Weimar political parties - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

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...

was in existence for thirteen years. In that time, some 40 parties were represented in 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...

. This fragmentation of political power was in part due to the peculiar parliamentary system of the Weimar Republic, and in part due to the many challenges facing German democracy in this period.

Left-wing

Deutsche Demokratische Partei (DDP) — German Democratic Party. A left-wing social-liberal party. One of the two main liberal parties. Their party newspapers were the Vossische Zeitung and the Volkswacht.
Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands (KPD)
Communist Party of Germany
The Communist Party of Germany was a major political party in Germany between 1918 and 1933, and a minor party in West Germany in the postwar period until it was banned in 1956...

— Formed out of a number of left-wing groups, including the left wing of the USPD and the Spartacist League
Spartacist League
The Spartacus League was a left-wing Marxist revolutionary movement organized in Germany during World War I. The League was named after Spartacus, leader of the largest slave rebellion of the Roman Republic...

. It was a Marxist-Leninist party that advocated revolution by the proletariat
Proletariat
The proletariat is a term used to identify a lower social class, usually the working class; a member of such a class is proletarian...

and the creation of a communist regime according to the example of 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....

. The party's major paper was the Die Rote Fahne
Die Rote Fahne
The German newspaper Die Rote Fahne was created on 9 November 1918 by Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg in Berlin, first as organ of the left wing revolutionary Spartakusbund. After the founding of the Communist Party of Germany on 1 January 1919 it became the central publication of the party,...

(The Red Flag).
Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (SPD)
Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...

— (between 1917 and 1922 also called Mehrheitssozialdemokratische Partei (MSPD) - Majority Social Democrats); they supported the parliamentary system of democracy, and extensive social programs in the economy. Its party newspaper was the Vorwärts.
Unabhängige Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (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...

—, "Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany" - left wing faction that had split from the SPD in 1917. Parts of it split off, forming the Communist Party, while the majority reunited with the MSPD in 1922. It was a Marxist
Marxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...

party that sought change through parliament and social progressive programs.
National Bolsheviks — Led by Ernst Niekisch
Ernst Niekisch
Ernst Niekisch was a German politician. Initially associated with mainstream left-wing politics he later became a Prominent exponent of National Bolshevism.-Bavaria:...

, they combined ultranationalism with social radicalism by claiming to espouse both 'German' principles and much of the programme carried out by the Bolsheviks under Lenin.

Centre

The German State Party (DStP) — Formed in 1930 by the DDP, the People's National Reich Association and remains of the Christian Trade Unionists. In 1930, it published a "Manifesto of the German State Party".
Wirtschaftspartei. (Economic Party.) One of the two main liberal parties.
Zentrumspartei
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...

— The Centre Party was the continuation of the pre-Weimar Catholic party of the same name. Their party newspaper was Germania.

Right-wing

Deutsche Volkspartei (DVP) — German People's Party. Originating from the pre-Weimar National Liberals, it was a centre-right national liberal party. Gustav Stresemann
Gustav Stresemann
was a German politician and statesman who served as Chancellor and Foreign Minister during the Weimar Republic. He was co-laureate of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1926.Stresemann's politics defy easy categorization...

was its chairman.
Bayerische Volkspartei (BVP) — Bavarian People's Party, a Catholic and conservative party
Christlich-Nationale Bauern- und Landvolkpartei — Christian National Peasants' and Rural Peoples Party (splinter party)
Deutsche anti-semitische Vereinigung — German Anti-Semitic League (splinter party)
Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (DAP) — The German Workers' Party was formed in 1919, by Anton Drexler
Anton Drexler
Anton Drexler was a German right-wing political leader of the 1920s, known for being Adolf Hitler's mentor during his early days in politics.-Biography:...

with Gottfried Feder
Gottfried Feder
Gottfried Feder was an economist and one of the early key members of the Nazi party. He was their economic theoretician. Initially, it was his lecture in 1919 that drew Hitler into the party.- Biography :...

, Dietrich Eckart
Dietrich Eckart
Dietrich Eckart was a German journalist and politician, together with Adolf Hitler one of the early key members of the Nazi Party and a participant of the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch.-Biography:...

and Karl Harrer
Karl Harrer
Karl Harrer was a German journalist and politician, one of the founding members of the "Deutsche Arbeiterpartei" in 1919, the party that soon would become the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei .Harrer was also a member of the Thule Society, which gave him the task of founding a...

