The National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD) was founded in Hanover in 1964 as a coalition movement of the extreme right. In 1965, the 18-member NPD federal executive board included 14 former National Socialists, 11 of whom were 'Old Fighters.' Against the backdrop of the first economic recession in the Federal Republic of Germany and a trend toward liberalization within society, the party achieved unexpected election successes in the latter half of the 1960s. With its ultra-nationalist, revanchist, anti-communist, and xenophobic slogans, it was particularly successful among the middle class, farmers, workers, war veterans, refugees, and displaced persons. Between 1966 and 1968, it won seats in seven state parliaments. It was even the third strongest party in the Bavarian Parliament behind the Christian Social Union (CSU) and the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) from 1966 to 1970 with 15 members of the parliament (7.4%). With over 5,000 party members (as at 1966), the Bavarian wing became the strongest within the NPD; nationwide, the right-wing party had up to 28,000 members (in 1969). Ongoing public demonstrations and its political isolation resulted in the NPD failing to achieve any successes at regional or national level from 1969 onward. Their membership base has steadily declined since the 1970s, down to 3,500 (1996). In the 1990s, the National Democrats opened up to the neo-Nazi scene and turned to 'ethnic-chauvinist nationalism.' They took part in the annual Rudolf Hess commemoration marches in Wunsiedel, which were banned in 2005, and organized the right-wing extremist march against the so-called Wehrmacht exhibition in Munich in 1997.
The ideologically radicalized party, whose program was based on that of the Nazi Party, gained new supporters in the eastern federal states. Election pacts with the German People's Union (DVU), which later merged with the NPD, helped it secure 12 seats in the Saxon Parliament in 2004, followed by seats in the Mecklenburg-West Pomeranian Parliament in 2006. The NPD was represented on Munich's municipal authority from 2008 to 2020 through its front, the 'Citizens' Initiative to Stop Foreigners' (BIA). Between 2012 and 2020, BIA municipal councilor Karl Richter led the Bavarian wing of the NPD (approximately 850 members in 2012) and was also the NPD's deputy federal chairman. With its 3,000 members (as at 2023), the openly anti-constitutional party changed its name in June 2023 and now operates under the party name 'The Homeland.' The current president is Frank Franz. All previous judicial proceedings seeking to ban the party have failed.
