Association of Free Citizens

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The Federation of Free Citizens ( BFB ; most recently: Bund Freier Bürger - Offensive für Deutschland. Die Freiheitlichen ) was a small German party initiated by Manfred Brunner that existed from 1994 to 2000. While she described herself as “liberal-conservative” and “ nationally liberal ”, scientists classify her as right-wing populist . It was based heavily on Jörg Haider's FPÖ . After its radicalization , it was listed in reports on the protection of the constitution from 1999 and classified as right-wing extremism .

history

The Federal Free Citizens Party (BFB) was founded on January 21, 1994 by 87 people in Wiesbaden . The initiator was the former FDP state chairman in Bavaria and parliamentary group leader in the Munich city council , Manfred Brunner . Brunner had been dismissed as an EU official (head of the internal market ) two years earlier because of his critical stance on the Maastricht Treaty . In 1993 he was a complainant before the Federal Constitutional Court , which in the Maastricht judgment found that the Maastricht Treaty was fundamentally compatible with the Basic Law on the condition that the principle of democracy was observed.

In February 1994, Wilfried Hofmann , the FDP member of the state parliament in Saxony-Anhalt , won a mandate. The collaboration between Brunner and Jörg Haider , however, led to internal conflicts early on, which led to the resignation of many members. The party then gave itself in February 1995 the suffix "Die Freiheitlichen". During this time, Professors Joachim Starbatty and Karl Albrecht Schachtschneider , who had represented Brunner before the BVerfG, resigned . In January 1998, the offensive for Germany, which emerged from a “right wing” of the FDP, was merged into the party by Heiner Kappel , member of the state parliament of Hesse . The Freedom "extended. The Young Freedom Party was founded in Munich on June 12, 1998 as a youth organization of the BFB .

The party founder Manfred Brunner left the party for a short time in February 1999 in the direction of the FDP because of increasing radicalization . In the meantime, the Berlin lawyer Markus Roscher has been elected provisional federal chairman by the federal board of the BFB. He too left the party a little later. At the following party congress in April 1999, Heiner Kappel was elected chairman. On August 15, 2000, the Federation of Free Citizens dissolved in Fulda .

The social scientist Alexander Häusler from the research focus on right-wing extremism / neo-Nazism regards the BFB as a kind of "right-wing forerunner party" of the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) founded in 2013 with "striking similarities", in particular in terms of personnel overlaps, the membership structure, social target groups, political orientation and content Demands and the tendency towards right-wing populist agitation.

elections

With the support of Jörg Haider and his Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), the BFB, chaired by Brunner, ran for the European elections on June 12, 1994 . He promised a “referendum against Maastricht and for the German mark”. There, however, it only reached 1.1 percent. In the state elections in Bavaria in 1994 , the party then won 0.5 percent. After the Bundestag election in 1994 , which was rejected due to organizational problems, the coming years were also characterized by failures. After great efforts, the BFB managed to get into two city parliaments in the local elections in Bavaria in 1996: Munich with 3.3 percent (two mandates, including Brunner) and Ingolstadt with 2.4 percent (one mandate). In the state elections in Hamburg in 1997 , despite financial resources and prominent advocates with the motto “Hamburg is voting out the euro!”, The party only managed to gain 1.3 percent. The result in the 1998 federal election was 0.2 percent and in the 1999 state election in Hesse was 0.4 percent. Joint lists with the parties The republicans and the Pro D-Mark initiative led by Bolko Hoffmann in the state elections in Thuringia in 1999 were also unsuccessful. A candidacy in the European elections in 1999 did not materialize.

program

The foundation theme of the Federation of Free Citizens was the decided criticism of the Maastricht Treaty and the impending introduction of the euro . The positions taken were for both economic and national reasons. In addition, the party tried to score with right-wing populist topics, in particular the fight against crime and immigration. Florian Hartleb draws parallels to the concept of the extreme right-wing Austrian FPÖ. The BFB was economically liberal on the one hand , and interested in law and order on the other . In addition, plebiscitary elements with a populist connotation were called for and strong criticism of the existing party structure in Germany (see also anti-establishment party). Initially, “elitist” and “intellectual” approaches were also clear, but these disappeared more and more with Brunner's departure from the party.

Before the Bundestag election in 1998, Kappel wrote an “ open letter ” on behalf of the party to Ignatz Bubis , then chairman of the Central Council of Jews in Germany , in which he objected to the erection of a Holocaust memorial . He also spoke of an alleged “commercialization” and “political instrumentalization” of Jewish fate in Germany. Anti-Semitism research sees the protest under the motto “Germans want to pay forever” in the context of a “political anti-Semitism of the extreme right”. From 1999 the party appeared repeatedly in reports for the protection of the constitution, for example from the Ministry of the Interior in North Rhine-Westphalia, because of its contacts with right-wing extremism . As early as 1994, observers spoke of a program based on the right-wing extremist parties The Republicans and the German People's Union with racist elements in immigration policy. There were also contacts with right-wing extremists and the new -right milieu, according to the relevant literature. Right-wing extremism researcher Bernd Wagner counts the BFB as part of the right-wing extremist party family by the end of the 1990s at the latest.

