Union of Persecutees of the Nazi Regime
Encyclopedia
The Society of People Persecuted by the Nazi Regime – Federation of Anti-Fascists (Vereinigung der Verfolgten des Naziregimes – Bund der Antifaschistinnen und Antifaschisten) (VVN-BdA) is a political organization founded in 1947.
The organisation is widely viewed as a "Communist front organization"; already in the 1940s, the Social Democratic Party and the Jewish organisations in Germany condemned the organisation. The organisation was banned during much of the Cold War
in some German states, and the federal government twice sought a federal ban on the organisation. German intelligence considers the organisation to be left-wing extremist. Membership was also considered reason from exclusion from the public service under Willy Brandt
's Radikalenerlass.
(KPD). The KPD was ruthlessly persecuted by the Nazis, who imprisoned and executed many thousands of its members. Originally just called the Society of People Persecuted by the Nazi Regime (VVN), it is today known by its hyphenated name, following German reunification
, when the VVN merged with its counterpart from the former East Germany.
In 1953, the VVN disappeared in German Democratic Republic
. In its place, was the Committee of Anti-fascist Resistance Fighters (Komitee der Antifaschistischen Widerstandskämpfer). The Committee was not set up as an autonomous association, but was subordinate to the Central Committee
of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany
(SED), which controlled the government. Furthermore, the organization was funded by the state.
The VVN refers to itself as an independent, multi-party whose essential moral precept is resistance to fascism. In the 1950s, it was considered to be dominated by the KPD (and from 1968, the German Communist Party
), whereby its membership ranges from orthodox Communists to unaffiliated individuals to the Alliance '90/The Greens
to members of the Social Democratic Party
(SPD), (despite a standing "Resolution of Irreconcilability" issued by the SPD until 2008).
The VVN-BdA is a member of the Fédération Internationale des Résistants (International Federation of Resisters), along with organizations from all over Europe and from Israel.
The initiative for the VVN came from representatives of the labor parties, which had committees that provided direct assistance to people persecuted or victimized by the Nazis, whether political, religious, or racially based.
It set out to be a multi-party organization, an umbrella group for everyone, regardless of political affiliation, according to its manifesto in August 1946.
Representatives from all the regional organizations in the four occupied zones met in Frankfurt am Main from July 20–22, 1946 and adopted a charter for the "Society of People Persecuted by the Nazi Regime". On October 26, 1946, the first state organizations was founded in Düsseldorf
, North Rhine-Westphalia
. Others soon followed.
From March 15–17, 1947, the 1st Inter-zonal States Conference of the VVN convened in Frankfurt am Main with 68 delegates from all four of the occupied zones and the city of Berlin and formed an organization representing all of Germany, with a similarly constituted council and two co-chairmen at the helm.
The "red triangle", the sign sewn on the concentration camp uniforms of political prisoners, was adopted as the symbol for the VVN. The aim of the organization was to support former prisoners, but the founding VVN members uniformly did not want to limit themselves to just this purpose. Having experienced terror
personally, they wanted to be true to the Buchenwald Oath, to never again let fascism become a reality, "Our solution is the extermination of Nazism
to its roots. Our goal is the creation of a new world of peace and freedom."
The political confrontation of the cold war affected the VVN heavily. Kurt Schumacher
, leader of the SPD declared an impasse of incompatibility (Unvereinbarkeitsbeschluss) for Social Democrats. Nonetheless, many SPD members remained in the VVN. Prominent Nazi opponents, such as Eugen Kogon
, who were close to the Christian Democratic Union
(CDU) resigned from the VVN for political reasons. These actions led to a political narrowing of the VVN, although the organization continued to seek out all Nazi opponents and victims of persecution.
(GDR), with the SED accusing leading members of the VVN of being agents of the west. At the same time, in connection with the Rudolf Slánský
trial in the former Czechoslovakia
, the policies of the GDR leadership began to evidence an increasing anti-semitism toward the Jewish Communists who had fled to western countries after 1933. Julius Meyer, an SED member and elected member of the People's Chamber, Hans Freund and other Jewish members of the VVN fled to West Germany
in December 1952 and January 1953 because of th e threat of persecution. Even Leo Zuckerman, a former state secretary and co-author of the GDR constitution, fled to the west.
Without the consultation of the VVN, the decision was made on January 15, 1953 to dissolve the organization. The VVN's publishing house was dissolved and in its place the Committee of Anti-fascist Resistance Fighters (Komitee der antifaschistischen Widerstandskämpfer) was set up. The overnight dissolution of the VVN met little opposition from within the organization itself. The Committee maintained close contact with the VVN in the Federal Republic of Germany
(FRG).
In 1990, after the democratic revolution in the GDR
, the Association of Former Participants of the Anti-Fascist Resistance, Persecutees and Survivors (Interessenverband ehemaliger Teilnehmer am antifaschistischen Widerstand, Verfolgter des Naziregimes und Hinterbliebener) (IVVdN) took over as successor to the Committee. In October 2002, the IVVdN merged with the West German VVN, forming one organization for all of Germany.
till the German reunification in 1989. In 1989, all state chairmen, nearly all the main employees, as well as two-thirds of the membership of the national board and the steering committee were all members of the DKP.
The political scope during the founding years was distinctly limited by the Cold War
. Compounding that, were the declaration of incompatibility by the SPD in May 1948 and the resignation of prominent Nazi adversaries Eugen Kogon
, Heinz Galinski
and Philipp Auerbach, which all caused the VVN to be viewed in public discourse as a "Communist front organization". Public servants risked dismissal if they remained members of the VVN, despite being survivors of Nazi terror.
