Right-wing terrorism in the Federal Republic of Germany, 1970 until 1990

• Applicant: Dr. Barbara Manthe
• Subject Area: Modern and Contemporary History
• Term: since 2017
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 391219289

The project continuation aims, first, to compensate for unforeseen delays. Second, it is intended to investigate previously underestimated caesurae of far-right terrorism and violence in the 1980s. The initial hypothesis of the renewal proposal is that far-right terrorism and the way society dealt with it underwent significant changes in the 1980s: the number of mostly racist attacks and arson attacks increased, as did the number of fatalities. At the same time, the importance attached to far-right violence by the public, politicians and the judiciary declined. In the 15-month project phase, these changes will be examined in more detail using selected examples. The objectives and the work program will be examined according to the grid that has proven itself for the current project and was outlined in the initial application. First, far-right actors and networks and the influence of law enforcement are to be examined, and second, the targets of attacks, violent practices and the treatment of victims are to be analysed. The term "far-right violence" serves as a conceptual framework. The renewal proposal ties in with contemporary historical research, which provides information not only on the structural breaks of the 1970s but also on the caesurae in the last decade of the "old Federal Republic”. An analysis of these years also helps to better understand far-right violence after unification, since it had already intensified in both Germanys before 1989. In the project continuation, a more in-depth analysis of the violence in West Germany will be carried out; the situation in the GDR cannot be examined for reasons of feasibility. Here, the project can tie in with findings from contemporary historical research on the GDR. Employing studies in racism, the far-right and migration, the project will for the first time examine the preconditions and history of the escalation of far-right violence in the 1990s in the FRG.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants