By FOIA Research on

Matthias Deyda1 (born ca. 1992) is the foreign affairs representative2 of the 600-member strong3 German far-right minority party Die Rechte ("The Right," DR). He is a leading figure in the Dortmund neo-Nazi scene, and appears regularly on relevant local demonstrations and rallies.

He can often be seen at events demanding the release of the repeatedly condemned holocaust denier Ursula Haverbeck, a neo-Nazi cult figure dubbed the "Nazi grandma" in the press,4 but he also regularly joins anti-Islamic and anti-Semitic rallies in the Dortmund area.

Over the years Deyda has established contacts with other European neo-Nazi groups. In a speech that he gave at a Jeune Nation conference in 2017, he mentioned:

"For several years now I have been traveling in Europe, visiting comrades from various European countries and participating in meetings or events honoring veterans. These events have taken me from Estonia to Bulgaria, from Spain to Latvia. Over time, we have met many movements and formed a strong network of friends with these comrades. This is the case with Bulgaria, where we have been going since 2006 ... We also went to Greece, with a delegation of German comrades. Need I say that at the beginning of my political activities in 2005, the contacts to comrades in other European countries were weak. But that would eventually change over the years. Today exists a European-wide network of comrades."5

Die Rechte

Deyda's party, the around 600 member strong3 Die Rechte, links directly into some of the most notorious elements of Germany's right-wing extremist scene.

The German far-right party Die Rechte ("The Right," DR) was founded in 2012 by Christian Worch along with other former members of the party Deutsche Volksunion ("German People's Union," DVU) in protest of their party having merged with the National Democratic Party (NPD) in 2011.6 7

The founder Christian Worch (*1956) is one of the leading cadre of the neo-Nazi milieu in Germany, and convicted multiple times on accounts such as assault, incitement, and dissemination of Nazi propaganda.

Worch, who until 2017 was the leader of Die Rechte, had in his twenties established the "Action Front of National Socialists" (Aktionsfront Nationaler Sozialisten, ANS) together with probably the most well-known German neo-Nazi at the time, Michael Kühnen. The ANS saw itself as a continuation of the NSDAP and SA and had adopted their ideology, which included support for the anti-Semitic race laws of the Third Reich, and sought contact to other neo-Nazi groups like SS veteran organizations and the "Viking Youth" (Wiking-Jugend).

After the ANS was banned in 1983, Worch joined the later equally outlawed "Free German Workers' Party" (Freiheitliche Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, FAP) and participated in Gary Lauck’s NSDAP/AO (NSDAP-Aufbauorganisation), a US-based organisation pretending to be a legitimate successor to the NSDAP.

On the surface DR claimed to be less radical then the NPD, in line with the former delimitation of the DVU towards the NPD. Also in other aspects DR was orthodoxly adhering to the former DVU ways, since it had - basically verbatim - taken over the DVU's party program.8

In the competition of wooing former DVU members to join one of the various far-right minority parties, Die Rechte positioned itself somewhere between the neo-Nazi NPD and more moderate right-wing populist parties such as the Pro-Bewegung ("Pro Movement") or Die Republikaner ("The Republicans"). This was just a year before the swooping success of the Alternative for Germany when it emerged in 2013. However, various political observers classify the party as openly neo-Nazi and even more radical than the NPD.9

Timeline

2017

In 2017, Deyda gave a speech at the Jeune Nation conference "IIIe Forum de l’Europe" in Paris, France.5

2018

In July 2018, Deyda partook in a demonstration against the erection of a Mosque in the Dortmund Lindenhorst district.10

In November 2018 Deyda had attended an obviously anti-Semitic demonstration near Dortmund. The banner displayed by the around twelve attendees sported the slogan "Israel brought us disaster."11

Later in November 2018, he appeared on a demonstration in Dortmund/Kirchlinde. One of the banners sported the slogan "Fight for a National Socialism! A future for us!"12