The splits and resignations resulted in a numerical and political dominance of left-wing members. Former Communist Resistance fighters found in the VNN a political forum in which they could to meet legally while the KPD itself was legally banned.
A number of Bundesländer tried to ban the VVN during the 1950s. A judicial ruling forced Lower Saxony
to lift its ban and in Hamburg
, "VAN" was left as a "replacement" organization, but in Rhineland-Palatinate
, the ban remained in effect. At the end of the 1950s, the federal government went to federal court to establish a ban against the VVN at the national level. The opening of the trial erupted into political scandal when it was revealed that the presiding judge, Senate President Prof. Dr. Werner had been an aggressive Nazi, resulting in the discontinuation of the case. The anti-communist climate continued to plague members of the VVN during the postwar era, though in sight of constitutional protection and during the 1970s, they were at times criticized by radicals.
From the outset, the VVN concerned itself with care for the victims of Nazi injustice, as well as the admonition and remembrance of the crimes of National Socialism. This included, for example, social counseling according to the federal law on compensation for victims of Nazi persecution, which came into force in 1956, but was retroactive to October 1, 1953. One section of the statute was problematic for VVN members, however. It excluded payments from anyone who advocated communism.
Since the 1960s, among the VVN's key spheres of political activity has been confrontation of old and new Nazis. The VVN has worked against SS reunions, against the National Democratc Party
, and against Auschwitz denial and other forms of revisionist history.
A crucial step was the May 1971 expansion of the organization to include the "Association of Anti-fascists". This extended the possibility of membership beyond just the persecuted and their family members, to young who have felt a bond with concentration camp survivors and their legacy. The broadening of the VVN changed the organization considerably during the 1970s and 1980s.
. Other states did not follow suit, though in Bavaria, there was an attempt, which ended with a finding by the Administrative Court in Regensburg
that the VVN was not anti-constitutional. The federal government made another attempt to ban the organization in 1959, but the Federal Administrative Court of Germany
broke off the process after two hearings.
The ban was repealed in Hamburg in 1960 and in Rhineland-Palatinate in 1972.
, against atomic armament and against the white-washing of German history from 1933 to 1945. Initiatives of the VVN led to the erection of memorial sites, such as the development of Dachau concentration camp into a noteworthy memorial site in the mid-1960s, a project with which VVN members were significantly involved.
In 1971, the VVN expanded itself to include the Bund der Antifaschisten (Federation of Anti-fascists). In the wake of the student protests of 1968
and the growth of the right-wing extremist National Democratic Party
(NPD), many young people became interested in the debate over Germany's Nazi past. The organization was also faced with a graying and declining membership and needed to invigorate itself with newer, younger members. Key themes of the 1970s and 1980s were the peace movement
and anti-fascism
.
of Lower Saxony (page 26), until the fall of communism, all applications for full-time VVN employees had been reviewed and approved by the Chairman of the German Communist Party
(DKP). The president and secretariat of the national board of the VVN-BdA resigned in January 1990. The organization then voted to continue the work with reduced means and a new organizational structure.
The absence of funding by the DDR opened the door for non-dogmatic influence; the Union became open to unaffiliated anti-fascists.
Representatives of domestic and foreign organizations of former persecutees, as well as guests of German organizations took part in the unification congress. Among them was Horst Schmitthenner, executive board member of IG Metall
, who emphatically welcomed the VVN merger and declared, "As in the past, IG Metall will support the vital work of the VVN-BdA."
and anti-semitism; any discrimination based on national origin, race, sexual orientation or ideology and is against physical or other threats resulting from such discrimination.
The organization has under 9,000 members (as of 2003). Twice a month, it publishes the magazine, Antifa. The honorary president is the late Kurt Julius Goldstein
.
to pass "a new ban against the NPD, according to Article 21, paragraph 2 of the[German] Constitution". The campaign included informational tables and events throughout Germany and had celebrity support from Hannelore Elsner
, Frank Werneke and the board of 1. FC Nuremberg.
At the end of the petition campaign on December 12, 2007, the 175,455 signatures were delivered to Bundestag Vice President Petra Pau
, Bundestag members Gesine Lötzsch
and Dorothée Menzner of the Left Party
and Niels Annen
of the Social Democratic Party of Germany>Social Democratic Party. A new campaign to ban the NPD began on January 27, 2009.
The report acknowledged that the VVN-BdA had, since 1989, stopped describing ultra-left violence and injustice as commendable; nevertheless, Communist crimes were consistently qualified, ignored and even denied.
Later reports on the Protection of the Constitution do not mention the organisation anymore. Some state reports, such as from Baden-Württemberg
and Bavaria
, do still mention them in their reports.
The Bavarian intelligence agency regards the VVN-BbA's use of the term "anti-fascism," as meaning not just the fight against right-wing extremism, but also to mean agitation against the democratic state and its institutions. In addition, it claims the fight against right-wing extremism is a pretence under which organization tries to influence the middle class and co-opt democrats for its goals against the democracy.
History of the VVN
The organisation is widely viewed as a "Communist front organization"; already in the 1940s, the Social Democratic Party and the Jewish organisations in Germany condemned the organisation. The organisation was banned during much of the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
in some German states, and the federal government twice sought a federal ban on the organisation. German intelligence considers the organisation to be left-wing extremist. Membership was also considered reason from exclusion from the public service under Willy Brandt
Willy Brandt
Willy Brandt, born Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm , was a German politician, Mayor of West Berlin 1957–1966, Chancellor of West Germany 1969–1974, and leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany 1964–1987....
's Radikalenerlass.
