1.1 General introduction
Since German reunification there has been constant interest in the topic of right-wing extremism in the German-speaking world evident among the general public, the media, and politicians. This interest has, however, often come in waves over the last few decades: In the immediate aftermath of spectacular incidents (crimes) and scandals (such as the exposure of right-wing networks), right-wing extremism is broadly treated in the media as an urgent societal problem. After a while, however, the interest declines noticeably, so that the topic to a large extent disappears again from public focus. This process is indeed understandable in terms of the workings of the mass media, but it does not reflect the continuity of right-wing extremism as a political and social phenomenon in the contemporary German-speaking world.
Understandably, the focus of the reporting, the commentary on and analysis of the phenomenon of right-wing extremism, of its underlying causes and various formations, tends to be above all on the political and societal aspects.
Academic approaches to right-wing extremism are also not entirely exempt from the general wave-like pattern of rising and falling interest. However, such discussions tend, for structural reasons at least, to take a longer-term view. Yet research in the area is also concentrated for the most part on sociological and political aspects of extremism. A large number of publications from these particular disciplines and with various aims and methods is now available.
The far right, like all political movements, also look to historical roots. This is not just a matter of maintaining and constructing traditions, but â and this is also an omnipresent phenomenon in the political landscape â history is interpreted to suit the ideology and used to legitimate a particular world view.
In doing this, political groups these days normally refer to the more recent past, such as, for example, to the period of reunification, to the 1970s and 1980s, to the foundation of the Federal Republic of Germany, sometimes to the Weimar Republic or even as far back as the workersâ movement or the liberalism of the nineteenth century. Events and historical epochs from before this time do not play any role for present day political programs and ideologies.1 This is, however, not the case with right-wing extremists, who refer not only to the Third Reich, but also to the ancient times of the Germanic peoples and to late antiquity as well as to the Middle Ages.
The far right thus shows itself to be unique in terms of its invocation of history: while references to national socialism and to its roots still lie within the relatively recent historical period â though of course no other political party or movement refers to the Nazi years in a positive way â the return to the culture of the Germanic peoples represents a unique exception in the political landscape. Contemporary right-wing extremists are thereby indeed deliberately associating themselves with the legacy of National Socialism, some parts of which also projected their own ideology back onto the Germanic peoples.2 In fact the use of Germanic culture by recent far-right groups extends far beyond that of the National Socialists, as will be demonstrated in the following.
Even where historical references for far-right ideology, discourse and identity-building have as such been fully noted and considered in the academic research, the focus has mostly been, however, on the conscious association with National Socialism as well as with the models of völkisch and racist ideology of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. These are, of course, the immediate political and intellectual ancestors and predecessors of the contemporary far right. Moreover, references to National Socialism and its predecessors are clearly obvious, at least in parts of the self-representation of far-right organisations and groups to the outside world. This is naturally true first and foremost of the political-ideological foundations that the contemporary far right adopts â partly unaltered or in a merely slightly changed form â from National Socialism. But even on the surface, the unambiguous references take place on a particular symbolic-iconic level. The use of the Reichâs colours black-white-red, the symbolism of the Third Reich, the association with uniforms of the Nazi party or archaic usages in other symbolic systems (e.g. through the use of special typefaces such as Gothic script) serve to establish a connection with National Socialism. Members of the far right also deliberately associate themselves linguistically with National Socialist traditions. One of the ways this happens is through the use of specific vocabulary from the time of the Third Reich, through the adoption of abbreviations and acronyms that are intended to remind the audience of National Socialism or its representatives, but also through the use of linguistic strategies that Adolf Hitler, Joseph Goebbels and other prominent figures of the Nazi regime employed, such as, for example, the semantic reinterpretation of concepts, especially through the re-functioning of words as pejoratives or euphemisms, or the creation of neologisms using core ideological terms, such as Volk (e.g. Schuppener 2013: 175ff.).
The elaboration of far-right traditions is not restricted to references to this undoubtedly essential period for the movement: The far right in the German-speaking world reaches much further back into history.
Parts of the National Socialist movement (especially parts of the SS and in particular their leader Heinrich Himmler and those around him) already regarded as fundamental the identification with the ethnic roots of the German Volk, roots that one claimed to find in the ancient Germanic tribes. This was an essential component arising out of the völkisch, racial ideological foundations of National Socialism. A further result of this was the necessity to become more deeply engaged with the ancient history, culture, and beliefs of the Germanic peoples or tribes. At the same time, history was interpreted in accordance with National Socialist ideology. Members of the contemporary far right position themselves in this tradition as followers and rightful successors of the ancient period of German history and of Germanic culture. It is precisely this aspect of far-right identity that has so far been given little attention.
1.2 A critical review of the research to date
Despite its significance in terms of how the movement presents itself to the outside world as well as to itself, especially also in the form of propaganda, etc., very little attention has been paid in studies of the far right in the past to the references to ancient Germanic culture and to Norse-Germanic mythology. Most investigations of how right-wing extremists legitimate themselves historically, which historical models they use and which historical references they actively cultivate, have focused primarily on National Socialism as well as its ideological predecessors, especially on those with the kind of racist and völkisch ideas that were developed in the nineteenth century. Not infrequently in such discussions one finds right-wing extremism even equated with National Socialism or understood as a merely modified continuation of National Socialism (e.g. Pfahl-Traughber 2019: 25f.).
