ABSTRACT
In the Federal Republic of Germany, constitutional protection is the responsibility of the Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz (BfV), as well the corresponding constitution-protection authorities in the individual regions; the latter are autonomous, though, in choosing their policies and activities, they often take their lead from the national office. The emergence of Die Republikaner (REPs) on to the national political stage in January 1989 after the party had won seats in the West Berlin House of Deputies led to a variety of responses as to whether its character and ideology meant that it should be officially monitored. Part of the debate revolved around whether the REPs were rechtsextremistisch or only rechtsradikal – the former would justify full monitoring, whereas the latter would not. The national office’s compromise was a limited ‘test-case’ monitoring. Some regions operated stronger monitoring practices than others, North Rhine-Westphalia having a particularly rigorous approach, as did Hamburg. The CSU in Bavaria, where the REPS had their first base and where they were posing an electoral threat to the CSU, was initially very hostile, but the region later adopted a less aggressive approach. An Appendix reviews how each individual region handled this issue.
