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full screenDie Heimat’s party leader Frank Franz, here at an earlier hearing in the Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe where it decided not to ban the party, which was then still called the NPD. Archive image. Photo: Uli Deck/Dpa Via AP/TT
A Nazi party in Germany will no longer receive any state party support.
The German Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe has decided that Die Heimat (roughly: Homeland) pursues a policy that goes against the constitution. Until last year, Die Heimat was called the National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD).
The court points to the party’s “racist and especially anti-Muslim, anti-Semitic and anti-Roma” stance and notes that it has crossed a threshold where it not only opposes “the free democratic social order” but also works to overthrow it.
The court decision means that the Nazi party will not receive the state party contribution for the next six years.
In an attempt in 2017 to ban the party entirely, the Constitutional Court ruled that it did not pose a sufficient threat to Germany.
The decision on the party’s support comes at a time when hundreds of thousands of people in Germany have demonstrated against the far-right Alternative for Germany (AFD) party, after it was revealed that party representatives held a shadowy meeting to discuss the possibility of forcibly deporting millions of people from Germany.
The AFD is actively monitored by the German constitutional protection, which closely scrutinizes extremist tendencies in Germany. Its youth union has already been labeled as extremist and voices have been raised that this should include the parent party as well.