Members / finances

Due to the functionary structure in the founding years, the BFB was initially considered a kind of "professors' party". The admission and membership fee was correspondingly high, namely a one-off 250 DM (West) / 125 DM (East) and a regular 25 DM. By 1994 around 400 people joined the party, later it reached a high of between 1300 and 2000 members. The vast majority of members were academics, especially men between the ages of 45 and 60. Bavaria , Hamburg and Hesse were regarded as so-called “strongholds” , even though the party had broad structural problems throughout its life.

The publicist Bruno Bandulet , himself a member, was the publisher of Democracy and Market Economy - DM Information Service for the Federation of Free Citizens and editor-in-chief of the Deutschland Brief - Arguments & Facts for Free Citizens published by Brunner .

In addition to the contributions, the party financed itself through party donations from wealthy entrepreneurs. The lack of state funding for the party due to the poor election results led to high levels of debt for the party. In 2003, Brunner, former party chairman, was sentenced to a suspended sentence for tax evasion .

In the beginning, alongside many non-party members, the BFB was supported by former members of the CDU and FDP. The populism researchers Frank Decker and Florian Hartleb rated the regular decline of right-wing populist parties in Germany such as the BFB as follows: “Even moderate representatives of right-wing populism are not immune to being infiltrated by right-wing extremist people and groups who step out of political isolation in this way want."

Constitutional Protection Reports

In the North Rhine-Westphalian Constitutional Protection Report from 1999, the BFB reports on the “portrayal of foreigners as a threat to Western civilization” . In both the 1999 and 2000 reports, the party is assigned to the right-wing extremist spectrum. In 2003 the Lower Saxony Office for the Protection of the Constitution determined that the party had "increasingly contained right-wing extremist elements" since 1998 and was attracting attention through agitation against foreigners ("flood of foreigners") . In the 2003 report on the Protection of the Constitution, the Brandenburg Office for the Protection of the Constitution included the BFB among the national liberal groups. In the report on the protection of the Constitution of Saxony-Anhalt from the same year, it was stated in the report on the German party that it had “acquired a certain reputation within the right-wing extremist spectrum of parties” through the merger with the potential of the BFB, which was then dissolved . Heiner Kappel was elected chairman of the German party.

Members (selection)

