German Party
Encyclopedia
The German Party is a name used by a number of German
political parties in the country's history. The current incarnation is represented only at the local level in Germany. However, from 1949 to 1961, a German Party was part of the ruling coalition in the Bundestag
(federal parliament). This right wing party was known for its strong stance against communism
and socialism
and drew much of its ideology
from Christianity
.
by Prussia
to agitate against the annexation. Since it supported the reinstatement of the Welf kings of Hanover, it was also known as the Welf Party. It consistently had representation in the parliament of Prussia
and sometimes the Reichstag
until the fall of the Weimar Republic
in 1933.
was created. The Party called for the establishment of a Lower Saxonian state within federal Germany and sought to represent Christian conservatism. It soon expanded into neighbouring states under the chairmanship of Heinrich Hellwege
, working with parties such as the Deutsche Rechtspartei
and the original National Democratic Party. It gained two seats in the first Lower Saxon Landtag.
In the 1949 federal election
the party had 4% of the vote to win 18 seats. As a result it became a coalition partner of the Christian Democrats
(CDU), the Free Democrats
(FDP) and the Christian Social Union
(CSU) in the government of Konrad Adenauer
. Their vote fell to 3.3% with 15 seats in the 1953 election
, although they retained their coalition place and again in 1957
when they went back up to 17 seats with 3.4% of the vote. German party ministers in these governments were Heinrich Hellwege (1949–1955), Hans-Joachim von Merkatz
(1955–1960) and Hans-Christoph Seebohm
(1949–1960).
The party opposed planned economy
, land reform
and co-determination
and sought to represent German expellees and those who had served in Wehrmacht
and the Waffen-SS
.
The German Party of the 1950s has been characterized as a „party of indigenous Lower Saxonian middle class“, that featured extremely „federalistist, monarchist and partially also völkisch positions“.
The Free People's Party
(FVP) was formed in 1956 by Franz Blücher
, Fritz Neumayer
and others, but the following year it merged into the German Party.
The party had been instrumental in setting an elected threshold of 5% for candidates and this led to problems when the CDU refused to allow German Party candidates a free run for some seats. With the party facing elimination from the Bundestag
, nine of its 17 members left the party to join the CDU. As a result the German Party left government in 1960, a year before the elections, and severed its ties to the CDU.
, and in a number of German Party's functionaries participated in the foundation of the National Democratic Party
(NPD). Party activist Friedrich Thielen
was chosen as the leader of the new party but was ousted in 1967 by Adolf von Thadden
. Thielen left, as he felt von Thadden was too sympathetic to Nazism
, and re-founded the German Party. However the new incarnation failed to become even a local force and ceased to operate as a political party in 1980 (although it continued as an association).
in 1993 and has since worked with other right wing parties such as Bund freier Bürger and Freiheitliche Deutsche Volkspartei (a splinter group of the German People's Union
in Saxony-Anhalt
which it absorbed in 2003). The new party was led by Johannes Freiherr von Campenhausen until 2001 when Heiner Kappel took his place. Kappel was expelled in 2005 after attempting to agree an alliance with the Republicans and the German Social Union
even though the membership had supported working with the German People's Union and the NPD. A joint leadership of Eberhard Lehmann, Claudia Wiechmann (former chair of the FDVP) and Ulrich Paetzold took over before Lehmann was sidelined in favour of a joint leadership. The party has been investigated in Thuringia
and Bavaria
as possibly extreme right, with the conclusion made that contacts exist. As of 2007, the party is no longer monitored by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution. The German party no longer has representation at any major level, having only a small number of local seats. It produces a monthly newspaper, the Deutschland-Post. Some members have left to join the Republicans whilst co-operate with the far-right NPD.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
political parties in the country's history. The current incarnation is represented only at the local level in Germany. However, from 1949 to 1961, a German Party was part of the ruling coalition in the Bundestag
Bundestag
The Bundestag is a federal legislative body in Germany. In practice Germany is governed by a bicameral legislature, of which the Bundestag serves as the lower house and the Bundesrat the upper house. The Bundestag is established by the German Basic Law of 1949, as the successor to the earlier...
(federal parliament). This right wing party was known for its strong stance against communism
Anti-communism
Anti-communism is opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed in reaction to the rise of communism, especially after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia and the beginning of the Cold War in 1947.-Objections to communist theory:...
and socialism
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
and drew much of its ideology
Ideology
An ideology is a set of ideas that constitutes one's goals, expectations, and actions. An ideology can be thought of as a comprehensive vision, as a way of looking at things , as in common sense and several philosophical tendencies , or a set of ideas proposed by the dominant class of a society to...
from Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
.
