Freie Sachsen

Last updated
Free Saxony
Freie Sachsen
AbbreviationFS
Leader Martin Kohlmann
Membership (2023)1,200
Ideology Regionalism
Saxon independence
Saxon-monarchism
Political position Far-right
Colors  Gold (customary)
Landtag of Saxony
0 / 119
Landrat of Saxony
0 / 9
Website
https://freie-sachsen.info/

Freie Sachsen ("Free Saxons") is a right-wing monarchist, regionalist, and secessionist movement within the German State of Saxony. It seeks to restore the former Kingdom of Saxony through an autonomist government or a "Saexit if Necessary". [1] [2]

Contents

History

Founding

The inaugural meeting of "Free Saxony" in the Bermsgrün guest house was an occasion to question the use of the municipal building. [3] The small party "Freie Sachsen" [4] played a key role in mobilizing for the protests against pandemic measures in Saxony. [5] The organization seeks to extend its influence from the streets to town halls and possibly also to the state parliament. [5]

On February 26, 2021, Martin Kohlmann became chairman of the newly founded organization "Freie Sachsen" (not to be confused with the party Freie Sachsen – Alliance of Independent Voters, founded in 2007) in the Haus des Gastes [3]  in Bermsgrün, which describes itself as a party according to the party law. Contrarily, Freie Sachsen sees itself "in view of the state corona coercive measures" as an umbrella for a collection movement. [6]  Within a few months, the organization dominated discourse on Telegram, which had 150,000 subscribers as of February 2022, and to control the radical actions of the COVID-19 pandemic protesters in Saxony. [7] Programmatically, they call for stronger cooperation with the Visegrád Group, with which they have views of security or family policy more in common than with West German federal states. The Free Saxons reject democracy and demand "to involve the Saxon royal family in shaping the future". [2] [8]

The State Office for the Protection of the Constitution of Saxony classified the alliance as right-wing extremists in June 2021. [6] Since January 2022, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution has classified the Free Saxons as a suspected case[ clarification needed ] and observed them nationwide. [7]

2022 and 2023 demonstrations

After the Russian invasion of Ukraine in a series of anti-interventionist protests and demonstrations, Putin masks were worn and Russian flags waved during the group's "walks". The explanation of the Free Saxons: "Suddenly the unvaccinated is no longer the number one enemy!" Now "the Russians are the number one enemy". [8] [9] Members of the party also take part in weekly Monday demonstrations to protest rising gas, energy, food prices, and immigration. [10] They also went on to take part in anti-interventionist protests alongside members of the state association of the AfD in Saxony and The Left party, in which they showed nostalgia for an independent eastern Germany. [1] [11] [12]

Party structure

Membership and organization

With a membership of 1,200 people, the party excepts cross-party membership only as long as there is a basic commitment to the party's principals. Some of its members are part of other German political parties, including (and not limited to) The Republicans, Alternative for Germany, pro-Chemnitz, Free Voters and The Homeland(NPD). The Free Saxons see themselves as an umbrella organization. [13] [14]

Officials

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saxony</span> State in Germany

Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and its largest city is Leipzig. Saxony is the tenth largest of Germany's sixteen states, with an area of 18,413 square kilometres (7,109 sq mi), and the sixth most populous, with more than 4 million inhabitants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chemnitz</span> City in Saxony, Germany

Chemnitz is the third-largest city in the German state of Saxony after Leipzig and Dresden. Chemnitz is the third-largest city in the Thuringian-Upper Saxon dialect area after Leipzig and Dresden. It is the fifth largest city in the area of former East Germany after (East) Berlin, Leipzig, Dresden and Halle. The city is part of the Central German Metropolitan Region, and lies in the middle of a string of cities sitting in the densely populated northern foreland of the Elster and Ore Mountains, stretching from Plauen in the southwest via Zwickau, Chemnitz and Freiberg to Dresden in the northeast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Democratic Party of Germany</span> Far-right political party in Germany

The Homeland, previously known as the National Democratic Party of Germany, is a far-right Neo-Nazi and ultranationalist political party in Germany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chemnitz University of Technology</span> Public university in Chemnitz, Germany

Chemnitz University of Technology is a public university in Chemnitz, Germany. With over 9,000 students, it is the third largest university in Saxony. It was founded in 1836 as Königliche Gewerbschule and was elevated to a Technische Hochschule, a university of technology, in 1963. With approximately 1,500 employees in science, engineering and management, Chemnitz University of Technology is among the most important employers in the region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Limbach-Oberfrohna</span> Town in Saxony, Germany

Limbach-Oberfrohna is a town in the district of Zwickau in Saxony, Germany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oederan</span> Town in Saxony, Germany

Oederan is a town in the district of Mittelsachsen, in Saxony, Germany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New states of Germany</span> Five re-established states of former East Germany

The new states of Germany are the five re-established states of the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) that unified with the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) with its 10 "old states" upon German reunification on 3 October 1990.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Erzgebirgsbahn</span> German railway company

The Erzgebirgsbahn is a German railway company and a RegioNetz subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn. It operates in the Ore Mountains region of southern Saxony, near the towns of Chemnitz and Zwickau.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jan Löffler</span> German politician

Jan Löffler is a German politician (CDU). Since 2009 he is a member of the Saxon Landtag. Currently he is the vice chairman and treasurer of the CDU-faction in the Saxon Landtag.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saxony in the German Revolution (1918–1919)</span>

Saxony in the German Revolution (1918–1919) followed a path that went from early control by workers' and soldiers' councils to the adoption of a republican constitution in a series of events that roughly mirrored those at the national level in Berlin. Because some members of the revolutionary councils, which were set up in major cities such as Dresden, Leipzig and Chemnitz, wanted a soviet-style council government while others favored a parliamentary republic, there was considerable internal disagreement that caused a split between the two groups. In early February 1919, elections were held for a state assembly, the Volkskammer, in which the moderates gained control. An outbreak of violence at the time of the March 1919 Kapp Putsch led the national government to forcibly remove the Leipzig workers' council, the last one remaining in the state. Saxony went on to become a constituent state within the Weimar Republic in November 1920.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2018 Chemnitz protests</span> August 2018 extreme right-wing riots in Chemnitz, East Germany

The 2018 Chemnitz protests took place in Chemnitz, in the German state of Saxony. In the early morning of 26 August, after a festival celebrating the city's founding, a fight broke out resulting in the death of a German man and serious injuries to two other people. Two Kurdish immigrants, one from Iraq and the other from Syria, were named as suspects. The incident reignited the tensions surrounding immigration to Germany, which had been ongoing since 2015, and the European migrant crisis. In response, mass protests against immigration were ignited by far-right groups. The protests spawned riots and were followed by counter-demonstrations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank Pasemann</span> German politician

Frank Pasemann is a German politician. He got excluded from the party in 2020. Pasemann has served as a member of the Bundestag from the state of Saxony-Anhalt since 2017.

Klimaliste is the name of various microparties and voter groups in Germany that advocate climate protection measures to meet the 1.5 °C IPCC and Paris Agreement warming limit target. They see themselves as a grassroots movement.

Saxony State Police is a state law-enforcement agency in Saxony, Germany. It is subordinate to the Saxony State Interior Ministry. The Chief of State Police (Landespolizeipräsident) is Horst Kretzschmar and the political head is the Minister for the Interior in Saxony Roland Wöller (CDU).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AfD Saxony-Anhalt</span> Political party in Germany

The AfD Saxony-Anhalt is the state association of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in the state of Saxony-Anhalt. The state association is led by the member of parliament Martin Reichardt as state chairman. With André Poggenburg as the top candidate, the AfD Sachsen-Anhalt ran for the first time in a state election in 2016 and subsequently represented the second largest parliamentary group in the seventh state parliament of Saxony-Anhalt.

