The roots of völkisch nationalism

Völkisch – ethnic – nationalism and the concept of citizenship are inextricably linked in Germany’s modern history. Germany gradually and belatedly assumed its form as a sovereign territorial nation state with clear frontiers. The aim of völkisch nationalism is to bring the imagined community together. In this, it stands in contrast with other Western nationalisms. The French, for example, think of nationalism more in civic and territorial terms.

As a result of historical contingencies, Germany could not realise a unitary nation state until unification in 1871. This stifled nation-building process gave birth to a nationalism based on ethnic and cultural commonalities which emphasise ethnic identity, folk traditions, and a metaphysical connection of the people – the Volk – to the land.

The völkisch movement sought to define the German nation in racial terms, celebrating a ‘pure’ ethnic community

The concept sees the nation as a living organism with racial roots in the soil and the people. In contrast with the modern construct of 'the state' as a political entity, it stresses the organic unity of the Volk. The völkisch movement sought to define the German nation in racial and cultural terms. It celebrated a ‘pure’ and ‘authentic’ ethnic community.

Völkisch nationalism and the Third Reich

Völkisch nationalism existed before Hitler’s rise to power. It achieved its height, however, as a state ideology during the 1930s, when the Nazis incorporated it into their official policies. What it meant to be ‘German’ the Nazis defined along racial and cultural lines. Jews and other ethnic minorities were not really German, even if they held German citizenship.

Austria, too, had a long history of antisemitism. The country implemented völkisch nationalist policies during the 1933–1938 reign of the fascist Fatherland Front. Following the 1938 Anschluss, its antisemitic policies grew even more extreme.

In Germany, the 1935 Nuremberg Laws formalised this exclusivity of citizenship, and began to strip Jews of their rights and legal status. Only Germans were ‘rooted’, possessing a spiritual and ancestral connection to the land. These true Germans belonged to the Volk – the entity through which Germans were bound to one another and aspired to fulfil their preordained destiny. Anyone who didn't share German ethnic and cultural commonalities was not only not German, but a threat to völkisch ethnic homogeneity. The Nazis were the first to implement this ideology and officialise its tenets. During the Third Reich, this belief led to the deaths of millions in the name of 'ethnic cleansing'.

In an epic struggle for the survival of the Germanic race, the Nazis believed they had destroyed this threat. After their defeat, however, völkisch nationalism remained long confined to the literary and ideational realm.

The Freedom Party of Austria and Austrian citizenship

Understanding the term Volk – and what it implies through its historical genesis – reveals how the far right in Austria defines 'nation', and who has a right to belong.

In its 2024 election manifesto, the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) adopts a völkisch nationalist conception of citizenship. Austria, the Party believes, should tolerate refugees and other migrants only temporarily. Policy should restrict their path toward citizenship, and citizenship should be conferred only upon those who are ‘assimilated’. Even if these assimilated migrants are naturalised, their citizenship should not necessarily be permanent.

The Freedom Party of Austria's definition of citizenship reveals it believes that naturalised migrants exist in a fundamentally different category to 'our people'

The FPÖ’s definition of citizenship reveals a clear hierarchy of belonging. Naturalised migrants exist in a fundamentally different category to 'our people'. The party draws a line between the former and ‘real’ Austrians, who, because they belong to the Volk, enjoy irrevocable citizenship – they have no need to prove themselves.

Migrants' ethnic and cultural background mean they can never achieve such status. The FPÖ’s rhetoric of ‘our’ country and ‘our’ people directly echoes völkisch nationalist ideas about who belongs to the nation and who has rights within it.

These ideas, moreover, are not exclusive to the FPÖ. The AfD in Germany, Trump in the US, and other far-right movements also advocate similar concepts of two-tiered citizenship.

Deporting 'uninvited strangers'

FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl – whose face graces the sticker below – has been a vocal proponent of remigration. Migrants or, in his words, ‘uninvited strangers’, and their descendants he wants forcefully deported to their countries of origin, restoring Austria’s ethnic and cultural homogeneity. The FPÖ cares not whether these ‘uninvited strangers’ hold Austrian citizenship. It is worth remembering that around 27% of Austria’s population has a migrant background. About 63% of second-generation migrants hold Austrian citizenship.

Völkisch ideology leads down a dangerous path

So, the FPÖ conceives of citizenship in ethno-cultural terms. Its definition excludes migrants or, at the very least, differentiates between ‘real’ Austrians and foreign elements. For the Volk, citizenship is their ancestral birthright. For the few naturalised migrants who might obtain citizenship under the FPÖ’s proposed legislation, its status is conditional. The FPÖ believes the authorities should be able to rescind citizenship if a non-ethnic Austrian citizenship holder commits a crime, if they abuse the welfare system or if a court finds them guilty of 'contempt for our country and people'.

For the Volk, citizenship is an ancestral birthright. For migrants who might obtain citizenship, it is a conditional status

Exclusionary citizenship and ethnonationalist ideology lead us down a dark path. Far-right support has a direct impact on citizenship and naturalisation policy. The crime of 'contempt for our country and people' is as broad and subjective as it is reminiscent of Nazi discourse. Rhetoric around ‘uninvited foreigners’ and Nazism's ethnonationalist citizenship principles offer clear evidence of the very real dangers of völkisch ideology.

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