Linn Sofie Børresen is a graduate student at the Center for Research on Antisemitism at the Technical University of Berlin. Her research focuses on the extreme and New Right, racism and nationalism, partly from a Danish-German perspective. She is currently writing her PhD about Henning Eichberg; his influence, networks, and ideological transformation in the Federal Republic of Germany, France, and Denmark. 

• Linn Sofie Børresen: Ethnopluralismus aus historischer Perspektive: Warum „Rasse“ eine Frage der „Ethnie“ wurde, in: Zeithistorische Forschung/ Studies in Contemporary History, (Forthcoming 2026).

Nationalists going Transnational: Henning Eichberg and the Nouvelle Droite

This paper examines the transnational intellectual networks of the sociologist, sports-historian and activist Henning Eichberg (1942 – 2017) and his ideological influences from the French Nouvelle Droite, focusing on his engagements with key figures and organizations such as the student movement Fédération des Étudiants Nationalistes (FEN) and the think-thank Groupement de Recherche et d'Études pour la Civilisation Européenne (GRECE). By analyzing Eichberg's adaptation and transmission of right-wing revolutionary and nationalist concepts, this paper highlights the broader mechanisms through which the New Right developed into an international ideological movement.

Eichberg was an important link between the young Nationalists in France and West Germany: His interactions with French nationalists like Dominique Venner and Alain de Benoist, illustrate Eichberg’s role as a “seismograph” of ideological currents and praxis, absorbing and reinterpreting ideas to fit different national contexts. Venner’s advocacy for a nationalist revolution beyond left-right dichotomies and de Benoist’s appropriation of Antonio Gramsci’s concept of cultural hegemony significantly shaped Eichberg’s thought. Due to his exchanges with the Nouvelle Droite, which, in response to the loss of colonial territories—especially in the wake of the Algerian War—began adjusting its terminology in the 1960s, he articulated an ethnopluralist perspective opposing universalist ideologies such as liberalism, communism, and Christianity. He successfully coined his concept of Ethnopluralism and the “diversity of the peoples” and spread these ideas by participating in conferences organized by GRECE, or the so called Sababurg-Runde in West Germany.

Furthermore, this paper explores how Eichberg strategically framed his intellectual contributions for different audiences. In Nation Europa, he emphasized the scientific legitimization of right-wing extremism, while in Junges Forum, he fostered networks among young nationalists by advertising for groups and magazines like Europe Action or Nouvelle École, which on the other hand published his Articles in French. His correspondence with the Swiss right-wing intellectual Armin Mohler underscores his role in disseminating insights from the French nationalist scene to the broader German-speaking right. This exemplifies the transnational nature of these ideological and practical exchanges, where a new European Nationalism arose. Through his engagements, Eichberg shaped an ideological framework that later influenced European New Right movements.