The Fascist Program of the NPD

Observers and commentators of the political scene in Germany  have "misunderestimated" the NPD for some time.  They do so at their own peril, as the people in Saxony know first-hand.  As Stephan Haselberger points out in the Tagesspiegel today, the party has demonstrated a strong work ethic and extraordinary discipline.  They may surprise again in the upcoming state elections in Schleswig-Holstein, where they are polling under 5% just now, but they had similar numbers in Saxony and won nearly 10% of the vote. 

So it is worth examining the NPD’s program that they have presented to the public (who knows what crazy ideas they have been discussing internally?).  Here is the NPD’s 15-point program as outlined on the official party Web site:

1. The basis of the German state is the German Volk.
2. The basis for the German Volk is the German family; abortion is an abomination and is only permissible when the mother’s life is endangered or in cases of rape; women should be rewarded for staying home and raise children; the more children, the higher the reward.
3. All state power comes from the Volk; therefore all essential policies are to be decided by a direct plebiscite; the president stands above the parties and must be elected directly by the Volk.
4. The German economy must become a sythesis of entrepreneurial freedom an social obligation. The economy must serve the people; outsourcing jobs to a low-wage economy is contemptible and must be illegal.
5. The German economy – including foreign-owned enterprises in Germany – must serve the needs of the German Volk. Globalization has been damaging to the German Volk and must at all costs be reversed.
6. The integration of the German economy and currency into the European Union has had a negative impact on German labor.  Germany needs to reclaim its own currency ( Deutsche Mark).
7. Foreign workers have been parasites on the collective German welfare and must be repatriated.  The German worker – no matter what his social niveau – must become part of the collective German Community (Gemeinschaft).
8. Germans are becoming minorities in their own land.  The so-called asylum laws must be eliminated and foreigners must be granted every chance to return to their native cultures.
9. Germans must no longer submit to the supra-national technocrats in Brussels. Multiculturalism is a bankrupt idea; the German Volk must reclaim its national identity.
10. The reunification of east and west Germany was a start in the right direction.  We demand a revision of the national boundaries of Germany that were established after the war.
11. The German Volk must reclaim its past.  We are not criminals.  The terrible injustice of the firebombings of German cities, the expulsion of Germans from land that was rightfully theirs, the wanton killion of German prisoners of war – this history must be acknowledged.
12. Nature and the environment must be protected within German boundaries. We must protect animals; alternative forms of enery must be found by utilizing nuclear power research.
13. The German education system has been destroyed by teaching the dogma of "the equality of all people".  We embrace the inequality of people and all forms of diversity found in nature.
14. The power of the police must be enhanced in order to protect the German Volk. It is imperative that the death penalty be reinstated; foreign criminals must be immediately deported.
15. Military service must be mandatory, but the German soldier must know that he is serving the cause of the German Volk. Germany military must not be under the command of any foreign power. Therefore Germany must immediately remove itself from NATO; all uses of the German military must be approved by a German "Security Council".

So this is a summary of the NPD’s program.  The common thread through most of the 15 points is xenophobia – a fear and hatred of foreigners and foreign influence.  This is where the German variant of right-wing extremism diverges from the American. Yes, Americans insist on American sovereignty, but they believe they have a special covenant with God and it is their mission to bring "Freedom" to all corners of the earth – with bombs if necessary.  The German fascist worldview is inward facing.  The efforts of the the CDU to blame the rise of the NPD on the failed economic policies of the SPD and the historically high rate of unemployment are completely false.  High unemployment has always been a feature of the German economy for the past 25 years.  What resonates with the (especially young, male) German voters is the open hatred of foreigners.  This has been confirmed by a pollster speaking with the Tagesspiegel. 

Bei Wählern rechtsradikaler Parteien spielt die Ausländerpolitik immer
eine gewisse Rolle, selbst wenn – wie in Sachsen – der Ausländeranteil
sehr gering ist. Diese Fremdenfeindlichkeit verbindet sich dann häufig
entweder mit Sorge um die Kriminalität oder eben mit der Angst um den
Arbeitsplatz.

Arbeitslosigkeit ist also ein Motiv, aber nicht das primäre?

Mit Sicherheit nicht. Wenn das so wäre, dann hätten rechtsradikale
Parteien die gesamten 90er Jahre sehr stark sein müssen, da wir es mit
einer dauerhaften Massenarbeitslosigkeit zu tun haben. Zudem wäre
überhaupt nicht zu erklären, warum südliche Länder wie Bayern und
Baden-Württemberg mit geringer Arbeitslosigkeit in der Vergangenheit
auch erhebliche Probleme mit rechtsradikalen Parteien hatten.