Volkstag
Encyclopedia
The Volkstag was the parliament of the Free City of Danzig
between 1919 and 1939.
Danzig (Gdańsk) became a Free City under the protection of the League of Nations
.
The first elections to a constitutional convention
took place on 16 May 1920, the first parliamentary session on 14 June 1920 at the former West Prussia
n Provincial administration building (Provinzialverwaltung – Landeshaus), Neugarten (today Nowe Ogrody). The building was pulled down after World War II
.
The Volkstag was elected by the male and female citizens of Danzig above 20 years of age; members of the Volkstag were required to be above 25 years of age. Further elections happened on 18 November 1923, 13 November 1927, 16 November 1930, 28 May 1933 and 7 April 1935.
, where more than 90 percent of the Saar populace voted in favour of Germany, the Nazis expected to achieve a similar success in Danzig and dissolved the Volkstag on 21 February 1935. New elections were scheduled for 7 April 1935. In the following weeks the Nazi Party organized more than 1.300 rallies, the local radio station was exclusively used for their propaganda and the usage of public poster pillars was also limited to Nazi propaganda. At the same time the oppositional parties were subject to a massive terror campaign. The Social Democrats
were able to organize only seven rallies (only one in a major hall), which were all disturbed by the SA
, a Nazi paramilitary force. Most other parties were not able to organize any public meeting at all. The Social Democrat newspaper “Danziger Volksstimme” and the Catholic “Danziger Volkszeitung” were banned twice, the Volksstimme was furthermore confiscated in the last three days prior to the election.
However, the result of the elections (59.31 % of votes for the Nazi party) was not as high as the Nazis had expected and the planned parade of the local SA and SS
units was canceled. Gauleiter
Albert Forster
, who started to announce the results on the radio, stopped in his speech and did not read out the results.
The High Court examined 988 witnesses and found 40 out of 45 claims valid. However the High Court did not agree to cancel the election results, but only changed them in part: the Nazi party had to give away one seat, which was then granted to the Social Democrats.
parties did not accept this verdict and protested to the League of Nations
. Anthony Eden
, responsible for the Danzig affairs at the League of Nations, reported the breach of the constitution on 22 January 1936. While Spain
and the Soviet Union
supported immediate actions, France
, Turkey
, Portugal
and Australia
preferred not to tolerate such actions in the future, while Denmark
and Poland
did not support any consequences. The council adjourned a decision and after Danzig's President Arthur Greiser
assured to maintain the constitution in the future, the League of Nations abandoned the petitition.
, an independent candidate sympathizing with the conservative DNVP, was attacked with an iron bar, pushed in front of a tram and severely injured. The DNVP “voluntarily” declared its self-dissolution.
In October 1936 120 politicians of the Social Democratic Party were imprisoned and on 14 October the party was banned. On 25 May 1937 the Social Democrat politician Hans Wiechmann was killed by the Gestapo
after a visit to the League of Nations' High Commissioner Carl Jakob Burckhardt.
In December 1936 leading members of the Catholic Centre were arrested, among them several members of the Volkstag, a judge and a high public official. The Centre Party, the last opposition party, was banned in October 1937 and its Chairman, Bruno Kurowski
, imprisoned.
On 21 March 1939, Greiser declared the legislative period to last another 4 years.