1866–1933
The German Party originated in the German-Hanoverian Party (Deutsch-Hannoversche Partei) which was formed in 1866 after the annexation of HanoverKingdom of Hanover
The Kingdom of Hanover was established in October 1814 by the Congress of Vienna, with the restoration of George III to his Hanoverian territories after the Napoleonic era. It succeeded the former Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg , and joined with 38 other sovereign states in the German...
by Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
to agitate against the annexation. Since it supported the reinstatement of the Welf kings of Hanover, it was also known as the Welf Party. It consistently had representation in the parliament of Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
and sometimes the Reichstag
Reichstag (Weimar Republic)
The Reichstag was the parliament of Weimar Republic .German constitution commentators consider only the Reichstag and now the Bundestag the German parliament. Another organ deals with legislation too: in 1867-1918 the Bundesrat, in 1919–1933 the Reichsrat and from 1949 on the Bundesrat...
until the fall of the Weimar Republic
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government...
in 1933.
1945–1960
The party was recreated as Niedersächsische Landespartei (Lower Saxony National Party) in 1945 but returned to the name German party the following year when Lower SaxonyLower Saxony
Lower Saxony is a German state situated in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen states of Germany...
was created. The Party called for the establishment of a Lower Saxonian state within federal Germany and sought to represent Christian conservatism. It soon expanded into neighbouring states under the chairmanship of Heinrich Hellwege
Heinrich Hellwege
Heinrich Peter Hellwege was a German politician . Hellwege was Federal Minister for Affairs of the Federal Council and Prime Minister of Lower Saxony ....
, working with parties such as the Deutsche Rechtspartei
Deutsche Rechtspartei
The German Right Party was a right-wing political party that emerged in the British zone of Allied-occupied Germany after the Second World War....
and the original National Democratic Party. It gained two seats in the first Lower Saxon Landtag.
In the 1949 federal election
German federal election, 1949
The 1st German federal election, 1949, was conducted on 14 August 1949, to elect members to the Bundestag of West Germany. This was the first free election conducted in Germany since Adolf Hitler had become Reich Chancellor in 1933....
the party had 4% of the vote to win 18 seats. As a result it became a coalition partner of the Christian Democrats
Christian Democratic Union (Germany)
The Christian Democratic Union of Germany is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It is regarded as on the centre-right of the German political spectrum...
(CDU), the Free Democrats
Free Democratic Party (Germany)
The Free Democratic Party , abbreviated to FDP, is a centre-right classical liberal political party in Germany. It is led by Philipp Rösler and currently serves as the junior coalition partner to the Union in the German federal government...
(FDP) and the Christian Social Union
Christian Social Union of Bavaria
The Christian Social Union in Bavaria is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It operates only in the state of Bavaria, while its sister party, the Christian Democratic Union , operates in the other 15 states of Germany...
(CSU) in the government of Konrad Adenauer
Konrad Adenauer
Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer was a German statesman. He was the chancellor of the West Germany from 1949 to 1963. He is widely recognised as a person who led his country from the ruins of World War II to a powerful and prosperous nation that had forged close relations with old enemies France,...
. Their vote fell to 3.3% with 15 seats in the 1953 election
German federal election, 1953
The 2nd German federal election, 1953, was conducted on September 6, 1953, to elect members to the Bundestag of West Germany.-Issues and Campaign:...
, although they retained their coalition place and again in 1957
German federal election, 1957
The 3rd German federal election, 1957, was conducted on September 15, 1957, to elect members to the Bundestag of West Germany.-Issues and Campaign:...
when they went back up to 17 seats with 3.4% of the vote. German party ministers in these governments were Heinrich Hellwege (1949–1955), Hans-Joachim von Merkatz
Hans-Joachim von Merkatz
Hans-Joachim von Merkatz was a German politician. He was Federal Minister of Justice from 1956 to 1957. He was a member of the Bundestag from 1949 to 1961...
(1955–1960) and Hans-Christoph Seebohm
Hans-Christoph Seebohm
Hans-Christoph Seebohm was a German politician of the nationalist....
(1949–1960).
The party opposed planned economy
Planned economy
A planned economy is an economic system in which decisions regarding production and investment are embodied in a plan formulated by a central authority, usually by a government agency...
, land reform
Land reform
[Image:Jakarta farmers protest23.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Farmers protesting for Land Reform in Indonesia]Land reform involves the changing of laws, regulations or customs regarding land ownership. Land reform may consist of a government-initiated or government-backed property redistribution,...
and co-determination
Co-determination
Co-determination is a practice whereby the employees have a role in management of a company. The word is a literal translation from the German word Mitbestimmung. Co-determination rights are different in different legal environments. In some countries, like the USA, the workers have virtually no...
and sought to represent German expellees and those who had served in Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
and the Waffen-SS
Waffen-SS
The Waffen-SS was a multi-ethnic and multi-national military force of the Third Reich. It constituted the armed wing of the Schutzstaffel or SS, an organ of the Nazi Party. The Waffen-SS saw action throughout World War II and grew from three regiments to over 38 divisions, and served alongside...
