Völkisch nationalism

At times, Völkisch nationalism was a broad and predominant ideological view in Central Europe, represented in numerous nationalist, typically explicitly antisemitic and other racist associations of all kinds with many publications and well-known personalities. It differentiates itself from the Völkisch movement by being a more vague and not inherently antisemitic ideology. In the 21st century, particularly in Germany, ethnopluralism is viewed as standing in the same tradition as Völkisch nationalism.

History

1871–1945

Towards the end of the 19th century, the movement gained influence over the political and cultural debate in Central Europe. Its historical significance was found in its own nationalism, especially in the German Reich. The Völkisch movement, to which the German national associations such as the DNVP and the NSDAP belonged.

The NSDAP – whose party organ was the Völkischer Beobachter – rejected the Weimar Constitution and represented Völkische Gemeinschaftlichkeitskonzepte (lit. "ethnic [German] concepts of community"). The biological and cultural homogeneity of the "Volk" as a "Abstammungsgemeinschaft" (lit. "community of descent") and the "exclusion or destruction of the heterogeneous" were invoked. Völkische (lit. "nation", "ethnic") concepts such as "Volkstum", "Lebensraum" and above all "Volksgemeinschaft" were widespread in large parts of the German population and especially within the "Fatherland Camp", thus an integral part of the Nazi programming. German Protestantism is considered to be its social support and its "necessary ideal condition". From an ideological perspective, the "bourgeois-Protestant mentality" has become increasingly German-Völkisch since the Reichsgründung (lit. "Establishment of the Reich"). A nationally charged Protestantism of the Reich thus led to the Nazi concept of the German Christians.

1945–present

From the postwar era to the early 21st century, Völkisch nationalism was rejected by the mainstream German political circles. With the rise of national conservatism, right-wing populism, Völkisch nationalism and the Neue Rechte during the 2010s and as of the 2020s, young conservatives became more likely to support far-right and hard-right parties such as the Alternative for Germany (AfD). The AfD particularly became successful among the region of East Germany within the states that were a part of the German Democratic Republic. The Völkisch faction of the AfD is largely led by those such as Björn Höcke, Andreas Kalbitz, André Poggenburg, Jan Wenzel Schmidt and Jean-Pascal Hohm.