The new party was led by Johannes Freiherr von Campenhausen until 2001 when the former FDP and BFB politician Heiner Kappel took his place.
Upon the 2003 merger with the Freiheitliche Deutsche Volkspartei (FDVP), a far-right splinter group of the German People's Union (DVU) in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, it adopted the name affix Die Freiheitlichen referring to the Freedom Party of Austria and changed its course towards a more radical stance.
The party has been investigated by the state's Offices for the Protection of the Constitution in Thuringia and Bavaria as possibly extreme right, with the conclusion made that contacts exist.
A party convention in July 2007 elected Alfred Kuhlemann chairman and by resolution condemned the coup against Kappel.
The party has concentrated its efforts to achieve seats in the Landtage parliaments of Lower Saxony and Hesse, though to no avail.