Die Wähler der NPD in Ostdeutschland 2005–2011

Shortly after Udo Voigt became chairman of the NPD he proclaimed: “The Reich is our goal, the NPD our way”. Only a few years later the NPD made it into the state parliament of Saxony and Mecklenburg-Hither Pomerania. The whole party was on the rise, gaining more and more votes, especially in East Germany. Against the backdrop of the belied collective expectations after the Fall of the Berlin Wall, the global economic crisis and the consequent so called “losers of modernization”, the electoral success of the NPD was an enormous challenge to the established parties. This blurred political situation brings up the question: Which motivation drove the East German voters to vote for an unconstitutional party like the NPD? Maximilian Kreter offers a theoretically well substantiated, empirical analysis of the NPD-voters’ motivations in East Germany during the electoral heydays of the NPD between 2005 and 2011.