{{Short description|German farmer and neo-Nazi politician}} {{Expand German|topic=bio|date=September 2022}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2023}} {{Infobox military person | name = Baldur Springmann | image = Baldur Springmann 1980.jpg | birth_date = 31 May 1912 | birth_place = Hagen, Germany | death_date = 24 October 2003 | death_place = Lübeck, Germany | allegiance = Nazi Germany | branch = Sturmabteilung | spouse = {{marriage|Ilse Bünsow|1942|1981|end=died}} }}
'''Baldur Springmann''' (31 May 1912 – 24 October 2003) was a German organic farmer, publicist, and neo-Nazi politician. One of the pioneers of the environmentalist movement in West Germany, Springmann helped found The Greens before withdrawing to involve himself in right-wing extremism.<ref>{{Cite news |title=The Nazi roots of the German Greens |url=https://www.jpost.com/jewish-world/jewish-features/the-nazi-roots-of-the-german-greens-318973 |access-date=11 September 2022 |newspaper=The Jerusalem Post | Jpost.com |language=en-US}}</ref>
Springmann is considered an important figure in ecofascist ideology.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Staudenmaier |first=Peter |date=10 January 2009 |title=Anthroposophy and Ecofascism |url=https://social-ecology.org/wp/2009/01/anthroposophy-and-ecofascism-2/ |access-date=11 September 2022 |website=Institute for Social Ecology |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Biehl |first=Janet |title=Ecofascism : lessons from the German experience |date=1995 |others=Peter Staudenmaier |isbn=1-873176-73-2 |location=Edinburgh |oclc=33131890}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Staudenmaier |first=Peter |date=1 January 2021 |title=Ecofascism Past and Present |url=https://www.academia.edu/60565872 |journal=Ecology Contested}}</ref>
== Career == Springmann was born in Hagen in 1912. He wanted to become a farmer after graduating from high school. He completed an agricultural apprenticeship, studied agriculture and used his inheritance to buy a 50-hectare property near Wismar in Mecklenburg.
Early on, Springmann was also active in right-wing radical groups. He was a "lieutenant" in the Black Reichswehr, an illegal paramilitary gang. He was a member of the Stahlhelm and a youth worker at the Reichsnährstand. He was also a member of the SA until March 1934, then of the SS and from 1 February 1940 of the NSDAP (membership number 7,433,874).<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hamburg |first=Hamburger Abendblatt- |date=15 April 2020 |title=Baldur Springmann – Ur-Öko und strammer Nazi |url=https://www.abendblatt.de/region/norderstedt/article228907869/Baldur-Springmann-Ur-Oeko-und-strammer-Nazi.html |access-date=11 September 2022 |website=www.abendblatt.de |language=de-DE}}</ref>
In World War II, he was deployed as a German soldier in air defense. He fled from the Red Army across the Baltic Sea and was therefore not captured.
In the FRG he founded a farm in Schleswig-Holstein and practiced anthroposophical “biodynamic agriculture”.
== Involvement in Green politics == In the 1970s he was a founding member of the “Green List Schleswig Holstein” and in 1980 of the federal party “The Greens”. In the same year, however, he resigned and became involved with the conservative ÖDP.
From around 1983, he became active in the German right-wing radical and right-wing extremist spectrum.<ref>{{Cite news |date=25 October 2003 |title=Grünen-Gründer Baldur Springmann tot |language=de |pages=7 |work=Die Tageszeitung: taz |url=https://taz.de/!690407/ |access-date=11 September 2022 |issn=0931-9085}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Kalliope | Verbundkatalog für Archiv- und archivähnliche Bestände und nationales Nachweisinstrument für Nachlässe und Autographen |url=https://www.bundesarchiv.de/nachlassdatenbank/viewresult.php?sid=3c5d2e2e659fdf183a9e1 |access-date=2024-01-11 |website=www.bundesarchiv.de}}</ref>
== Far-right extremism == Today, Springmann is viewed positively by the neo-Nazi National Democratic Party.
== Death and legacy == Springmann died in 2003, having drifted to the extreme right.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Staudenmaier |first=Peter |date=2022-12-02 |title=The Politics of Nature from Left to Right: Radicals, Reactionaries, and Ecological Responses to Modernity |url=https://harbinger-journal.com/issue-2/the-politics-of-nature-from-left-to-right/ |access-date=2024-01-11 |website=Harbinger |language=en-US}}</ref>
== References == {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Springmann, Baldur}} Category:1912 births Category:2003 deaths Category:20th-century German farmers Category:20th-century German politicians Category:Black Reichswehr personnel Category:Ecological Democratic Party politicians Category:Nazi Party members Category:SS personnel Category:Sturmabteilung personnel Category:Stahlhelm members Category:German neo-Nazis Category:Alliance 90/The Greens politicians