf; 327 kB) German Bundestag , October 10, 1994, p. 6 , accessed on October 30, 2007 .
  19. ↑ Printed matter 16/10442 - Answer of the federal government to the small question of the members Ulla Jelpke, Sevim Dağdelen, Kersten Naumann, Petra Pau and the parliamentary group Die Linke. - Printed matter 16/10225 - Freibund / Bund Heimattreue Jugend e. V. (pdf; 55 kB) German Bundestag, September 30, 2008, p. 2 , accessed on October 8, 2008 .
  20. ^ Constitutional Protection Report Land Brandenburg 2002. (pdf; 36 MB) Ministry of the Interior of the State of Brandenburg, May 2003, p. 146 , accessed on October 30, 2007 .
  21. ↑ Constitutional Protection Report 2006. (pdf) (No longer available online.) Senate Department for Interior and Sport, 2007, p. 195 , formerly in the original ; Retrieved October 30, 2007 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.berlin.de
  22. ↑ Palenda: Verfassungsschutz reports 2006. Your letter of November 14, 2007. (pdf; 103 kB) Senate Department for Home Affairs and Sport, Dept. of the Protection of the Constitution, December 14, 2007, archived from the original on November 11, 2008 ; Retrieved on May 6, 2020 (reproduced on the website buendischejugend.de).
  23. ^ Shorthand record. (pdf; 2.1 MB) (No longer available online.) Lower Saxony state government, formerly in the original ; Retrieved February 9, 2010 (question 41).  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.landtag-niedersachsen.de