, and derived in part from the Thule Society
Thule Society
The Thule Society , originally the Studiengruppe für germanisches Altertum , was a German occultist and völkisch group in Munich, named after a mythical northern country from Greek legend...

, the cover organization of the occult ariosophist Germanenorden
Germanenorden
The Germanenorden was a völkisch secret society in early 20th century Germany...

. This party added the adjective "National Socialist" in its name and became the "National Socialist German Workers' Party" (NSDAP) in 1920.
Deutsche Partei
German Party
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...

(DP) — German Party
Deutsche Reformpartei — German Reform Party (splinter party).
Deutschvölkische Freiheitspartei (DVFP) — German Völkisch Freedom Party; this was the party of General Ludendorff
Erich Ludendorff
Erich Friedrich Wilhelm Ludendorff was a German general, victor of Liège and of the Battle of Tannenberg...

. It campaigned for an authoritarian regime that would be very nationalistic and promoted socioeconomic questions. It also sought to close the stock exchanges and nationalize the banks. In May 1924, it obtained 6.4% of the vote in alliance with NSDAP, but fell to 3% in the next election, in December 1924.
Deutschnationale Volkspartei
German National People's Party
The German National People's Party was a national conservative party in Germany during the time of the Weimar Republic. Before the rise of the NSDAP it was the main nationalist party in Weimar Germany composed of nationalists, reactionary monarchists, völkisch, and antisemitic elements, and...

(DNVP) — German National People's Party. It presented itself as a Volksgemeinschaft
Volksgemeinschaft
Volksgemeinschaft is a German expression meaning "people's community". Originally appearing during World War I as Germans rallied behind the war, it derived its popularity as a means to break down elitism and class divides...

or non-class party. It included remnants from the German Conservative Party, the Free Conservative Party, the Völkische movement, the Christian Social movement, and the Pan-German Association. It established two labor unions; one for the blue-collar worker (the DNAB) and one for the white-collar worker (DNAgB), which had been politically unimportant. The DNVP was the main authoritarian right party of Weimar Germany, but moved to the radical right after coming under the control of press baron Alfred Hugenberg
Alfred Hugenberg
Alfred Ernst Christian Alexander Hugenberg was an influential German businessman and politician. Hugenberg, a leading figure within nationalist politics in Germany for the first few decades of the twentieth century, became the country's leading media proprietor within the inter-war period...

in 1928. It organized the National Opposition in 1929, together with leaders of the Stahlhelm, Dr. Schacht, the president of the central bank and Hitler's Nazi Party, to oppose Chancellor Hermann Müller
Hermann Müller (politician)
' , born in Mannheim, was a German Social Democratic politician who served as Foreign Minister , and twice as Chancellor of Germany under the Weimar Republic...

's Grand Coalition.
Deutscher Volksverein — the German People's League was started in 1881 by Max Liebermann von Sonnenberg
Max Liebermann von Sonnenberg
Max Liebermann von Sonnenberg was a German officer who became noted as an anti-Semitic politician and publisher...

, a former officer, and Bernhard Förster
Bernhard Förster
Bernhard Förster was a nineteenth century German teacher...

, Nietzsche's brother in law.
Deutsches Landvolk. Cover name for the Christian National Peasant/Rural Party in the 1930 Reichstag elections.
Deutschsozialistische Partei (DSP) — The so-called "German-Socialist" Party. It was headed by Julius Streicher
Julius Streicher
Julius Streicher was a prominent Nazi prior to World War II. He was the founder and publisher of Der Stürmer newspaper, which became a central element of the Nazi propaganda machine...

, and it was also highly organized, despite having a rather small size. In a controversial move, it dissolved itself in 1922 and many of its members entered the (then very new) Nazi Party.
Volksnationale Reichsvereinigung (People's National Reich Association.)
Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NSDAP) — (National Socialist German Workers' Party or the Nazi Party) It advocated Volksgemeinschaft, a unity of all classes, following the corporatist
Corporatism
Corporatism, also known as corporativism, is a system of economic, political, or social organization that involves association of the people of society into corporate groups, such as agricultural, business, ethnic, labor, military, patronage, or scientific affiliations, on the basis of common...

fascist
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...

model.