|-
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=left rowspan=2 colspan="1" valign=top| Parties
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=center colspan="2"| 1919
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=center colspan="2"| 1920
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=center colspan="2"| 1923
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=center colspan="2"| 1927
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=center colspan="2"| 1930
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=center colspan="2"| 1933
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=center colspan="2"| 1935
|-
! align="center" | %
! align="center" | Seats
! align="center" | %
! align="center" | Seats
! align="center" | %
! align="center" | Seats
! align="center" | %
! align="center" | Seats
! align="center" | %
! align="center" | Seats
! align="center" | %
! align="center" | Seats
! align="center" | %
! align="center" | Seats
|- align=right
|align=left|turnout
|
|
| 70.4
|
| 81.60
|
| 85.43
|
| 89.07
|
| 92.09
|
| 99.5
|
|- align=right
|align=left| NSDAP
| -
| -
| -
| -
| -
| -
| 0.81
| 1
| 16.4
| 12
| 50.12
| 38
| 59.31
| 43
|- align=right
|align=left| DNVP
| 15.33
| -
| 28.20
| 34
| 26.98
| 33
| 19.59
| 25
| 13.11
| 10
| 6.35
| 4
| 4.17
| 3
|- align=right
|align=left| German State Party
(DSP)
| -
| -
| -
| -
| 6.25
| 7
| 1.16
| 1
| -
| -
| -
| -
| -
| -
|-align=right
|align=left| German Democratic Party (DDP)
| 23.78
| -
| 8.76
| 10
| 6.68
| 8
| 3.39
| 4
| 1.64
| 1
| -
| -
| -
| -
|-align=right
|align=left| Centre Party
| 16.27
| -
| 13.88
| 17
| 12.81
| 15
| 14.27
| 18
| 15.28
| 11
| 14.63
| 10
| 13.41
| 10
|-align=right
|align=left|Social Democrats
| 38.51
| -
| 15.93
| 19
| 24.12
| 30
| 33.79
| 42
| 25.25
| 19
| 17.69
| 13
| 16.05
| 12
|-align=right
|align=left|USPD
| 6.12
| -
| 17.45
| 21
| -
| -
| -
| -
| -
| -
| -
| -
| -
| -
|-align=right
|align=left| Communist Party
| -
| -
| -
| -
| 9.09
| 11
| 6.40
| 8
| 10.21
| 7
| 6.80
| 5
| 3.37
| 2
|- align=right
|align=left| Freie Wirtschaftliche Vereinigung (WVgg)
| -
| -
| 9.71
| 12
| 2.90
| 3
| 1.22
| 1
| 3.22
| 2
| -
| -
| -
| -
|- align=right
|align=left| Deutschliberale Partei (DVG)
| -
| -
| -
| -
| -
| -
| -
| -
| 3.39
| 3
| -
| -
| -
| -
|-align=right
|align=left|Nationalliberale Bürgerpartei (NLBP)
| -
| -
| -
| -
| -
| -
| 4.56
| 5
| 2.22
| 2
| -
| -
| -
| -
|-align=right
|align=left| Deutsch-Danziger Volkspartei (DDVP)
| -
| -
| -
| -
| 4.49
| 6
| 4.38
| 5
| -
| -
| -
| -
| -
| -
|-align=right
|align=left| Bürgerliche Arbeitsgemeinschaft (BAG)
| -
| -
| -
| -
| -
| -
| 2.31
| 3
| 2.37
| 2
| -
| -
| -
| -
|-align=right
|align=left|Polish Party
| -
| -
| 6.08
| 7
| 4.38
| 5
| 3.15
| 3
| 3.23
| 2
| 3.15
| 2
| 3.53
| 2
|-align=right
|align=left|Others
| -
| -
| -
| -
| 2.29
| 2
| 4.97
| 4
| 3.68
| 1
| 1.25
| -
| 0.16
| -
|-align=right
!align=left| Totals
|
|
|
|120
|
|120
|
|120
|
|72
|
|72
|
|72
|}
Free City of Danzig
The Free City of Danzig was a semi-autonomous city-state that existed between 1920 and 1939, consisting of the Baltic Sea port of Danzig and surrounding areas....
between 1919 and 1939.
History
After World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
Danzig (Gdańsk) became a Free City under the protection of the League of Nations
League of Nations
The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
.
The first elections to a constitutional convention
Constitutional convention (political meeting)
A constitutional convention is now a gathering for the purpose of writing a new constitution or revising an existing constitution. A general constitutional convention is called to create the first constitution of a political unit or to entirely replace an existing constitution...
took place on 16 May 1920, the first parliamentary session on 14 June 1920 at the former West Prussia
West Prussia
West Prussia was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773–1824 and 1878–1919/20 which was created out of the earlier Polish province of Royal Prussia...
n Provincial administration building (Provinzialverwaltung – Landeshaus), Neugarten (today Nowe Ogrody). The building was pulled down after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
The Volkstag was elected by the male and female citizens of Danzig above 20 years of age; members of the Volkstag were required to be above 25 years of age. Further elections happened on 18 November 1923, 13 November 1927, 16 November 1930, 28 May 1933 and 7 April 1935.