Background
The Society of People Persecuted by the Nazi Regime – Federation of Anti-Fascists (VVN-BdA) is based in Berlin, but earlier, had branches throughout Germany. From the beginning, a large proportion of its members were from the Communist PartyCommunist Party of Germany
The Communist Party of Germany was a major political party in Germany between 1918 and 1933, and a minor party in West Germany in the postwar period until it was banned in 1956...
(KPD). The KPD was ruthlessly persecuted by the Nazis, who imprisoned and executed many thousands of its members. Originally just called the Society of People Persecuted by the Nazi Regime (VVN), it is today known by its hyphenated name, following German reunification
German reunification
German reunification was the process in 1990 in which the German Democratic Republic joined the Federal Republic of Germany , and when Berlin reunited into a single city, as provided by its then Grundgesetz constitution Article 23. The start of this process is commonly referred by Germans as die...
, when the VVN merged with its counterpart from the former East Germany.
In 1953, the VVN disappeared in German Democratic Republic
German Democratic Republic
The German Democratic Republic , informally called East Germany by West Germany and other countries, was a socialist state established in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, including East Berlin of the Allied-occupied capital city...
. In its place, was the Committee of Anti-fascist Resistance Fighters (Komitee der Antifaschistischen Widerstandskämpfer). The Committee was not set up as an autonomous association, but was subordinate to the Central Committee
Central Committee
Central Committee was the common designation of a standing administrative body of communist parties, analogous to a board of directors, whether ruling or non-ruling in the twentieth century and of the surviving, mostly Trotskyist, states in the early twenty first. In such party organizations the...
of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany
Socialist Unity Party of Germany
The Socialist Unity Party of Germany was the governing party of the German Democratic Republic from its formation on 7 October 1949 until the elections of March 1990. The SED was a communist political party with a Marxist-Leninist ideology...
(SED), which controlled the government. Furthermore, the organization was funded by the state.
The VVN refers to itself as an independent, multi-party whose essential moral precept is resistance to fascism. In the 1950s, it was considered to be dominated by the KPD (and from 1968, the German Communist Party
German Communist Party
The German Communist Party is a Marxist-Leninist party in Germany.-History:The DKP was formed in West Germany in 1968, in order to fill the place of the Communist Party of Germany , which had been banned by the Federal Constitutional Court in 1956...
), whereby its membership ranges from orthodox Communists to unaffiliated individuals to the Alliance '90/The Greens
Alliance '90/The Greens
Alliance '90/The Greens is a green political party in Germany, formed from the merger of the German Green Party and Alliance 90 in 1993. Its leaders are Claudia Roth and Cem Özdemir...
to members of the Social Democratic Party
Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...
(SPD), (despite a standing "Resolution of Irreconcilability" issued by the SPD until 2008).
The VVN-BdA is a member of the Fédération Internationale des Résistants (International Federation of Resisters), along with organizations from all over Europe and from Israel.
Founding of the organization
The founding of the organization began immediately with the return of the concentration camp survivors, the imprisoned Resistance fighters, and others recently persecuted by the Nazi regime. By June 26, 1945, such a group had been founded in Stuttgart and in the following weeks and months, there were regional groups of ex-political prisoners and other persecuted individuals formed with the permission of the allied forces, in each of the four occupation zones. Their concern, next to providing social help for those in need, was to bring the voice of resistance, the political and moral weight of the opponents of the Nazi regime to form a new anti-fascist, democratic Germany.The initiative for the VVN came from representatives of the labor parties, which had committees that provided direct assistance to people persecuted or victimized by the Nazis, whether political, religious, or racially based.
It set out to be a multi-party organization, an umbrella group for everyone, regardless of political affiliation, according to its manifesto in August 1946.
Representatives from all the regional organizations in the four occupied zones met in Frankfurt am Main from July 20–22, 1946 and adopted a charter for the "Society of People Persecuted by the Nazi Regime". On October 26, 1946, the first state organizations was founded in Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...
, North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia is the most populous state of Germany, with four of the country's ten largest cities. The state was formed in 1946 as a merger of the northern Rhineland and Westphalia, both formerly part of Prussia. Its capital is Düsseldorf. The state is currently run by a coalition of the...
. Others soon followed.
From March 15–17, 1947, the 1st Inter-zonal States Conference of the VVN convened in Frankfurt am Main with 68 delegates from all four of the occupied zones and the city of Berlin and formed an organization representing all of Germany, with a similarly constituted council and two co-chairmen at the helm.
The "red triangle", the sign sewn on the concentration camp uniforms of political prisoners, was adopted as the symbol for the VVN. The aim of the organization was to support former prisoners, but the founding VVN members uniformly did not want to limit themselves to just this purpose. Having experienced terror
Terror
Terror may refer to:*Fear, an emotional response to threats and danger*Terror, a political strategy of the asymmetrical use of threats and violence against enemies using means that fall outside the routine forms of political struggle operating within some current regime*Terrorism, the fact of...
personally, they wanted to be true to the Buchenwald Oath, to never again let fascism become a reality, "Our solution is the extermination of Nazism
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
to its roots. Our goal is the creation of a new world of peace and freedom."
The political confrontation of the cold war affected the VVN heavily. Kurt Schumacher
Kurt Schumacher
Dr. Kurt Schumacher , was chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Germany from 1946 and first Leader of the Opposition in the West German Bundestag parliament from 1949 until his death...
, leader of the SPD declared an impasse of incompatibility (Unvereinbarkeitsbeschluss) for Social Democrats. Nonetheless, many SPD members remained in the VVN. Prominent Nazi opponents, such as Eugen Kogon
Eugen Kogon
Eugen Kogon was a historian and a survivor of the Holocaust. A well-known Christian opponent of the Nazi Party, he was arrested more than once and spent six years at Buchenwald concentration camp. Kogon was known in Germany as a journalist, sociologist, political scientist, author and politician...