Other political organizations

Agrarian League of Farmers. It took the name Reichslandbund (RLB) after 1920.
Allgemeiner Deutscher Beamtenbund (ADB) a civil servants league started by the SPD.
Bavarian Peasants' League
Bavarian Peasants' League
The Bavarian Peasants' League was an agrarian political party in Bavaria, Germany, from 1870-1933. It has also been known in English as the Bavarian Farmers' League....

(Peasant League) operated throughout Germany but especially in its stronghold of Bavaria. It had democratic, anticlerical leanings and subscribed to a narrow Bavarian particularism
Bauernvereine. Farmers' associations associated with the Center Party and were located in the Catholic west and south.
Bauernverein. Peasant association located in Schleswig-Holstein. Without religious ties, it initially supported a liberal economic and political policy.
Christian Social Movement
Deutsche Landwirtschafsrat (German Agricultural Council)
Federation of German Retail Business
Green Front. An umbrella group which consisted of the Landbund (RLB), the Deutsche Bauernshaft (formerly Bauernbund), the Association of Christian-German Peasant Unions, and the German Agricultural Council. It too heavily promoted the Junker
Junker
A Junker was a member of the landed nobility of Prussia and eastern Germany. These families were mostly part of the German Uradel and carried on the colonization and Christianization of the northeastern European territories during the medieval Ostsiedlung. The abbreviation of Junker is Jkr...

s interest and drove many farmers out.
Landvolkbewegung (Landvolk) A movement of Schleswig-Holstein formed by farmers in the aftermath of the January 1928 demonstration.
Reichsbund der Deserteure — National Association of Deserters; led by Karl Liebknecht
Karl Liebknecht
was a German socialist and a co-founder with Rosa Luxemburg of the Spartacist League and the Communist Party of Germany. He is best known for his opposition to World War I in the Reichstag and his role in the Spartacist uprising of 1919...

; formed before the breakup from the Independent Socialists.
Reichslandbund — Natural Rural League
Spartakusbund (Spartacist League) — (1918-1919) left wing of the USPD led by Rosa Luxemburg
Rosa Luxemburg
Rosa Luxemburg was a Marxist theorist, philosopher, economist and activist of Polish Jewish descent who became a naturalized German citizen...

and Karl Liebknecht
Karl Liebknecht
was a German socialist and a co-founder with Rosa Luxemburg of the Spartacist League and the Communist Party of Germany. He is best known for his opposition to World War I in the Reichstag and his role in the Spartacist uprising of 1919...

, became the German Communist Party.

Unions

Allgemeiner Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund (ADGB)

Allgemeiner freier Angestelltenbund (AfA) white-collar employee union affiliated with the SPD-dominated free trade unions.
Deutscher Landarbeiterverband (German Agricultural Labor Union). SPD organized.
Deutschnationaler Handlungsgehilfenverband (DHV) (National Association of Commercial Employees.) — the conservative white collar worker union. The DHV leadership did not fully support the NSDAP because it didn't recognize the independence of unions.
Gesamtverband Deutscher Beamtengewerkschaften (GDB) was a conservative civil service union.
Gewerkschaftsbund der Angestellten (GdA) was a Hirsch-Duncker union.
Gewerkschaftsbund deutscher Angestelltenverbände (Gedag) Conservative white-collar union
Reichsbund Deutscher Angestellten-Berufsverbände Conservative white-collar union.
Vereinigung der chrislichen-deutschen Bauernvereine (Association of Christian-German Peasant Unions).
Zentralverband der Angestellten (ZdA), an association of white-collar unions started by the SPD.
Party of socialist national liberation (NSFP) (Combined list of the Deutschvölkische Freiheitspartei (DVFP) and the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP)

Nationalsozialistische Freiheitsbewegung (NSFB)(Combined list of the Deutschvölkische Freiheitspartei (DVFP) and the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP)

Other Organizations

Alldeutscher Verband (Pan-German Association)
Katholische Burschenvereine. Catholic youth associations that the Catholic Church started in southern Germany to provide Catholic youth with numerous activities.
Deutsches Handwerk. German crafts organization headed by Zeleny. Zeleny advocated positions that would improve conditions for the old middle class. It would later back the NSDAP.
Tatkreis movement
Völkisch movement
Völkisch movement
The volkisch movement is the German interpretation of the populist movement, with a romantic focus on folklore and the "organic"...

