Third Way (Germany)

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The Third Path
Der Dritte Weg
Chairman Matthias Fischer  [ de ]
Founded28 September 2013;11 years ago (2013-09-28)
Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg
Split from NPD, Free Network South
Headquarters Bad Dürkheim, Germany
MembershipIncrease2.svg 700 (2022) est. [1]
Ideology Pan-Germanism
German ultranationalism
Revolutionary nationalism
Neo-Nazism [2] [3]
Neo-fascism
Strasserism
Antisemitism
Third Position
Political position Far-right [4]
International affiliation Nation Europa (2024–)
Colours  Green
AnthemDer III. Weg Marschiert! [5]
Party flag
Flag of The III. Path.svg
Website
der-dritte-weg.info

The III. Path or The Third Path (German : Der III. Weg, Der Dritte Weg) is a far-right and neo-Nazi political party in Germany. [6] [7]

Contents

It was founded on 28 September 2013 by former NPD officials, and activists from the banned Free Network South. They have ties with Assad's government in Syria, Hezbollah in Lebanon, [8] the National Corps, Misanthropic Division, Right Sector and Svoboda in Ukraine, [9] [10] and the Nordic Resistance Movement in the Nordic countries. [11] Their founder and chairman until 2021 is Klaus Armstroff. [12] The party mostly operates in Thuringia, Bavaria and Brandenburg. [13]

Video of Third Path demonstration on 15 October 2016 in Fürth

A group of people bearing Der Dritte Weg flags marched in through a town in Saxony on 1 May 2019, the day before the Jewish remembrance of the Holocaust, carrying a banner saying "Social justice instead of criminal foreigners". The Central Council of Jews said that the state government should ban such marches if it were serious about tackling right-wing extremism. [14] The party stood in the 2019 European elections, achieving 0.03% of the vote.

During the 2021 German federal election, the party had controversial posters which called for Hang the Greens . These posters were ordered to be taken down by the courts later on. [15] [16] [17]

In October 2024, party member Andreas Münzhuber slipped to his death while climbing Hitler's favourite mountain Untersberg. [18] [19]

Name

The party is registered at the Federal Returning Office as "DER DRITTE WEG" short-form: "III. Weg". [20] According to the party's website, the official English translation of the name is "The Third Way", stylized as "THE THIRD WAY". [21] Despite this, the party's name is commonly translated as "The Third Path" or "The III. Path". [22] [23]

Structure

In Bavaria, the six "bases" in 2014 reflected the centers of the former comradeships. [24] In 2019, the party succeeded in expanding its structures, albeit only slightly. [25] Accordingly, only three of the planned four regional associations have been founded so far. The party has not yet succeeded in establishing structures in the north of Germany. [26] At the federal party conference in September 2019, Der III. Weg decided to amend its statutes to restructure the regional associations into state associations. The party had previously taken part in the local elections in Saxony in 2019, but was denied participation in the state elections in Saxony on September 1, 2019, by the state election committee for formal reasons. With the amendments to the statutes, the party underlined its intention to continue to contest elections in the future and thus fulfil or consolidate one of the requirements necessary to maintain party status. [27]

In 2019, the estimated number of members/followers/supporters nationwide increased to around 580. [28] As of 2021, the majority of the approximately 650 full and supporting members [29] were active in the federal states of Bavaria, Berlin, Brandenburg, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony, [30] and since 2019 also in NRW in the greater Cologne-Düsseldorf area. [31]

Ideology

The party describes itself as national revolutionary and partially bases itself on the ideology of the Strasser Brothers of the early Nazi Party. [32] The III. Path has widely been described as a ultranationalist and neo-Nazi party. [2] [3] [9] [23]

Funding

According to the constitutional protection report of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, the party is mainly financed by donations and contributions in 2019. [33]

10 point program

On its website, the party presents a 10-point election program, available in 12 European languages. [21] [34]

Election results

Federal Parliament (Bundestag)

ElectionConstituencyParty listSeats+/–Status
Votes %Votes %
2021 5150.007,832 (#32)0.02
0 / 631
NewExtra-parliamentary

European Parliament

ElectionVotes %Seats+/–
2019 12,7560.03 (#40)
0 / 96
New

State elections

Year Rhineland-Palatinate
2016 0.09% (1,944)
Year Brandenburg
2024 0.12% (1,810)