, who were close to the Christian Democratic Union
Christian Democratic Union (Germany)
The Christian Democratic Union of Germany is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It is regarded as on the centre-right of the German political spectrum...
(CDU) resigned from the VVN for political reasons. These actions led to a political narrowing of the VVN, although the organization continued to seek out all Nazi opponents and victims of persecution.
German Democratic Republic (former East Germany)
In 1949 and 1950, the Stalinist purges had repercussions in the Soviet occupation zone, later to become the German Democratic RepublicGerman Democratic Republic
The German Democratic Republic , informally called East Germany by West Germany and other countries, was a socialist state established in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, including East Berlin of the Allied-occupied capital city...
(GDR), with the SED accusing leading members of the VVN of being agents of the west. At the same time, in connection with the Rudolf Slánský
Rudolf Slánský
Rudolf Slánský was a Czech Communist politician. Holding the post of the party's General Secretary after World War II, he was one of the leading creators and organizers of Communist rule in Czechoslovakia...
trial in the former Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
, the policies of the GDR leadership began to evidence an increasing anti-semitism toward the Jewish Communists who had fled to western countries after 1933. Julius Meyer, an SED member and elected member of the People's Chamber, Hans Freund and other Jewish members of the VVN fled to West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
in December 1952 and January 1953 because of th e threat of persecution. Even Leo Zuckerman, a former state secretary and co-author of the GDR constitution, fled to the west.
Without the consultation of the VVN, the decision was made on January 15, 1953 to dissolve the organization. The VVN's publishing house was dissolved and in its place the Committee of Anti-fascist Resistance Fighters (Komitee der antifaschistischen Widerstandskämpfer) was set up. The overnight dissolution of the VVN met little opposition from within the organization itself. The Committee maintained close contact with the VVN in the Federal Republic of Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
(FRG).
In 1990, after the democratic revolution in the GDR
Die Wende
marks the complete process of the change from socialism and planned economy to market economy and capitalism in East Germany around the years 1989 and 1990. It encompasses several processes and events which later have become synonymous with the overall process...
, the Association of Former Participants of the Anti-Fascist Resistance, Persecutees and Survivors (Interessenverband ehemaliger Teilnehmer am antifaschistischen Widerstand, Verfolgter des Naziregimes und Hinterbliebener) (IVVdN) took over as successor to the Committee. In October 2002, the IVVdN merged with the West German VVN, forming one organization for all of Germany.
Federal Republic of Germany (former West Germany)
The Communists had a major influence within the organization. The organization was led by the SED and DKPGerman Communist Party
The German Communist Party is a Marxist-Leninist party in Germany.-History:The DKP was formed in West Germany in 1968, in order to fill the place of the Communist Party of Germany , which had been banned by the Federal Constitutional Court in 1956...
till the German reunification in 1989. In 1989, all state chairmen, nearly all the main employees, as well as two-thirds of the membership of the national board and the steering committee were all members of the DKP.
The political scope during the founding years was distinctly limited by the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
. Compounding that, were the declaration of incompatibility by the SPD in May 1948 and the resignation of prominent Nazi adversaries Eugen Kogon
Eugen Kogon
Eugen Kogon was a historian and a survivor of the Holocaust. A well-known Christian opponent of the Nazi Party, he was arrested more than once and spent six years at Buchenwald concentration camp. Kogon was known in Germany as a journalist, sociologist, political scientist, author and politician...
, Heinz Galinski
Heinz Galinski
Heinz Galinski was president of the Zentralrat der Juden in Deutschland also known as Central Council of Jews in Germany from 1988 until his death in 1992....
and Philipp Auerbach, which all caused the VVN to be viewed in public discourse as a "Communist front organization". Public servants risked dismissal if they remained members of the VVN, despite being survivors of Nazi terror.
The splits and resignations resulted in a numerical and political dominance of left-wing members. Former Communist Resistance fighters found in the VNN a political forum in which they could to meet legally while the KPD itself was legally banned.
A number of Bundesländer tried to ban the VVN during the 1950s. A judicial ruling forced Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony is a German state situated in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen states of Germany...
to lift its ban and in Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
, "VAN" was left as a "replacement" organization, but in Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has an area of and about four million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. English speakers also commonly refer to the state by its German name, Rheinland-Pfalz ....
, the ban remained in effect. At the end of the 1950s, the federal government went to federal court to establish a ban against the VVN at the national level. The opening of the trial erupted into political scandal when it was revealed that the presiding judge, Senate President Prof. Dr. Werner had been an aggressive Nazi, resulting in the discontinuation of the case. The anti-communist climate continued to plague members of the VVN during the postwar era, though in sight of constitutional protection and during the 1970s, they were at times criticized by radicals.
From the outset, the VVN concerned itself with care for the victims of Nazi injustice, as well as the admonition and remembrance of the crimes of National Socialism. This included, for example, social counseling according to the federal law on compensation for victims of Nazi persecution, which came into force in 1956, but was retroactive to October 1, 1953. One section of the statute was problematic for VVN members, however. It excluded payments from anyone who advocated communism.
Since the 1960s, among the VVN's key spheres of political activity has been confrontation of old and new Nazis. The VVN has worked against SS reunions, against the National Democratc Party
National Democratic Party of Germany
The National Democratic Party of Germany – The People's Union , is a far right German nationalist party. It was founded in 1964 a successor to the German Reich Party . Party statements self-identify as Germany's "only significant patriotic force"...
, and against Auschwitz denial and other forms of revisionist history.