Ulrike Harzer is a German politician for the FDP and has been a member of the Bundestag, the federal diet since 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philipp Hartewig</span> German politician (born 1994)

Philipp Hartewig is a German politician for the FDP and since 2021 member of the Bundestag, the federal diet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Silke Grimm</span> German politician (born 1967)

Silke Grimm is a German politician. From 2014 until September 2019, she was a member of the Saxon state Parliament.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AfD Saxony</span> Political party in Germany

The AfD Saxony is the state association of the Alternative For Germany (AfD) party in the German state of Saxony. The state association is led by a member of the Landtag of Saxony named Jörg Urban. The party holds the second most seats in the Landtag of Saxony and ideologically is positioned on the right-wing, specifically on the radical Right a subset of the far-right that does not oppose democracy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2023–2024 German farmers' protests</span> Protests over abolition of tax breaks and federal policies

The 2023–2024 German farmers' protests are a series of ongoing nationwide protests and road blockages in Germany organized by farmers and agricultural unions since 18 December 2023. The subjects of the protests are the abolition of tax breaks on farmers and the policies of the federal government.

References

  1. 1 2 Hewson, Jens Kastner, Jack (2023-09-17). "Why Does Eastern Germany Love Putin So Much?". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 2023-10-20.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. 1 2 Winter, Steffen (2022-01-29). "(S+) Freie Sachsen: »Das sächsische Königshaus ist bei der Gestaltung der Zukunft einzubinden«". Der Spiegel (in German). ISSN   2195-1349 . Retrieved 2022-10-09.
  3. 1 2 "23 | März | 2021 | Schwarzenberg-Blog" (in German). Retrieved 2022-10-09.
  4. ↑ Litschko, Konrad (2021-12-20). ""Freie Sachsen" heizen Coronaprotest an: Die Einpeitscher". Die Tageszeitung: taz (in German). ISSN   0931-9085 . Retrieved 2022-10-09.
  5. 1 2 "Right-wing extremist mobilization against the state".
  6. 1 2 Meisner, Matthias (2022-01-16). ""Freie Sachsen" im Corona-Protest: Rechte, die eine Partei sein wollen". Die Tageszeitung: taz (in German). ISSN   0931-9085 . Retrieved 2022-10-09.
  7. 1 2 tagesschau.de. "Verfassungsschutz: "Freie Sachsen" als Verdachtsfall". tagesschau.de (in German). Retrieved 2022-10-09.
  8. 1 2 mdr.de. ""Freie Sachsen": MDR-Webserie "exactly" mit neuer Folge über Propaganda und Proteste | MDR.DE". www.mdr.de (in German). Retrieved 2022-10-09.
  9. ↑ tagesschau.de. "Russlands Krieg: "Querdenker" für Putin". tagesschau.de (in German). Retrieved 2022-10-09.
  10. ↑ "Germans revive Cold War Monday demonstrations – DW – 09/05/2022". dw.com. Retrieved 2023-10-25.
  11. ↑ Stanley-Becker, Isaac (2022-04-15). "Russia finds sympathy in Germany's east, Putin's old stomping ground". Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved 2023-12-09.
  12. ↑ "'Ordinary Germans are paying': anti-war protests stretch across central Europe". www.ft.com. Retrieved 2023-12-12.
  13. ↑ Reuth, Sven (2023-12-04). "Freie Sachsen: Antritte in allen Kreisen geplant". COMPACT (in German). Retrieved 2023-12-11.
  14. ↑ deutschlandfunkkultur.de. "Verdachtsfall Freie Sachsen - Die Spaziergänger mit der braunen Weste". Deutschlandfunk Kultur (in German). Retrieved 2024-04-05.
  15. ↑ "Neue Partei im Erzgebirge gegründet". www.freiepresse.de (in German). Retrieved 2023-12-12.
  16. ↑ Stefan Hartung
  17. ↑ Satzung der Bayernpartei , 30. October 2011, from: bayernpartei.de, 28 August 2018
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.