literature

  • Frank Decker : About the failure of the new right-wing populism in Germany. Republicans, Statt Party, and the Federation of Free Citizens . In: Austrian Journal for Political Science . 29th vol., No. 2, 2000, pp. 237-255.
  • Frank Decker, Florian Hartleb : Association of Free Citizens (BFB) . Frank Decker, Viola Neu (Hrsg.): Handbook of the German parties . 3rd edition, Springer VS, Wiesbaden 2018, ISBN 3-658-17994-5 , pp. 237–241.
  • Hartmut Grewe: The "Union of Free Citizens". The Brunner or anti-Maastricht party before and after the European elections in 1994 . In: Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (Hrsg.): Internal studies. No. 81-82, 1994, pp. 65-95.
  • Florian Hartleb : Federation of Free Citizens - Offensive for Germany. Die Freiheitlichen (BFB - Die Offensive) . In: Frank Decker, Viola Neu (Ed.): Handbook of German political parties . 2nd edition, Springer VS, Wiesbaden 2013, ISBN 3-658-00962-4 , pp. 200–203.
  • Jens Mecklenburg (Hrsg.): Handbook of German Right-Wing Extremism (= Antifa Edition ). Elefanten-Press, Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-88520-585-8 , p. 181 f. (see Federation of Free Citizens - Die Freiheitlichen ).
  • Andreas Schulze: Small parties in Germany. The rise and fall of non-established political associations . With a foreword by Eckhard Jesse . Deutscher Universitäts-Verlag, Wiesbaden 2004, ISBN 3-8244-4558-1 , pp. 201-231 (see: Bund Freier Bürger ).
  • Bernd Wagner (Ed.): Handbook for right-wing extremism. Networks, parties, organizations, ideology centers, media (= rororo aktuell . 13425). Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1994, ISBN 3-499-13425-X , p. 203 (see: Association of Free Citizens (BfB) ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Florian Hartleb : Union of free citizens - Offensive for Germany. Die Freiheitlichen (BFB - Die Offensive) . In: Frank Decker, Viola Neu (Ed.): Handbook of German political parties . 2nd over Edition, Springer VS, Wiesbaden 2013, ISBN 978-3-658-00962-5 , p. 200.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f Jens Mecklenburg (Hrsg.): Handbuch deutscher Rechtsextremismus (= Antifa Edition ). Elefanten-Press, Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-88520-585-8 , p. 181.
  3. ^ Andreas Schulze: Small parties in Germany. The rise and fall of non-established political associations . With a foreword by Eckhard Jesse , Deutscher Universitäts-Verlag, Wiesbaden 2004, ISBN 3-8244-4558-1 , p. 230.
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Florian Hartleb : Federation of Free Citizens - Offensive for Germany. Die Freiheitlichen (BFB - Die Offensive) . In: Frank Decker, Viola Neu (Ed.): Handbook of German political parties . 2nd over Edition, Springer VS, Wiesbaden 2013, ISBN 978-3-658-00962-5 , p. 201.
  5. ↑ Alexander Häusler , Rainer Roeser: The right ›courage‹ citizens. Origin, development, personnel and positions of the »Alternative for Germany« . VSA, Hamburg 2015, ISBN 978-3-89965-640-4 , pp. 28-32; This: The "Alternative for Germany" - an answer to the right-wing populist loophole? In: Stephan Braun, Alexander Geisler, Martin Gerster (eds.): Strategies of the extreme right. Background - analyzes - answers . 2nd Edition. Springer Fachmedien, Wiesbaden 2015, ISBN 978-3-658-01983-9 , pp. 101–128, here pp. 103 f.
  6. ↑ a b c d e f Florian Hartleb : Union of free citizens - Offensive for Germany. Die Freiheitlichen (BFB - Die Offensive) . In: Frank Decker, Viola Neu (Ed.): Handbook of German political parties . 2nd over Edition, Springer VS, Wiesbaden 2013, ISBN 978-3-658-00962-5 , p. 202.
  7. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Florian Hartleb : Federation of Free Citizens - Offensive for Germany. Die Freiheitlichen (BFB - Die Offensive) . In: Frank Decker, Viola Neu (Ed.): Handbook of German political parties . 2nd over Edition, Springer VS, Wiesbaden 2013, ISBN 978-3-658-00962-5 , p. 203.
  8. ^ Lars Rensmann : Democracy and the image of the Jews: Anti-Semitism in the political culture of the Federal Republic of Germany . 1. through Reprint, VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2005, ISBN 3-531-14006-X , p. 291.
  9. ↑ Bernd Wagner (Ed.): Handbook right-wing extremism: networks, parties, organizations, ideology centers, media (= rororo aktuell . 13425). Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1994, ISBN 3-499-13425-X , p. 203. (see: Association of Free Citizens (BfB) )
  10. ↑ Bernd Wagner : Cultural subversion of the right in East and West Germany: On right-wing extremist developments and strategies . In: Thomas Grumke , Bernd Wagner (Hrsg.): Handbuch Rechtsradikalismus . People - organizations - networks. From neo-Nazism to the middle of society . Leske and Budrich, Opladen 2002, ISBN 3-8100-3399-5 , p. 25.
  11. ↑ Frank Decker : About the failure of the new right-wing populism in Germany. Republicans, Statt Party, and the Federation of Free Citizens . In: Austrian Journal for Political Science 29 (2000) 2, p. 249.
  12. ↑ Frank Decker , Florian Hartleb: Populism on difficult terrain. The right and left challenger parties in the Federal Republic . In: Frank Decker (Ed.): Populism: Danger to Democracy or Useful Corrective? VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2006, ISBN 3-531-14537-1 , p. 202.
  13. ^ Constitutional Protection Report 1999 North Rhine-Westphalia, p. 75.
  14. ^ Constitutional Protection Report North Rhine-Westphalia 1999, pp. 74–77; Constitutional Protection Report North Rhine-Westphalia 2000, p. 64.
  15. ^ Constitutional Protection Report 2003 Lower Saxony, p. 59
  16. ^ Constitutional Protection Report 2003 Brandenburg (PDF; 1.6 MB), p. 114.
  17. ^ Constitutional Protection Report Saxony-Anhalt 2003 ( Memento of September 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), p. 48.
  18. ↑ a b http://chronologie.blogsport.de/1998/08/31/vorfaelle-im-sommer-1998/
  19. Jump up on the right edge ( Memento from December 29, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  20. ↑ http://www.jungefreiheit.de/Archiv.611.0.html?archiv/31aa10.htm
  21. ↑ http://www.jf-archiv.de/archiv98/418aa11.htm
  22. ↑ http://www.netz-gegen-nazis.de/artikel/berliner-alternative-sued-ost-baso
  23. ↑ a b c http://www.antira.de/pektiven/bfb.html
  24. ↑ a b c Crumbling in the Brunner Bund . In: Der Spiegel . No. 18 , 1994, p. 59 ( Online - May 2, 1994 ).
  25. ↑ http://chronologie.blogsport.de/tag/gerhard-maerlender
  26. ↑ http://www.burks.de/witt/witt2.jpg
  27. ↑ http://www.burks.de/witt/witt3.jpg
  28. ↑ http://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/nachrechte/torsten-witt-geb-1963/1897892.html
  29. ↑ http://www.vjj.de/2010/06/01/der-mitgruender-und-langjaehriger-vorsitzende-torsten-witt-hat-uns-unerwartet-fuer-immer-verlassen/
  30. ↑ a b c http://chronologie.blogsport.de/1998/09/17/bfb-wahlveranstaltung-im-hcc/