.
The German Party of the 1950s has been characterized as a „party of indigenous Lower Saxonian middle class“, that featured extremely „federalistist, monarchist and partially also völkisch positions“.
The Free People's Party
Free People's Party (Germany)
The Free People's Party was a short-lived political party in Germany. It was formed in 1956 by Franz Blücher, Fritz Neumayer and others, but the following year it merged into the German Party....
(FVP) was formed in 1956 by Franz Blücher
Franz Blücher
Franz Blücher was a German politician and member of the German Parliament .Blücher was born in Essen, Rhine Province, German Empire....
, Fritz Neumayer
Fritz Neumayer
Fritz Neumayer was a German politician. He was Federal Minister of Building from 1952 to 1953, and Federal Minister of Justice from 1953 to 1956.-Early life:...
and others, but the following year it merged into the German Party.
The party had been instrumental in setting an elected threshold of 5% for candidates and this led to problems when the CDU refused to allow German Party candidates a free run for some seats. With the party facing elimination from the Bundestag
Bundestag
The Bundestag is a federal legislative body in Germany. In practice Germany is governed by a bicameral legislature, of which the Bundestag serves as the lower house and the Bundesrat the upper house. The Bundestag is established by the German Basic Law of 1949, as the successor to the earlier...
, nine of its 17 members left the party to join the CDU. As a result the German Party left government in 1960, a year before the elections, and severed its ties to the CDU.
1961–1980
Cut off from the conservative mainstream the German Party began to work closely with parties to the right of the CDU, notably the All-German Bloc/League of Expellees and Deprived of RightsAll-German Bloc/League of Expellees and Deprived of Rights
The All-German Bloc/League of Expellees and Deprived of Rights was a right-wing political party in West Germany, which acted as an advocacy group of the Germans fled and expelled in and after World War II.-History:...
, and in a number of German Party's functionaries participated in the foundation of the National Democratic Party
National Democratic Party of Germany
The National Democratic Party of Germany – The People's Union , is a far right German nationalist party. It was founded in 1964 a successor to the German Reich Party . Party statements self-identify as Germany's "only significant patriotic force"...
(NPD). Party activist Friedrich Thielen
Friedrich Thielen
Friedrich-Georg "Fritz" Thielen was a German politician with the Christian Democratic Union , the German Party, the Gesamtdeutsche Partei and the National Democratic Party of Germany ....
was chosen as the leader of the new party but was ousted in 1967 by Adolf von Thadden
Adolf von Thadden
Adolf von Thadden Von Thadden was born at the noble estate of Gut Trieglaff near Greifenberg in Pomerania – was a leading far right German politician...
. Thielen left, as he felt von Thadden was too sympathetic to Nazism
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
, and re-founded the German Party. However the new incarnation failed to become even a local force and ceased to operate as a political party in 1980 (although it continued as an association).
Current German Party
The German Party was re-founded in KasselKassel
Kassel is a town located on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Kassel Regierungsbezirk and the Kreis of the same name and has approximately 195,000 inhabitants.- History :...
in 1993 and has since worked with other right wing parties such as Bund freier Bürger and Freiheitliche Deutsche Volkspartei (a splinter group of the German People's Union
German People's Union
The German People's Union is a nationalist political party in Germany. It was founded by publisher Gerhard Frey as an informal association in 1971 and established as a party in 1987. Financially, it is largely dependent on Frey....
in Saxony-Anhalt
Saxony-Anhalt
Saxony-Anhalt is a landlocked state of Germany. Its capital is Magdeburg and it is surrounded by the German states of Lower Saxony, Brandenburg, Saxony, and Thuringia.Saxony-Anhalt covers an area of...
which it absorbed in 2003). The new party was led by Johannes Freiherr von Campenhausen until 2001 when Heiner Kappel took his place. Kappel was expelled in 2005 after attempting to agree an alliance with the Republicans and the German Social Union
German Social Union (East Germany)
The German Social Union is a small right-wing conservative political party active in the eastern German states since 1990. It was started as a conservative opposition group during the "Wende" in the German Democratic Republic...
even though the membership had supported working with the German People's Union and the NPD. A joint leadership of Eberhard Lehmann, Claudia Wiechmann (former chair of the FDVP) and Ulrich Paetzold took over before Lehmann was sidelined in favour of a joint leadership. The party has been investigated in Thuringia
Thuringia
The Free State of Thuringia is a state of Germany, located in the central part of the country.It has an area of and 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany's sixteen states....
and Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
as possibly extreme right, with the conclusion made that contacts exist. As of 2007, the party is no longer monitored by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution. The German party no longer has representation at any major level, having only a small number of local seats. It produces a monthly newspaper, the Deutschland-Post. Some members have left to join the Republicans whilst co-operate with the far-right NPD.