ABSTRACT
Right-wing motivated acts of violence and terrorism in Germany after the Second World War are deeply rooted within the attempt to establish a tradition of continuity with the National Socialist regime and the emergence as well as development of organized Right-Wing Extremism in Germany needs to be seen in the social and political context of the first decade after 1945. One of the first major political topics influencing the growth of right-wing parties and movements was the creation of the socialist German Democratic Republic (GDR) in the Soviet-controlled Eastern part of Germany in 1949. The subsequent German partition and its solution remained a central political topic for all parties, including the Far-Right. In addition the growing East-West conflict and Cold War resulted in strategic support for the anti-communist forces in Germany through Allied intelligence agencies, oftentimes including right-wing extreme groups and individuals. Highly qualified former Nazis (e.g., from the SS or Gestapo) were swiftly integrated in specialized new organizations, for example, the so-called Organization Gehlen, which later turned into the German international intelligence (Bundesnachrichtendienst, BND), or the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Their intimate knowledge about Soviet military structures and the Eastern European landscape acquired during the Second World War made them valuable assets during the Cold War despite their political past. Although extreme right-wing parties are not the main topic of this work, they are essential to order to understand the roots of the militant and clandestine German Far-Right during the early years of the Federal Republic. Three political parties attempted to continue the ideological tradition of National Socialism soon after the war had ended: the Deutsche Reichspartei (German Reich Party, DRP) founded 1950 and disbanded 1965, the Sozialistische Reichspartei (Socialist Reich’s Party, SRP) founded 1949 and prohibited 1952, and the Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands (National Democrats Party of Germany, NPD) founded 1964 and which is still active. These parties gave hope for renewing the political success of the Extreme Right and National Socialist ideals to the remaining former cadres of the Third Reich and the still committed followers of the movement. Acting as safe havens for irreformable Nazis, these three parties were key to the re-establishment of working networks, propaganda and fundraising structures after the downfall of the Third Reich.
