The Radical Right in Germany, 1945-2000

Bildinfo

Bildnachweis: Leipzig, Demonstration von "Republikanern", Neonazis, Januar 1990, Foto: Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-1990-0115-032 / Kluge, Wolfgang / CC BY-SA 3.0 DE

Joint project
Project Management: Prof. Dr. Frank Bösch (ZZF Potsdam), Prof. Dr. Gideon Botsch (MMZ Potsdam)
Supported by the Volkswagen Foundation

The research project "The Radical Right in Germany, 1945-2000" examines the contemporary history of the radical right with previously untapped sources and socio-historical approaches. The project uses the term "radical right" to focus on actors who reject the core elements of the existing democratic constitutional order as a representative parliamentary democracy on the basis of a nationalist, authoritarian and racist worldview. This includes the smaller group of the violent extremist right, but is not identical with it. The project focuses on the overarching question of the social practices through which the generational transformation of the radical right in Germany took place - from the actors socialized under National Socialism to the cohort that grew up under democracy and the SED dictatorship and has set the tone since the 1970s.

The ZZF Potsdam is working on six sub-projects.
Currently, projects at the ZZF Potsdam are being worked on by: Laura Haßler, Dr. Marie Müller-Zetzsche, Darius Muschiol (completed phd project, June 2024), Dr. Dominiik Rigoll, Jakob Saß and Luisa Seydel (until 31.1.2023)

A short (german) description of the project "Die radikale Rechte in Deutschland, 1945-2000" can be found here (pdf)

To project website: https://projekt.radikale-rechte.de

Projekte

Dominik Rigoll

Nationalizing the Germans after Hitler. How Right-Wing Parties Shaped Occupied and Divided Germany

Postdoc-Project
Part of the project "The Radical Right in Germany, 1945-2000" 
In the Bonn Republic, the normalization of nationalist programmatics, rhetorics and practices has also been referred to as ‘renazification,’ ‘restoration,’ ‘trend reversal’ (Tendenzwende) or ‘rightward shift’ (Rechtsruck). With regard to the occupation zones and Eastern Germany, the phenomenon was rather coinded as ‘new nationalism’. The project examine these processes of formation and appropriation. 

Marie Müller-Zetzsche

Media Intellectuals from the Right? The Development of Right-Wing Ideology after 1945 in Germany and France

Associated Postdoc project
Part of the project "The Radical Right in Germany, 1945-2000"
The project investigates how radical right-wing ideologies have changed since 1945 in the Federal Republic and in France. 

Luisa Seydel

Work, Family, Fatherland - Everyday Life and Realities of the Radical Right (ca. 1960 to 1990)

PhD project (until 31.1.2023)
Part of the project "The Radical Right in Germany, 1945-2000"
The dissertation analyzes the lifestyle and realities of the radical right in the second half of the 20th century. It is a subproject of the VW Foundation-funded project "The Radical Right in Germany, 1945-2000".

Jakob Saß

The Radical Right and the German military after 1945

PhD project
Part of the project "The Radical Right in Germany, 1945-2000" 
Based on internal files, this dissertation project is the first to examine previously unknown practices of the radical right both in the Bundeswehr and comparatively in the NVA in a cross-cutting and actor-oriented manner. It is part of the project “The Radical Right in Germany, 1945-2000" supported by the Volkswagen Foundation.

Laura Haßler

Rightwing Training Ground: The „ Young National Democrats“ („Junge Nationaldemokraten“), ca. 1967–1994

Associated PhD project
Part of the project "The Radical Right in Germany, 1945-2000"
How the „Young National Democrats“ attained and exercised this key position in the right-wing milieu has not yet been researched historically. The project pursues this question by analyzing their structures, alliances, and activities from the perspective of social history.