A crucial step was the May 1971 expansion of the organization to include the "Association of Anti-fascists". This extended the possibility of membership beyond just the persecuted and their family members, to young who have felt a bond with concentration camp survivors and their legacy. The broadening of the VVN changed the organization considerably during the 1970s and 1980s.
Attempted ban
After September 1950, government employees were prohibited from joining the VVN and the Bundesregierung tried to ban the organization itself in 1951. On August 2, 1951, the police closed the VVN offices in Frankfurt am Main. Following that, came prohibitions in the states of Hamburg and Rhineland-PalatinateRhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has an area of and about four million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. English speakers also commonly refer to the state by its German name, Rheinland-Pfalz ....
. Other states did not follow suit, though in Bavaria, there was an attempt, which ended with a finding by the Administrative Court in Regensburg
Regensburg
Regensburg is a city in Bavaria, Germany, located at the confluence of the Danube and Regen rivers, at the northernmost bend in the Danube. To the east lies the Bavarian Forest. Regensburg is the capital of the Bavarian administrative region Upper Palatinate...
that the VVN was not anti-constitutional. The federal government made another attempt to ban the organization in 1959, but the Federal Administrative Court of Germany
Federal Administrative Court of Germany
The Federal Administrative Court is one of the five federal supreme courts of Germany. It is the court of the last resort for generally all cases of administrative law, mainly disputes between citizens and the state...
broke off the process after two hearings.
The ban was repealed in Hamburg in 1960 and in Rhineland-Palatinate in 1972.
Extension to the Federation of Anti-fascists
Members of the VVN were involved in a number of debates after the war. They fought against reinstalling old Nazis as office holders, against the reemergence of Nazi organizations, against the plan to re-arm GermanyWiederbewaffnung
Wiederbewaffnung refers to the United States of America plan to help build up West Germany after World War II. They could not function outside an alliance framework . These events lead to the establishment of the Bundeswehr, the West German army, in 1955.Heinz Guderian stated that the fight was...
, against atomic armament and against the white-washing of German history from 1933 to 1945. Initiatives of the VVN led to the erection of memorial sites, such as the development of Dachau concentration camp into a noteworthy memorial site in the mid-1960s, a project with which VVN members were significantly involved.
In 1971, the VVN expanded itself to include the Bund der Antifaschisten (Federation of Anti-fascists). In the wake of the student protests of 1968
Protests of 1968
The protests of 1968 consisted of a worldwide series of protests, largely participated in by students and workers.-Background:Background speculations of overall causality vary about the political protests centering on the year 1968. Some argue that protests could be attributed to the social changes...
and the growth of the right-wing extremist National Democratic Party
National Democratic Party of Germany
The National Democratic Party of Germany – The People's Union , is a far right German nationalist party. It was founded in 1964 a successor to the German Reich Party . Party statements self-identify as Germany's "only significant patriotic force"...
(NPD), many young people became interested in the debate over Germany's Nazi past. The organization was also faced with a graying and declining membership and needed to invigorate itself with newer, younger members. Key themes of the 1970s and 1980s were the peace movement
Peace movement
A peace movement is a social movement that seeks to achieve ideals such as the ending of a particular war , minimize inter-human violence in a particular place or type of situation, often linked to the goal of achieving world peace...
and anti-fascism
Anti-fascism
Anti-fascism is the opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals, such as that of the resistance movements during World War II. The related term antifa derives from Antifaschismus, which is German for anti-fascism; it refers to individuals and groups on the left of the political...
.
1989 crisis
In 1989, it became officially known that most of the VVN's work at the federal level was financed through funds from the DDR. With the end of this funding, came a financial crisis that brought VVN to the brink of dissolution. The full-time staff had to be laid off. According to the 1989 VerfassungsschutzberichtVerfassungsschutzbericht
The Annual Report on the Protection of the Constitution is published by the German Federal Ministry of the Interior since 1968. In the Annual Report details of the activities of far right, far left, Islamic extremists foreign and domestic, in Germany, as well as espionage, are given...
of Lower Saxony (page 26), until the fall of communism, all applications for full-time VVN employees had been reviewed and approved by the Chairman of the German Communist Party
German Communist Party
The German Communist Party is a Marxist-Leninist party in Germany.-History:The DKP was formed in West Germany in 1968, in order to fill the place of the Communist Party of Germany , which had been banned by the Federal Constitutional Court in 1956...
(DKP). The president and secretariat of the national board of the VVN-BdA resigned in January 1990. The organization then voted to continue the work with reduced means and a new organizational structure.
The absence of funding by the DDR opened the door for non-dogmatic influence; the Union became open to unaffiliated anti-fascists.
Merging the East and West German organizations
In October 2002, the West German VVN-BdA in Berlin merged with the East German Interessenverband ehemaliger Teilnehmer am antifaschistischen Widerstand, Verfolgter des Naziregimes und Hinterbliebener (Interest Group of Former Participants in the Anti-Fascist Resistance, Persecutees of the Nazi Regime, and Survivors) and the Bund der Antifaschisten (Federation of Anti-Fascists). Following the mergers, the organization's membership was around 9,000.Representatives of domestic and foreign organizations of former persecutees, as well as guests of German organizations took part in the unification congress. Among them was Horst Schmitthenner, executive board member of IG Metall
IG Metall
IG Metall is the dominant metalworkers' union in Germany. Analysts of German labor relations consider it a major trend-setter in national bargaining. As a metalworkers' union, it represents workers in the motor vehicle industry...
, who emphatically welcomed the VVN merger and declared, "As in the past, IG Metall will support the vital work of the VVN-BdA."