The 1935 elections
After the successful Saar plebisciteSaar (League of Nations)
The Territory of the Saar Basin , also referred as the Saar or Saargebiet, was a region of Germany that was occupied and governed by Britain and France from 1920 to 1935 under a League of Nations mandate, with the occupation originally being under the auspices of the Treaty of Versailles...
, where more than 90 percent of the Saar populace voted in favour of Germany, the Nazis expected to achieve a similar success in Danzig and dissolved the Volkstag on 21 February 1935. New elections were scheduled for 7 April 1935. In the following weeks the Nazi Party organized more than 1.300 rallies, the local radio station was exclusively used for their propaganda and the usage of public poster pillars was also limited to Nazi propaganda. At the same time the oppositional parties were subject to a massive terror campaign. The Social Democrats
Social Democratic Party of the Free City of Danzig
The Social Democratic Party of the Free City of Danzig was a political party in the Free City of Danzig. After the creation of the Free City of Danzig in 1919, the Danzig branch of the Social Democratic Party of Germany separated itself from the party, and created the Social Democratic Party of...
were able to organize only seven rallies (only one in a major hall), which were all disturbed by the SA
Sturmabteilung
The Sturmabteilung functioned as a paramilitary organization of the National Socialist German Workers' Party . It played a key role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s...
, a Nazi paramilitary force. Most other parties were not able to organize any public meeting at all. The Social Democrat newspaper “Danziger Volksstimme” and the Catholic “Danziger Volkszeitung” were banned twice, the Volksstimme was furthermore confiscated in the last three days prior to the election.
However, the result of the elections (59.31 % of votes for the Nazi party) was not as high as the Nazis had expected and the planned parade of the local SA and SS
Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
units was canceled. Gauleiter
Gauleiter
A Gauleiter was the party leader of a regional branch of the NSDAP or the head of a Gau or of a Reichsgau.-Creation and Early Usage:...
Albert Forster
Albert Forster
Albert Maria Forster was a Nazi German politician. Under his administration as the Gauleiter of Danzig-West Prussia during the Second World War, the local non-German population suffered ethnic cleansing, mass murder, and forceful Germanisation...
, who started to announce the results on the radio, stopped in his speech and did not read out the results.
Action of Voidance
The oppositional parties, except for the Polish Party, immediately filed a law suit at the Danzig High Court, where they specified 45 examples of illegal manipulation of the elections by the Nazis, including the direct threat of dismissal from public service by the Gauleiter to any official not voting for the Nazis. The secrecy of the ballot was not warranted and even “foreign Danziger”, people who were not citizens of the Free City of Danzig, had voted.The High Court examined 988 witnesses and found 40 out of 45 claims valid. However the High Court did not agree to cancel the election results, but only changed them in part: the Nazi party had to give away one seat, which was then granted to the Social Democrats.
League of Nations petitition
The oppositional Social Democrat, German National and Catholic CentreCentre Party (Germany)
The German Centre Party was a Catholic political party in Germany during the Kaiserreich and the Weimar Republic. Formed in 1870, it battled the Kulturkampf which the Prussian government launched to reduce the power of the Catholic Church...
parties did not accept this verdict and protested to the League of Nations
League of Nations
The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
. Anthony Eden
Anthony Eden
Robert Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon, KG, MC, PC was a British Conservative politician, who was Prime Minister from 1955 to 1957...
, responsible for the Danzig affairs at the League of Nations, reported the breach of the constitution on 22 January 1936. While Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
and the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
supported immediate actions, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
preferred not to tolerate such actions in the future, while Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
and Poland
Second Polish Republic
The Second Polish Republic, Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland refers to Poland between the two world wars; a period in Polish history in which Poland was restored as an independent state. Officially known as the Republic of Poland or the Commonwealth of Poland , the Polish state was...
did not support any consequences. The council adjourned a decision and after Danzig's President Arthur Greiser
Arthur Greiser
Arthur Greiser was a Nazi German politician and SS Obergruppenfuhrer. He was one of the persons primarily responsible for organizing the Holocaust in Poland and numerous other war crimes and crimes against humanity, for which he was tried, convicted and executed by hanging after World War...
assured to maintain the constitution in the future, the League of Nations abandoned the petitition.
