Deutsche Reichspartei

far-right political party in West Germany

The Deutsche Reichspartei (DRP) (German Reich Party, German Imperial Party or German Empire Party) was a nationalist political party in West Germany. It was a merger of the German Conservative Party - Deutsche Right Party (DKP-DRP) and the old Hessian Nationaldemokratischen Partei (NDP).

Some of the DRP's founders were: Alexander Andrae, Oskar Lutz, Hans Bernd von Grünberg, Wilhelm Meinberg, Otto Heß, Hans Schikora, Heinrich Kunstmann, Adolf von Thadden.

In 1949 the Sozialistische Reichspartei (SRP) split from the DRP. This was because the Empire Party was not neo-Nazi, and did not want to be associated with Adolf Hitler. Instead the party preferred to say how good the Second German Empire (1870-1919) was.

The Deutsche Reichspartei did become more national socialist after 1952. This is when the Sozialistische Reichspartei was banned by the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany and a lot of its members re-joined the Empire Party.

The party was not very successful in the 1950s, but seemed to be getting more popular after the state elections of 1959. But the success did not last, and the party held its final conference in 1964 when it was dissolved. It was quickly replaced by the new Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands.

Other websites change