VVN today
The VVN-BdA works to fight racism, xenophobiaXenophobia
Xenophobia is defined as "an unreasonable fear of foreigners or strangers or of that which is foreign or strange". It comes from the Greek words ξένος , meaning "stranger," "foreigner" and φόβος , meaning "fear."...
and anti-semitism; any discrimination based on national origin, race, sexual orientation or ideology and is against physical or other threats resulting from such discrimination.
The organization has under 9,000 members (as of 2003). Twice a month, it publishes the magazine, Antifa. The honorary president is the late Kurt Julius Goldstein
Kurt Julius Goldstein
Kurt Julius Goldstein was a German journalist and a former broadcast director.- Biography :Goldstein was born to a Jewish merchant family in Dortmund, Germany. At school, he experienced Germany's growing anti-Semitism and it had the effect of politicising him...
.
Campaign to ban neo-Nazi party
The VVN-BdA initiated a nationwide campaign in early 2007, lasting till that December, that called for a renewed effort to ban the NPD. At the heart of the campaign was a petition calling for the BundestagBundestag
The Bundestag is a federal legislative body in Germany. In practice Germany is governed by a bicameral legislature, of which the Bundestag serves as the lower house and the Bundesrat the upper house. The Bundestag is established by the German Basic Law of 1949, as the successor to the earlier...
to pass "a new ban against the NPD, according to Article 21, paragraph 2 of the
Hannelore Elsner
Hannelore Elsner is a German actress. After finishing drama school she worked in theatres in Berlin and München. Later she starred in films and TV series such as Die Schwarzwaldklinik...
, Frank Werneke and the board of 1. FC Nuremberg.
At the end of the petition campaign on December 12, 2007, the 175,455 signatures were delivered to Bundestag Vice President Petra Pau
Petra Pau
Petra Pau is a member of The Left in the German parliament, the Bundestag. First elected in 1998, from 2002 - 2005 she was one of just two party representatives, having been directly elected as the representative of Berlin Marzahn – Hellersdorf, a working-class area of east Berlin...
, Bundestag members Gesine Lötzsch
Gesine Lötzsch
Gesine Lötzsch [geˈsinə løːtʃ] is a German politician of the left-wing party Die Linke. She was elected president of Die Linke in 2010 ....
and Dorothée Menzner of the Left Party
The Left (Germany)
The Left , also commonly referred to as the Left Party , is a democratic socialist political party in Germany. The Left is the most left-wing party of the five represented in the Bundestag....
and Niels Annen
Niels Annen
Niels Annen is a German politician and member of the SPD.- External links :* *...
of the Social Democratic Party of Germany>Social Democratic Party. A new campaign to ban the NPD began on January 27, 2009.
Assessment by German intelligence
The 2005 report on political extremism by Germany's Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution considered the VVN-BdA as "influenced by left-wing extremism". It found that- the "Members and former members of the DKP and traditionalist members of the Left Party-PDS still hold important positions of leadership";
- "The organisation is thus still predominantly committed to orthodox/communist "anti-fascism", which argues that right-wing extremism is inherently linked to market economy systems and that state institutions in western democracies are thus more likely to support right-wing extremist activity than fight it."
- that in this view, "a socialist/communist dictatorship is the only logical alternative to "fascist" threats".
The report acknowledged that the VVN-BdA had, since 1989, stopped describing ultra-left violence and injustice as commendable; nevertheless, Communist crimes were consistently qualified, ignored and even denied.
Later reports on the Protection of the Constitution do not mention the organisation anymore. Some state reports, such as from Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg is one of the 16 states of Germany. Baden-Württemberg is in the southwestern part of the country to the east of the Upper Rhine, and is the third largest in both area and population of Germany's sixteen states, with an area of and 10.7 million inhabitants...
and Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
, do still mention them in their reports.
The Bavarian intelligence agency regards the VVN-BbA's use of the term "anti-fascism," as meaning not just the fight against right-wing extremism, but also to mean agitation against the democratic state and its institutions. In addition, it claims the fight against right-wing extremism is a pretence under which organization tries to influence the middle class and co-opt democrats for its goals against the democracy.
Notable members
- Josef "Jupp" Angenfort (b. 1924), spokesman, North Rhine-WestphaliaNorth Rhine-WestphaliaNorth Rhine-Westphalia is the most populous state of Germany, with four of the country's ten largest cities. The state was formed in 1946 as a merger of the northern Rhineland and Westphalia, both formerly part of Prussia. Its capital is Düsseldorf. The state is currently run by a coalition of the...
and federal committee member - Mumia Abu-JamalMumia Abu-JamalMumia Abu-Jamal was convicted of the 1981 murder of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner and sentenced to death. He has been described as "perhaps the world's best known death-row inmate", and his sentence is one of the most debated today...
(b. 1954), American journalist, convicted murderer and civil rights activist, honorary member - Kurt Bachmann (1909–1997), 1969–1973 chairman of the DKP and co-founder of the VVN
- Esther BejaranoEsther BéjaranoEsther Béjarano , Violette Jacquet, and Anita Lasker Wallfisch are among the last survivors of the Girl orchestra of Auschwitz.- Biography :...
(b. 1924), Auschwitz survivor, honorary board member - Siegfried Bibo, longtime chairman of the VVN-VdA
- Karin BinderKarin BinderKarin Binder is a German politician and member of the "Die Linke."- External links :*...
(b. 1957), member of the BundestagBundestagThe Bundestag is a federal legislative body in Germany. In practice Germany is governed by a bicameral legislature, of which the Bundestag serves as the lower house and the Bundesrat the upper house. The Bundestag is established by the German Basic Law of 1949, as the successor to the earlier...