Dictatorship
Afterwards the opposition was fiercely terrorized. Members of the Volkstag were attacked, leaflet distributors beaten up. The conservative member of the German National People's Party (DNVP), Dr. Curt Blavier, former Senator and vice president of Danzig's police, was arrested. Newspapers were banned. On 10 June 1936 a meeting of the DNVP was attacked by about 100 SA and SS members, 50 visitors had to be sent to a hospital. Gustav PietschGustav Pietsch
Gustav Pietsch was a German captain, resistance fighter and Politician of the Free City of Danzig.Pietsch was born in Bellin, Pomerania and served in the German Navy in World War I on a minesweeper and U-boat escort...
, an independent candidate sympathizing with the conservative DNVP, was attacked with an iron bar, pushed in front of a tram and severely injured. The DNVP “voluntarily” declared its self-dissolution.
In October 1936 120 politicians of the Social Democratic Party were imprisoned and on 14 October the party was banned. On 25 May 1937 the Social Democrat politician Hans Wiechmann was killed by the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
after a visit to the League of Nations' High Commissioner Carl Jakob Burckhardt.
In December 1936 leading members of the Catholic Centre were arrested, among them several members of the Volkstag, a judge and a high public official. The Centre Party, the last opposition party, was banned in October 1937 and its Chairman, Bruno Kurowski
Bruno Kurowski
Bruno Kurowski was a German lawyer and politician of the Free City of Danzig.- Biography :Kurowski was born in Marienburg, West Prussia and studied law at the University of Königsberg...
, imprisoned.
On 21 March 1939, Greiser declared the legislative period to last another 4 years.
Elections
Results of the Volkstag elections 1919-1935|-
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=left rowspan=2 colspan="1" valign=top| Parties
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=center colspan="2"| 1919
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=center colspan="2"| 1920
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=center colspan="2"| 1923
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=center colspan="2"| 1927
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=center colspan="2"| 1930
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=center colspan="2"| 1933
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=center colspan="2"| 1935
|-
! align="center" | %
! align="center" | Seats
! align="center" | %
! align="center" | Seats
! align="center" | %
! align="center" | Seats
! align="center" | %
! align="center" | Seats
! align="center" | %
! align="center" | Seats
! align="center" | %
! align="center" | Seats
! align="center" | %
! align="center" | Seats
|- align=right
|align=left|turnout
|
|
| 70.4
|
| 81.60
|
| 85.43
|
| 89.07
|
| 92.09
|
| 99.5
|
|- align=right
|align=left| NSDAP
| -
| -
| -
| -
| -
| -
| 0.81
| 1
| 16.4
| 12
| 50.12
| 38
| 59.31
| 43
|- align=right
|align=left| DNVP
| 15.33
| -
| 28.20
| 34
| 26.98
| 33
| 19.59
| 25
| 13.11
| 10
| 6.35
| 4
| 4.17
| 3
|- align=right
|align=left| German State Party
German State Party
The German State Party was a short-lived German political party of the Weimar Republic, formed by the merger of the German Democratic Party with the People's National Reich Association in July 1930...
(DSP)
| -
| -
| -
| -
| 6.25
| 7
| 1.16
| 1
| -
| -
| -
| -
| -
| -
|-align=right
|align=left| German Democratic Party (DDP)
| 23.78
| -
| 8.76
| 10
| 6.68
| 8
| 3.39
| 4
| 1.64
| 1
| -
| -
| -
| -
|-align=right
|align=left| Centre Party
Centre Party (Germany)
The German Centre Party was a Catholic political party in Germany during the Kaiserreich and the Weimar Republic. Formed in 1870, it battled the Kulturkampf which the Prussian government launched to reduce the power of the Catholic Church...
