DRP Rhineland-Palatinate

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The German Reich Party of Rhineland-Palatinate ( DRP ) was the regional association of the right-wing German Reich Party in Rhineland-Palatinate . In the state elections in Rhineland-Palatinate in 1959 , it reached 5.1% and entered the state parliament with one member .

history

After the founding of the German Reich Party in 1950, the Federal Party founded the Rhineland-Palatinate State Association on March 18, 1950 and formally installed Leo Ernst from Trier as the state chairman. The few members were recruited from an "emergency community of former Wehrmacht members". The German Reich Party was organized in three district associations (Trier, with Ernst as district chairman, Koblenz and Ludwigshafen), but these - like the entire state association - existed more on paper. The reason for this insignificance was, on the one hand, that Ernst was not a charismatic leader and developed little activity. In addition, better-organized right-wing extremist parties were available for election with the Socialist Reich Party (SRP) and the German Union / German Community . Nevertheless, the DRP achieved 0.5% of the vote in the state elections in Rhineland-Palatinate in 1951 and was thus stronger than the umbrella organization of the National Collection (the German Community was under this list), which achieved 0.34%.

With the ban on the Socialist Reich Party, right-wing extremist forces came together. The German Community in Rhineland-Palatinate joined the DRP in 1953. The DRP thus had eleven functioning district associations. Leo Ernst was expelled from the party because of alleged arrears in contributions and the state chairman of the German Community, Otto Hess, was appointed state chairman of the DRP. However, the number of district associations sank to ten in 1954 and eight in September 1955. In the state elections in Rhineland-Palatinate in 1955 , the DRP did not run with its own list, but as the "Free Voting Community Rhineland-Palatinate" (FWG). In addition to the DRP, individual members of the German Party and the German Workers' Party (DAP), a splinter group limited to Trier, ran on the list . The FWG received 2.86% of the vote.

On September 30, 1956, Hans Schikora , a former member of the SRP, became a member of the regional association and was elected deputy regional chairman on July 21, 1957. Its membership multiplied in a short time. In 1956 there were 300 members, at the beginning of 1960 the party had 1,300 members. District associations now existed in 48 of 52 districts or urban districts. The reason for this increase was - besides the person of Schikora - the concern of the winemakers that the introduction of the European Economic Community would intensify competition from better and cheaper French wine in a way that threatened the existence of the country. The protectionist propaganda of the DRP caught on with the winemakers as well as the stirring up of anti-French resentment with the slogan "Get out of all occupiers". In the state elections in Rhineland-Palatinate in 1959 , the DRP received 87,349 votes and exceeded the 5% threshold . Due to the right to vote, however, only one member (Hans Schikora) entered the state parliament. There he was isolated by the representatives of the democratic parties.

After anti-Semitic riots broke out, in which Cologne DRP members had also participated, the Mainz Interior Ministry banned the regional association of the German Reich Party of Rhineland-Palatinate on January 26, 1960 as the "SRP successor organization". The leadership of the federal party blamed Schikora for this ban and deposed him as state chairman. Despite the ban, a new regional association was set up in early 1960. On February 13, 1960, a meeting of 30 representatives from the district associations took place in Alzey. On behalf of the federal executive , Wilhelm Meinberg informed the Ministry of the Interior that five members of the previous state executive (who were considered to be burdened by the SRP) had been excluded from the party. At the same time, he informed Schikora that the party ban meant that he was no longer a member and no longer held any office.

In May / June 1960 (despite the existing party ban) the regional association was re-established and elected Heinrich Kunstmann as regional chairman. On November 24, 1960, the party ban was lifted and the regional association legalized.

In 1961/62 there was a violent wing fight in the party and the state association. The national-neutralist wing achieved a majority at an extraordinary conference of state delegates in October 1961 and re-elected Schikora as state chairman. After his dismissal two months later, he left the DRP with 60 supporters. This set in a downturn in the party. In 1962 the regional association had lost about 30 percent of its members. In the state election in Rhineland-Palatinate in 1963 , the party achieved 3.2% and left the state parliament. In 1965 the party and with it the regional association dissolved. Large parts of the remaining members switched to the NPD , which was supposed to get 6.9% of the votes in the state elections in Rhineland-Palatinate in 1967 .

Strongholds of the party

In terms of organization as well as the electorate, the DRP had its party strongholds in the rural parts of the West Palatinate and Rheinhessen with a higher Protestant population. These were also the strongholds of the NSDAP in the early 1930s .

people

Party leader

  • Leo Ernst (1950–1953)
  • Otto Hess (1953-1959)
  • Hans Schikora (1958–1960, briefly 1961)
  • Heinrich Kunstmann (1960–1961)
  • Hans Biegel (1961–1962)
  • Fritz May (1962–1965)

literature

  • Oliver Sowinski: The German Reich Party 1950-1965. Organization and ideology of a right-wing radical party. Frankfurt am Main 1998, pp. 79-87, 394.