See also

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References

  1. ↑ "Brief summary - 2022 Report on the Protection of the Constitution" (PDF). www.verfassungsschutz.de.
  2. 1 2 Rödl, Jakob (4 March 2014). ""Der III. Weg" –Jim eine rechtsextreme Kleinstpartei aus dem Neonazi-Spektrum".
  3. 1 2 Germany, Süddeutsche de GmbH, Munich. "Aktuelle Nachrichten, Hintergründe und Kommentare - SZ.de". Süddeutsche.de.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. ↑ Hill, Jenny (23 June 2019). "German politician's murder raises spectre of far-right attacks". BBC News. Retrieved 15 September 2021.
  5. ↑ BW, Verfassungsschutz (24 June 2021). ""Alte Lieder der jungen Revolution" – zwei neonazistische Liederbücher von 2020". www.verfassungsschutz-bw.de (in German). Retrieved 20 September 2023.
  6. ↑ Thaler, Claudia (21 September 2021). "Rechtsextreme Partei muss Antigrünenplakate abnehmen". Die Zeit . Retrieved 24 September 2021.
  7. ↑ Maksan, Oliver (22 September 2021). "Wie Neonazis vor Gericht verlieren und politisch doch gewinnen". Neue Zürcher Zeitung . Retrieved 24 September 2021. Dabei spielte es dann keine Rolle mehr, dass die deutsche Neonazi-Partei in dieser Woche eine juristische Niederlage nach der anderen kassierte.
  8. ↑ "German neo-Nazi party builds alliance with Assad and Hezbollah". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com. 16 May 2017.
  9. 1 2 "German neo-Nazis march with Ukrainian nationalists in UPA march". 15 October 2018.
  10. ↑ "Kommunalwahlen 2019: NPD, rechte Tarnlisten und Einzelbewerber" [Local elections 2019: NPD, right-wing camouflage lists and individual applicants]. LSA Rechtsaussen (in German). 23 May 2019. Retrieved 18 July 2022.
  11. ↑ "Geplante Rede von Julian Bender in Schweden". 3 October 2017.
  12. ↑ "Abgeordnetenwatch.de | Revision von klaus-armstroff vom Di., 07/12/2016 - 23:00". Archived from the original on 31 January 2020. Retrieved 8 December 2017.
  13. ↑ [ dead link ]
  14. ↑ "Germany says half of extreme right 'prone to violence'". BBC News. 3 May 2019. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  15. ↑
  16. ↑ "German court orders removal of 'Hang the Greens' posters – DW – 09/21/2021". Deutsche Welle .
  17. ↑
  18. ↑ Rothwell, James (11 October 2024). "Neo-Nazi slips to his death climbing Hitler's favourite mountain" – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
  19. ↑ Jones, Nigel (14 October 2024). "The fatal allure of Hitler's favourite mountain". The Spectator.
  20. ↑ "VERZEICHNIS der Parteien und politischen Vereinigungen, die gemäß § 6 Absatz 3 Parteiengesetz bei der Bundeswahlleiterin Parteiunterlagen hinterlegt haben" (PDF).
  21. 1 2 "The national identity of the party DER III. WEG (The Third Way)".
  22. ↑ "Who are Germany's far-right 'Third Path'? – DW – 10/25/2021". dw.com. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
  23. 1 2 "Concern over German ultra-nationalist party". InfoMigrants. 17 May 2019. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
  24. ↑ Verfassungsschutzbericht Bayern 2014 (Archived June 15, 2016 in the Internet Archive) In: Bayerisches Landesamt für Verfassungsschutz, 2015 (PDF).
  25. ↑ Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz: . Hrsg.: Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz. S. 80.
  26. ↑ Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz (Red.): Verfassungsschutzbericht 2017. Herausgegeben vom Bundesministerium des Innern, für Bau und Heimat, Stand July 2018, S. 78 (PDF; 4,5 MB). Retrieved 5 May 2019.
  27. ↑ Verfassungsschutzbericht 2019, S. 81
  28. ↑ Verfassungsschutzbericht des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen über das Jahr 2019, Stand June 2020, S. 108-110. (PDF) Ministerium des Innern des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen, 9 June 2020, retrieved 9 June 2020.
  29. ↑ Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, September 28, 2002, retrieved on February 7, 2023.
  30. ↑ Verfassungsschutzbericht 2016. (PDF) Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz, retrieved 6 July 2017.
  31. ↑ Verfassungsschutzbericht des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen über das Jahr 2019, Stand June 2020, S. 108-110. (PDF) Ministerium des Innern des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen, 9 June 2020, retrieved 9 June 2020.
  32. ↑ "Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz - Rechtsextremistische Parteien". 14 June 2015. Archived from the original on 14 June 2015. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
  33. ↑ Constitutional Protection Report of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia for 2019, as of June 2020, p. 108-110 (PDF) Ministry of the Interior of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, June 9, 2020, accessed on June 9, 2020.
  34. ↑ "10 Punkte für Deutschland - DER III. WEG Parteiprogramm".


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