On the other hand, far-right references to ancient Germanic history and to Norse-Germanic mythology, and the coded symbols involved, have indeed been mentioned and listed in various popular writings intended to inform people about the external marks, signs and badges of identity to be found on the scene (e.g. Banghard 2016; Versteckspiel 2017). It is, however, rare that such writings offer a comprehensive account of the implications associated with these or any deeper analysis of the contexts and backgrounds that goes beyond establishing a connection with National Socialism.
The sparse amount of literature dealing with the adoption of Germanic culture by the far right includes the paper by Banghard (2015) and the collected volume by Gallé (2015) which, however, concentrate above all on the particular issue of the adoption of Norse-Germanic Mythology.
One example of how deficient and poorly informed academic discussions of the far-right use of Germanic culture can be is the paper by HeĂ-Meining (2012) which simply categorises it as a form of esoteric culture (HeĂ-Meining 2012: 384f., 390). In other places, the topic is again only mentioned in passing and treated merely as a matter of marginal interest (thus e.g. in Braunthal 2009: 92, 119). Even in a study as comprehensive and foundational as that by Pfahl-Traughber (2019), the references in far-right groups to the Germanic peoples are also only dealt with in a marginal way. The study by Meier-Schuegraf (2005) considers at least some aspects, albeit related to a very narrowly defined area of investigation (right-wing extremist banner advertising on the internet).
In general, however, this topic is completely ignored. It is thus worth noting that the adoption of Germanic culture as part of the broad far-right conception of history does not feature at all in HĂ€uslerâs account of the right-wing extremist politics of history (HĂ€usler 2016: 159ff.). The general neglect of the topic is evident also in the literature in English dealing with the far right, its roots and forms in the German-speaking world (e.g. Kiess/Decker/BrĂ€hler 2016; Mudde 2002; Kruglanski/Webber/Koehler 2020). One exception that may be noted here is the study by Miller-Idriss (2017) which focuses particularly on far-right youth culture. The situation is different with regard to the use of Norse-Germanic mythology in American right-wing extremism. Here, for example, a detailed study is available in the monograph by Gardell (2003). Despite its focus on the political-ideological use of Norse mythology, the anthology by Meylan/Rösli (2020) only marginally touches on German-speaking right-wing extremism.
The research reviewed thus far indicates how little attention has been paid to the topic in academic discussions of the far-right conception of history. Yet the historical references dealt with here contribute fundamentally to the identity of the extreme right-wing scene and they are of noteworthy significance for its propaganda, in particular in the recruiting of sympathisers. For this reason, a more detailed focus on the topic seems both timely and necessary in order to describe and to analyse recent right-wing extremism.
In particular, even if there are a few preliminary studies already in the area, to a large extent a detailed analysis of the general reception of Norse-Germanic mythology has yet to be carried out. Thus, RĂŒdiger SĂŒnner looked at the function and the fascination of mythology for members of the far right from a journalistic perspective in a book (1999) clearly intended for a popular audience. Even if the book has been subject to some strong criticism â particularly on account of its supposedly being restricted largely to a re-telling of myths popular on the extreme right scene and to how they are aestheticized and functionalised (Guerlain 2010: 86f.) â it ought to be recognised as one of the few attempts to discuss the role of myth in National Socialist ideology and its renewed and intensified exploitation in the recent far right.
On the other hand, the above-mentioned paper by Karl Banghard (2015), dealing with far-right references to Germanic culture at special memorial places, does not address the topic of the use of mythology, even though there are clear references to the topic of Germanic mythology in the material he looks at (Banghard 2015: 68). The collected volume edited by Speit (2010b) also similarly touches upon the references to Norse-Germanic mythology, but, however, concentrates for understandable reasons largely on the religious level (neo-paganism). The same or similar is true of Banghard (2016), who further devotes himself to deconstructing the appropriation and falsification of history, especially in the use of symbols.
There are various reasons for the limited amount of academic engagement to date with the reception of Germanic culture and with the adaptation of Norse-Germanic mythology and the repertoire of symbols associated with it among far-right groups. Thus, for example, work on Germanic history outside of the academic subject area of history tends to be rather sporadic these days. There have indeed been forays into the area from the perspective of popular science, but these have often been dominated by a kind of âLiving Historyâ outlook or esoteric approach. One often has the impression that one is dealing in some cases here with the views of a perhaps rather eccentric bystander. Norse-Germanic Mythology is also rarely a subject of academic discussion these days. Even if there are of course exceptions, such as e.g. the publications of Simek (i.e. 1995, 2003, 2015), there is a lack of a broader body of research on this subject in the German-speaking world. The current situation thus differs significantly from that of the nineteenth century and of the first half of the twentieth century as well as from the engagement with Norse-Germanic mythology in Scandinavia and in the English-speaking world. There one can indeed find numerous recent publications that shine a light on this topic from various perspectives. Worth mentioning, as examples of such work, are the publications of Acker/Larrington (2016), AndrĂ©n/Jennbert/Raudvere (2006) and Lindow (2001).
1.3 Organisational forms of the far right
Before beginning to deal in more detail with the far-right manner of accessing Germanic history and Norse-Germanic mythology, it would make sense to look first of all a bit more closely at the term right-wing extremism and further to give some insight into how right-wing extremists organise themselves in the German-speaking world.
There is no generally valid definition of right-wing extremism and one as such cannot be delivered here. Even the term extremism is itself as such controversial. The associated defin...