, Die Linke - Hagen Blau (b. 1935), former diplomat and StasiStasiThe Ministry for State Security The Ministry for State Security The Ministry for State Security (German: Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (MfS), commonly known as the Stasi (abbreviation , literally State Security), was the official state security service of East Germany. The MfS was headquartered...
agent in the former East Germany - Gerd Bornemann, "top of the ticket" candidate for the PDS, LandtagLandtagA Landtag is a representative assembly or parliament in German-speaking countries with some legislative authority.- Name :...
election 2003 in Lower SaxonyLower SaxonyLower Saxony is a German state situated in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen states of Germany... - Anneliese Buschmann (1906–1999), FDPFree Democratic Party (Germany)The Free Democratic Party , abbreviated to FDP, is a centre-right classical liberal political party in Germany. It is led by Philipp Rösler and currently serves as the junior coalition partner to the Union in the German federal government...
politician - Emil CarlebachEmil CarlebachEmil Carlebach was a Hessian Landtag member, a writer, and a journalist. He was born and died in Frankfurt am Main.-Life:...
(1914–2001), 1932 KPD, DKP, VVN steering committee - Hans Coppi, Jr.Hans Coppi, Jr.Dr. Hans Coppi, Jr. is a German historian. His parents, Hilde and Hans Coppi, were active in the German Resistance and were both executed by the Nazis.- Nazi victim at birth :...
(b. 1942), historian, chairman of the Berlin Landesverband - Alfred Dellheim (1924–2003), chairman of the East German IVVDN
- Uwe Doering (b. 1953), electrician, member of Berlin parliament, and parliamentary manager for Die Linke in Berlin
- Ludwig Elm (b. 1934), professor of history, member of BundestagBundestagThe Bundestag is a federal legislative body in Germany. In practice Germany is governed by a bicameral legislature, of which the Bundestag serves as the lower house and the Bundesrat the upper house. The Bundestag is established by the German Basic Law of 1949, as the successor to the earlier...
from Thuringia, state spokesman for the VVN-BdA - Edgar Engelhard (1917–1979), FDP politician; 2nd mayor of Hamburg; withdrew in 1950
- Heinrich FinkHeinrich FinkHeinrich Fink is a German theologian, university professor and politician .-Biography:Fink comes from an impoverished Bessarabian peasant family. The family was resettled to Poland on the basis of Himmler's emigration policy. Heinrich Fink joined the Freie Deutsche Jugend...
(b. 1935), chairman of the VVN-BdA - Dieter Frielinghaus (b. 1928), evangelicalEvangelical Church in GermanyThe Evangelical Church in Germany is a federation of 22 Lutheran, Unified and Reformed Protestant regional church bodies in Germany. The EKD is not a church in a theological understanding because of the denominational differences. However, the member churches share full pulpit and altar...
-reformed pastor, peace activist - Heinz GalinskiHeinz GalinskiHeinz Galinski was president of the Zentralrat der Juden in Deutschland also known as Central Council of Jews in Germany from 1988 until his death in 1992....
(1912–1992), 2nd chairman (till 1948) of the VVN in Berlin - Claudia von Gélieu (b. 1960), historian, unaffiliated (formerly SPD)
- Peter GingoldPeter GingoldPeter Gingold was a figure in the German Resistance and the National Committee for a Free Germany. He was born in a Jewish family in Aschaffenburg, Bavaria. He was a member of the Communist Party of Germany and its successor the German Communist Party...
(1916–2006), 1932 Young Communist League of GermanyYoung Communist League of GermanyThe Young Communist League of Germany was a political youth organization in Germany. It was formed in 1920 from the Free Socialist Youth of the Communist Party of Germany, which itself was formed in October 1918, with support from the Spartacus League . The KJVD was created in 1925...
, 1937 KPD, DKP), national spokesman of the VVN-BdA - Kurt Julius GoldsteinKurt Julius GoldsteinKurt Julius Goldstein was a German journalist and a former broadcast director.- Biography :Goldstein was born to a Jewish merchant family in Dortmund, Germany. At school, he experienced Germany's growing anti-Semitism and it had the effect of politicising him...
(1914–2007), honorary chairman of the VVN-BdA, KPDSED - Eva Gottschaldt (b. 1953), historian, unaffiliated and Protestant Christian
- Carl Helfrich (1906–1960), first editor-in-chief of the VVN newspaper, Die Tat
- Willy Hundertmark (1906–2002), co-founder of the VVN and chairman of the state VVN, Bremen, 1983–1991 (afterward, honorary chairman), 1926 KPD, later DKP
- Walter KaufmannWalter Kaufmann (author)Walter Kaufmann is a German writer.Walter Kaufmann was the adopted son of a Jewish lawyer in Germany. He grew up in Duisburg, where he attended Steinbart High School. Later, his adoptive parents were captured by the Nazis and were murdered in the infamous Auschwitz concentration camp...
(b, 1924), author - Victor KlempererVictor KlempererVictor Klemperer was a businessman, journalist and eventually a Professor of Literature, specialising in the French Enlightenment at the Technische Universität Dresden. His diaries detailing his life under successive German states—the German Empire, the Weimar Republic, Nazi Germany and the German...
(1881–1960), novelist - Lorenz Knorr (b. 1921), (Deutsche Friedensunion), journalist
- Kerstin Köditz (b. 1967), member of LandtagLandtagA Landtag is a representative assembly or parliament in German-speaking countries with some legislative authority.- Name :...
, (Die Linke) in Saxony - Martin Löwenberg (b. 1925), FlossenbürgFlossenbürgFlossenbürg is a municipality in the district of Neustadt an der Waldnaab in Bavaria in Germany. The state-approved leisure area is located in the Bavarian Forest and borders the Czech Republic in the east. During World War II, the Flossenbürg concentration camp was located here.- History :The...
concentration camp survivor - Adolf MaislingerAdolf MaislingerAdolf Maislinger was a member of the German Resistance and was a survivor of Dachau concentration camp.-Early years:Maislinger, known as "Adi", came from a Social Democratic Party household...
