National Socialist Workers' Party of Denmark

Emblem of DNSAP

The National Socialist Workers' Party of Denmark (Danish: Danmarks Nationalsocialistiske Arbejderparti; DNSAP) was a Danish National Socialist party before and during the Second World War.

History

The party was founded on 16 November 1930, after the success of the NSDAP in the German Reichstag elections of that year. The party wanted the Danish border to grow to the south to take in the whole of the historical Duchy of Schleswig, a move which would have brought Germans under Danish rule. The DNSAP considered the Germans of North and South Schleswig to be in reality Germanized Danes, who could be politically led back to their Danish origin. The DNSAP was also supportive of the principles of loyalty to the Danish monarchy and the Church of Denmark.

The party was initially led by Cay Lembcke, although they attracted no more than a few hundred members under his leadership and failed to gain support in the elections of 1932.

Lembcke was replaced in 1933 by Frits Clausen, who concentrated the activities in his home territory of North Schleswig, where the bulk of support for the DNSAP was to come from. At the 1939 elections, with about 5000 members, the party won three seats in the Folketing (parliament), corresponding to 1.8% of the popular vote.

The DNSAP was not included in the wartime coalition government (1940–1943) and at the 1943 elections it barely improved on its pre-war performance, winning only 2.1% of the votes cast and three seats in the Folketing. The day after the election, Clausen renounced German financial support, intending to take a more purely Danish national line. In 1943, the party had around 19,000 members. The party was prominent in organizing the recruitment for Waffen-SS and Frikorps Danmark (Freikorps „Danmark“).

After the end of the Second World War, the party was officially dissolved in May 1945.

Gallery

DNSAP open-air meeting in Slagelse on 13 May 1934
DNSAP at Niels Ebbesen's memorial stone in Skanderborg on 4 December 1938
DNSAP in Lyngby on 13 August 1939
Party leader Frits Clausen
Power and beauty
DNSAP in November 1940
Members of DNSAP's youth organization National Socialistisk Ungdom (NSU) in 1941
NSU girl in Copenhagen in June 1941
The inauguration of DNSAP's Copenhagen 4th district office on 27 June 1941