Editing Holger Apfel (section)

==Political activities==
Apfel has a long history of activism with the NPD, starting in the 1980s when he was active in the NPD's youth organisation. He was the deputy chairman of the NPD at the national level between 2000 and 2009 and deputy chairman at the state level between 2002 and 2009. Between 2009 and 2011, he served as the chairman of Saxony's NPD.

===State politics===
On 19 September 2004, Apfel led the NPD in Saxony to its biggest electoral success, winning 9.2% of the popular vote and twelve seats in the [[Landtag of Saxony]]. He became the leader of the party's parliamentary group.

In 2005, the Landtag of Saxony held a [[Moment of silence|minute of silence]] for the [[List of victims of Nazism|victims of Nazi Germany]]. Apfel, along with 11 other NPD politicians, boycotted the remembrance and staged a walkout from the Landtag chamber. He also gave a speech in which he demanded a moment of silence be held for the victims of the [[Bombing of Dresden in World War II|bombing of Dresden]] in 1945 and called the [[Allies of World War II]] "mass murderers", stating that "Today we in this parliament are taking up the political battle for historical truth, and against the servitude of guilt of the German people... The causes of the holocaust bombing of Dresden have nothing to do with either [[Invasion of Poland|September 1 1939]] or with [[Adolf Hitler's rise to power|January 30 1933]]." Apfel's speech caused politicians from other parties in the Landtag to walk out in protest.<ref name="guardian">{{cite news |last=Traynor |first=Ian |date=19 December 2013 |title=Dresden parliament in uproar at neo-Nazi outburst |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/jan/22/secondworldwar.thefarright |work=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=12 August 2014}}</ref>

===National politics===
In the [[2005 German federal election|2005 federal election]], he was a candidate for the constituency of Kamenz, Hoyerswerda and Großenhain, and received 6.7% of the votes.

On 13 November 2011, he was elected leader of the NPD at the national level.<ref>''[http://www.bnr.de/artikel/aktuelle-meldungen/stabwechsel-bei-der-npd Stabwechsel bei der NPD] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120121070449/http://www.bnr.de/artikel/aktuelle-meldungen/stabwechsel-bei-der-npd |date=21 January 2012 }}'' in: [[Blick nach rechts]], Retrieved 14 November 2011</ref>

===Resignation===
On 19 December 2013, he resigned with immediate effect from his leadership positions at both the national and the state level.<ref name="rücktritt">{{cite news |last=Bender |first=Justus |date=19 December 2013 |title=NPD-Chef Holger Apfel tritt zurück |url=https://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/inland/rechtsextremismus/burn-out-syndrom-npd-chef-holger-apfel-tritt-zurueck-12718526.html |language=de |publisher=[[Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung]] |access-date=20 December 2013}}</ref> Media outlets initially reported that Apfel was in poor health and suffering from "[[Burnout (psychology)|burnout syndrome]]".<ref name="rücktritt" /><ref name="rücktritt-spiegel">{{cite news |last1=Hebel |first1=Christina |last2=Röbel |first2=Sven |date=19 December 2013 |title=Rechtsextreme: NPD-Chef Apfel tritt zurück |url=http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/npd-chef-apfel-tritt-zurueck-a-940028.html |language=de |publisher=[[Spiegel Online]] |access-date=20 December 2013}}</ref>

Three days after the announcement, the party presidium held an emergency meeting to discuss rumours about Apfel's private life. It subsequently issued a statement asserting that Apfel "has not yet refuted ongoing allegations concerning past transgressions".<ref name="sondersitzung">{{cite news |date=22 December 2013 |title=Rechtsextreme in der Krise: NPD-Spitze droht Apfel mit Parteiausschluss |url=http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/rechtsextreme-npd-spitze-droht-apfel-mit-parteiausschluss-a-940575.html |language=de |publisher=[[Spiegel Online]] |access-date=12 August 2014}}</ref> Amid the threat of an expulsion proceeding, Apfel resigned from the party entirely on 24 December.<ref name="austritt">{{cite news |last=Schölermann |first=Stefan |date=24 December 2013 |title=Apfel tritt aus NPD aus |url=https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/npd316.html |language=de |publisher=[[Tagesschau (Germany)|Tagesschau]] |access-date=12 August 2014}}</ref>

Apfel resigned from his seat in the [[Landtag of Saxony|Saxon Parliament]] on 17 January 2014.<ref name="landtagsmandat">{{cite news |date=17 January 2014 |title=Holger Apfel legt auch Landtagsmandat nieder |url=http://www.rp-online.de/politik/deutschland/holger-apfel-legt-auch-landtagsmandat-nieder-aid-1.3969953 |language=de |publisher=[[Rheinische Post|RP Online]] |access-date=12 August 2014}}</ref>