Secret societies

Organisation Consul
Organisation Consul
Organisation Consul was an ultra-nationalist force operating in Germany in 1921 and 1922. It was formed by members of the Marinebrigade Ehrhardt, a Freikorps unit which disbanded after the Kapp Putsch failed to overthrow the German Weimar Republic...

(OC) — In July 1921, Captain Ehrhardt and several members of his brigade
Marinebrigade Ehrhardt
The Marinebrigade Ehrhardt was a Free Corps group of around 6,000 men formed by Captain Hermann Ehrhardt in the aftermath of World War I, also known as II Marine Brigade or the Ehrhardt Brigade...

formed this organization to commit political assassinations.(2)
Feme — an irregular tribunal based on ones from medieval Germany that at the time would administer justice when the government was too weak to maintain order. (Both of these organizations overlapped.)(2)

Reichstag election results

All vote numbers in thousands.

Regional= Total for regional parties not listed individually
Rightist= Total for right-wing parties not listed individually
Splinter= Total for splinter parties not listed individually or among regional or rightist

6/6/1920
includes by-elections in Schleswig-Holstein and East Prussia (20/2/1921)
and Upper Silesia (19/11/1922)
Eligible 35,920
Turnout 28,196
% Voting 78.4
(Party, Votes, Seats)
KPD 590 4
USPD 5047 83
SPD 6104 103
Centre 3910 64
BVP 1173 21
DDP 2334 39
WP 219 4
DVP 3919 65
DNVP 4249 71
Regional 709 5
Splinter 161 0
Total 28415 459

05/04/1924
Eligible 38,375
Turnout 29,282
% Voting 76.3
(Party, Votes, Seats)
KPD 3693 45
USPD 235 0
SPD 6009 100
Centre 3914 65
BVP 947 16
DDP 1655 28
WP 530 10
DVP 2728 45
DNVP 5697 95
NSFP 1918 32
Regional 608 5
Rightist 666 10
Splinter 682 4
Total 29282 455

12/07/1924
Eligible 33,987
Turnout 30,290
% Voting 77.7
(Party, Votes, Seats)
KPD 2709 45
USPD 99 0
SPD 7881 131
Centre 4092 69
BVP 1134 19
DDP 1920 32
WP 639 17
DVP 3049 51
DNVP 6206 103
NSFB 907 14
Regional 708 4
Rightist 545 8
Splinter 401 0
Total 30290 493

20/5/1928
Eligible 41,224
Turnout 30,754
% Voting 74.6
(Party, Votes, Seats)
KPD 3265 54
SPD 9153 153
Centre 3712 61
BVP 946 17
DDP 1479 25
WP 1388 23
DVP 2680 45
DNVP 4382 73
NSDAP 810 12
Regional 956 3
Rightist 1025 23
Splinter 958 2
Total 30754 491

14/9/1930
Eligible 42,958
Turnout 34,971
% Voting 81.4
(Party, Votes, Seats)
KPD 4592 77
SPD 8578 143
Centre 4128 68
BVP 1059 19
DDP 1322 20
WP 1362 23
DVP 1578 30
DNVP 2458 41
NSDAP 6383 107
Regional 683 3
Rightist 2373 46
Splinter 455 0
Total 34971 577

31/7/1932
Eligible 44,211
Turnout 36,882
% Voting 83.4
(Party, Votes, Seats)
KPD 5283 89
SPD 7960 133
Centre 4589 75
BVP 1193 22
DDP 372 4
WP 147 2
DVP 136 7
DNVP 2177 37
NSDAP 13769 230
Regional 219 0
Rightist 552 9
Splinter 185 0
Total 36582 608

11/06/1932
Eligible 44,374
Turnout 35,471
% Voting 79.9
(Party, Votes, Seats)
KPD 5980 100
SPD 7248 121
Centre 4230 70
BVP 1095 20
DDP 336 2
WP 110 1
DVP 661 11
DNVP 2959 52
NSDAP 11737 196
Regional 353 1
Rightist 510 10
Splinter 252 0
Total 35471 584