2019

On February 8, 2019, Deyda spoke at the fascist "Day of Honor" in Budapest, Hungary, which drew a crowd of around 3000 people. The event was commemorating the Arrow Cross Party which had collaborated with Nazi Germany. Deyda concluded his speech with a quotation from Adolf Hitler.13

On April 20, 2019, Die Rechte published a news item on their website that there had been a meeting in Sofia, Bulgaria, where Deyda took part as DR's foreign affairs representative. In the meeting the following groups decided on a an alliance entitled "Fortress Europe" (Festung Europa):

1. Бытарски Национален Съюз (БНС) / Bulgarian National Union (BNS) - Bulgaria
2. Die Rechte - Germany
3. Les Nationalistes / The Nationalists - France
4. Légio Hupgária / Legion Hungary (NSF) - Hungary
5. Národní a sociální fronta (NSF) / National and Social Front (NSF) - Czech Republic
6. Szłurm I Assault - Poland

The press item reads as follows:

"From April 20 to 21, 2019, a networking meeting was held in the Bulgarian capital, Sofia, in which nationalists from various European countries took part, some of whom have had long-standing contacts. While international exchanges often remain loose, networking between different parties and organizations has developed in recent years, reaching a new level: the international alliance 'Fortress Europe,' which operates under the slogan 'Our Nations - Our Europe,' was launched. In the future, campaigns will be coordinated across countries and contact will be intensified in a Europe that is growing ever closer together. The founding members of the Alliance are the organizations 'Бытарски Национален Съюз (БНС) / Bulgarian National Union (BNS)' (Bulgaria), DIE RECHTE (Germany), 'Les Nationalistes' (France), 'Légio Hupgária / Legion Hungary' (Hungary), 'Národní a sociální fronta (NSF) / National and Social Front (NSF)' (Czech Republic) and 'Szłurm I Assault' (Poland). The founding declaration, which was announced in the framework of a press conference on Easter Sunday, was broadcast in Bulgaria by numerous television stations, and a representative of the Bulgarian National Federation was even invited to one of the largest talk shows in the country. Also several German-speaking media, (for example 'Der Standard' and ORF as well as 'Deutschlandfunk') have already reported about the new alliance, which will also be active in the run-up to the European election campaign 2019.

As a German representative, the foreign affairs representative of DIE RECHTE, Matthias Deyda, who is also on the 'List of National Resistance' of his party for the European elections on May 26, 2019, participated in the networking meeting and reported on a genuine spirit of optimism. In addition to the six founding members, discussions will be held with other organizations and parties with the aim of placing the alliance on an even more stable footing in the future."

Deyda appears on various events rallying for the freeing of repeatedly convicted holocaust denier Ursula Haverbeck.14 Here on a Die Rechte rally on May 7, 2019.

Deyda ran as a candidate for a direct mandate in the European Parliament in the 2019 elections. On social media he had promoted his candidature as follows15 :

Together with Ursula Haverbeck and other well-known activists, I am running as a candidate in the 2019 European elections on the so-called List of National Resistance.

On August 10, 2019, Matthias Deyda took part in a neo-Nazi conference in Lisbon, Portugal, hosted by Mário Machado, leader of the neo-Nazi movement Nova Ordem Social ("New Social Order"). Other participants of the conference were neo-Nazi figures from several European countries:16

  • Mário Machado (Nova Ordem Social, Portugal)
  • Francesca Rizzi (Autonomia Nazionalista, Italy)
  • Yvan Benedetti (Parti Nationaliste Français, France)
  • Blagovest Asenov (National Resistance, Bulgaria)
  • Matthias Deyda (Die Rechte, Germany)
  • Josele Sanchez (La Tribuna de España, Spain)
  • Alba Lobera (La Tribuna de España, Spain)

More from author

Marcello De Angelis 
FOIA Research
Jean-Eudes Gannat
FOIA Research
John O'Sullivan
FOIA Research
Caspar von Schrenck-Notzing
FOIA Research