| 16.27
| -
| 13.88
| 17
| 12.81
| 15
| 14.27
| 18
| 15.28
| 11
| 14.63
| 10
| 13.41
| 10
|-align=right
|align=left|Social Democrats
Social Democratic Party of the Free City of Danzig
The Social Democratic Party of the Free City of Danzig was a political party in the Free City of Danzig. After the creation of the Free City of Danzig in 1919, the Danzig branch of the Social Democratic Party of Germany separated itself from the party, and created the Social Democratic Party of...
| 38.51
| -
| 15.93
| 19
| 24.12
| 30
| 33.79
| 42
| 25.25
| 19
| 17.69
| 13
| 16.05
| 12
|-align=right
|align=left|USPD
Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany was a short-lived political party in Germany during the Second Reich and the Weimar Republic. The organization was established in 1917 as the result of a split of left wing members of the Social Democratic Party of Germany...
| 6.12
| -
| 17.45
| 21
| -
| -
| -
| -
| -
| -
| -
| -
| -
| -
|-align=right
|align=left| Communist Party
Communist Party (Free City of Danzig)
The Communist Party in Danzig was initially founded as a subdivision of the East Prussian section of the Communist Party of Germany . In 1921 a separate branch of the KPD in the Free City of Danzig was built...
| -
| -
| -
| -
| 9.09
| 11
| 6.40
| 8
| 10.21
| 7
| 6.80
| 5
| 3.37
| 2
|- align=right
|align=left| Freie Wirtschaftliche Vereinigung (WVgg)
| -
| -
| 9.71
| 12
| 2.90
| 3
| 1.22
| 1
| 3.22
| 2
| -
| -
| -
| -
|- align=right
|align=left| Deutschliberale Partei (DVG)
| -
| -
| -
| -
| -
| -
| -
| -
| 3.39
| 3
| -
| -
| -
| -
|-align=right
|align=left|Nationalliberale Bürgerpartei (NLBP)
| -
| -
| -
| -
| -
| -
| 4.56
| 5
| 2.22
| 2
| -
| -
| -
| -
|-align=right
|align=left| Deutsch-Danziger Volkspartei (DDVP)
| -
| -
| -
| -
| 4.49
| 6
| 4.38
| 5
| -
| -
| -
| -
| -
| -
|-align=right
|align=left| Bürgerliche Arbeitsgemeinschaft (BAG)
| -
| -
| -
| -
| -
| -
| 2.31
| 3
| 2.37
| 2
| -
| -
| -
| -
|-align=right
|align=left|Polish Party
| -
| -
| 6.08
| 7
| 4.38
| 5
| 3.15
| 3
| 3.23
| 2
| 3.15
| 2
| 3.53
| 2
|-align=right
|align=left|Others
| -
| -
| -
| -
| 2.29
| 2
| 4.97
| 4
| 3.68
| 1
| 1.25
| -
| 0.16
| -
|-align=right
!align=left| Totals
|
|
|
|120
|
|120
|
|120
|
|72
|
|72
|
|72
|}
Presidents of the Volkstag
- 1920-1921: Wilhelm Reinhard
- 1921-1921: Adalbert Mathaei
- 1921-1923: Adolf Treichel
- 1923-1924: Julius GehlJulius GehlJulius Gehl was a German social democratic politician. Gehl served as the Chairman of the West Prussian District League of the Social Democratic Party of Germany...
- 1924-1926: Adolf Treichel
- 1926-1928: Alfred Semrau
- 1928-1930: Fritz Spill
- 1930-1931: Julius Gehl
- 1931-1933: Wilhelm von Wnuck
- 1933-1933: Franz Potrykus
- 1933-1936: Wilhelm von Wnuck
- 1937-1939: Edmund Beyl
External links
- Pictures of the Volkstag
- Crisis No7: Danzig, Life Magazine (10 July 1939) showing a picture of a Volkstag session
- Diary of High Commissioner Sean LesterSeán LesterSeán Lester was an Irish diplomat and the last Secretary General of the League of Nations, from 31 August 1940 to 18 April 1946.-Early life:...
(1936)