03/05/1933
Eligible 44,665
Turnout 39,343
% Voting 88.1
(Party, Votes, Seats)
KPD 4848 81
SPD 7181 120
Centre 4425 74
BVP 1074 18
DDP 334 5
DVP 432 2
DNVP 3137 52
NSDAP 17277 288
Regional l246 0
Rightist 384 7
Splinter 5 0
Total 39343 647

List by abbreviation

ADB — Allgemeiner Deutscher Beamtenbund
AfA — Allgemeiner Freier Angestelltenbund
BB — Bavarian Peasants' League
Bavarian Peasants' League
The Bavarian Peasants' League was an agrarian political party in Bavaria, Germany, from 1870-1933. It has also been known in English as the Bavarian Farmers' League....
BVP — Bavarian People's Party
Bavarian People's Party
The Bavarian People's Party was the Bavarian branch of the Centre Party, which broke off from the rest of the party in 1919 to pursue a more conservative, more Catholic, more Bavarian particularist course...
Center — Catholic Center 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...
CNBL — Christian-National Peasants' and Farmers' Party
Christian-National Peasants' and Farmers' Party
The Christian-National Peasants' and Farmers' Party was an agrarian political party of Weimar Germany. It developed from the German National People's Party in 1928....
DAF — German Labor Front
DAP — German Workers Party
DBB — German Civil Service Federation
DBP — German Farmers' Party
German Farmers' Party
The German Farmers' Party or German Peasants' Party was a German agrarian political party during the Weimar Republic, existing from 1928-33....
DDP — German Democratic Party
DHV — Deutschnatinaler Handlungsgehilfenverband (National Association of Commercial Employees).
DNAP — Deutschnational Arbeiterband
DNAgB — Deutschnationaler Angestelltenbund
DNVP — German National People’s Party
DSP — German Socialist Party
German Socialist Party
The German Socialist Party was a German far-right, nationalist party during the early years of the Weimar Republic. Founded in 1918, its declared aim was an ideology that would combine both völkisch and socialist elements...
DStP — 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...
DVFP — German Völkisch Freedom Party
German Völkisch Freedom Party
The German Völkisch Freedom Party was a right-wing and antisemitic political party of Weimar Germany that took its name from the Völkisch movement, a populist movement focused on folklore and the German Volk....
DVP — German People's Party
German People's Party
The German People's Party was a national liberal party in Weimar Germany and a successor to the National Liberal Party of the German Empire.-Ideology:...
GdA — Gewerkschaftsbund der Angestellten
GDB — Gesamtverband Deutscher Beamtengewerkschaften
Gedag — Gewerkschaftsbund deutscher Angestelltenverbände
KPD — Communist Party of Germany
Communist Party of Germany
The Communist Party of Germany was a major political party in Germany between 1918 and 1933, and a minor party in West Germany in the postwar period until it was banned in 1956...
NSDAP — National Socialist German Workers' Party (Nazi Party)
NSFP — National Socialist Freedom Party
NSV — National Socialist People's Welfare
National Socialist People's Welfare
The Nationalsozialistische Volkswohlfahrt , meaning "National Socialist People's Welfare" was a social welfare organization during the Third Reich. The NSV was established in 1933, shortly after the NSDAP took power in Germany...
OC — Organisation Consul
Organisation Consul
Organisation Consul was an ultra-nationalist force operating in Germany in 1921 and 1922. It was formed by members of the Marinebrigade Ehrhardt, a Freikorps unit which disbanded after the Kapp Putsch failed to overthrow the German Weimar Republic...
RDA — Reichsbund Deutscher Angestellten-Berufsverbände
RLB — Reichslandbund
SPD — Social Democratic Party of Germany
Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...
ZdA — Zentralverband der Angestellten
WP — Wirtschaftspartei
Reich Party of the German Middle Class
The Reich Party of the German Middle Class , known from 1920-25 as the Economic Party of the German Middle Classes , was a liberal German political party during the Weimar Republic. It was commonly known as the Wirtschaftspartei or WP....