(1903–1985), KPD, Dachau resistance groupInternational concentration camp committeesInternational concentration camp committees are organizations composed of former inmates of the various Nazi concentration camps, formed at various times, primarily after the Second World War... - Dorothée Menzner (b. 1965), member of BundestagBundestagThe Bundestag is a federal legislative body in Germany. In practice Germany is governed by a bicameral legislature, of which the Bundestag serves as the lower house and the Bundesrat the upper house. The Bundestag is established by the German Basic Law of 1949, as the successor to the earlier...
, Die Linke - Josef Müller (politician) (1898–1979), representative in the Weimar RepublicWeimar RepublicThe Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government...
, first chairman of the CSUChristian Social Union of BavariaThe Christian Social Union in Bavaria is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It operates only in the state of Bavaria, while its sister party, the Christian Democratic Union , operates in the other 15 states of Germany... - Harry NaujoksHarry NaujoksHarry Naujoks was a German anti-fascist and survivor of Sachsenhausen concentration camp.- Biography :...
(1901–1983), chairman, international Sachsenhausen committeeInternational concentration camp committeesInternational concentration camp committees are organizations composed of former inmates of the various Nazi concentration camps, formed at various times, primarily after the Second World War... - Werner Pfennig (1937–2008), chairman VVN-BdA, 2002–2008
- Karl Raddatz (1904–1970), general secretary of the VVN in the Soviet occupation zone und co-director of the interzone secretariat of the VVN
- Joseph Cornelius Rossaint (1902–1991), president of the VVN, 1962–1991
- Heinz Schröder (VVN) (1910–1997), longtime chairman of the VVN-VdA in West-Berlin
- Hans Schwarz (VVN) , co-director of the inter-zone secretariat of the VVN
- Robert SiewertRobert SiewertRobert Siewert was a German politician and fought in the German Resistance against National Socialism. He is a survivor of Buchenwald concentration camp, where he helped save the life of Stefan Jerzy Zweig, among others....
(1887–1973), first Minister of the Interior, GDR - Walter VielhauerWalter VielhauerWalter Vielhauer was a communist and anti-fascist of Heilbronn who was held captive by Nazi Germany before and during World War II....
(1909–1986) mayor of HeilbronnHeilbronnHeilbronn is a city in northern Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is completely surrounded by Heilbronn County and with approximately 123.000 residents, it is the sixth-largest city in the state....
(KPD, later DKP) - Maria Wachter (1910–2010), honorary chairman of the VVN-BdA in North Rhine-WestphaliaNorth Rhine-WestphaliaNorth Rhine-Westphalia is the most populous state of Germany, with four of the country's ten largest cities. The state was formed in 1946 as a merger of the northern Rhineland and Westphalia, both formerly part of Prussia. Its capital is Düsseldorf. The state is currently run by a coalition of the...
- Christel WegnerChristel WegnerChristel Wegner is a German Communist politician. In 2008, she was elected to the assembly of Lower Saxony for the party DIE LINKE., although she is a member of the German Communist Party , which until now has cooperated closely with that party...
(b. 1947), DKP
Sources
- Wolfgang Rudzio, Die Erosion der Abgrenzung. Zum Verhältnis zwischen der demokratischen Linken und Kommunisten in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Opladen 1988 (p. 111), ISBN 3-531-12045-X
- Elke Reuter and Detlef Hansel, Das kurze Leben der VVN von 1947 bis 1953: Die Geschichte der Verfolgten des Nazi-Regimes in der SBZ und DDR. Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-929161-97-4
- Kurt Faller and Bernd Wittich, Abschied vom Antifaschismus. Frankfurter (Oder) 1997, ISBN 3-930842-03-3
- Ulrich Schneider, Zukunftsentwurf Antifaschismus. 50 Jahre Wirken der VVN für „eine neue Welt des Friedens und der Freiheit“. Bonn 1997, ISBN 3-89144-237-8
- Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz: „Vereinigung der Verfolgten des Naziregimes-Bund der Antifaschistinnen und Antifaschisten“ (VVN-BdA), Cologne, June 1997
- Der Bundesminister des Innern (Publ.): Bedeutung und Funktion des Antifaschismus, Bonn 1990
- Bettina Blank, "Vereinigung der Verfolgten des Naziregimes - Bund der Antifaschistinnen und Antifaschisten“ (VVN-BdA)" Jahrbuch Extremismus & Demokratie. 12, Baden-Baden 2000, pp. 224-239
External links
- Official website of the VVN-BdA
- antifa (anti-fascist) Magazine VVN-BdA membership publication
- Neofascism in Germany
History of the VVN
- "2007 – 60 Jahre VVN" ("60 Years of the VVN") Hans Coppi, Jr.Hans Coppi, Jr.Dr. Hans Coppi, Jr. is a German historian. His parents, Hilde and Hans Coppi, were active in the German Resistance and were both executed by the Nazis.- Nazi victim at birth :...
and Nicole Warmbold on the founding of the VVN] - Jan Foizik, SBZ Handbuch. (Soviet occupation zone handbook 1945-1949)
- Sven Wierskalla, Die Vereinigung der Verfolgten des Naziregimes (VVN) in der Sowjetischen Besatzungszone und in Berlin 1945 bis 1948
- The history of the VVN in Hamburg
- The history of the VVN in North Rhine-Westphalia
- The story of "Victims of Facism Day"