Democratic Party of Germany (1947/48)

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Theodor Heuss , co-chair
Wilhelm Külz , Co-Chairman

The Democratic Party of Germany (DPD) was an all-German liberal party in 1947/48 and to a certain extent the predecessor organization of the FDP in what would later become the Federal Republic of Germany.

When parties were allowed in Germany again shortly after the end of the Second World War , bourgeois-liberal associations were founded which, in their tradition, were essentially based on the German Democratic Party , the German People's Party and the Württemberg Democratic People's Party during the Weimar Republic called. These liberal parties, which were initially formed at the local and state level, founded an all-German coordination committee in July 1946. This met in November 1946 in Coburg to prepare the establishment of a cross-zonal all-German liberal party.

The DPD was founded on March 17, 1947 at a conference in Rothenburg ob der Tauber , in which liberal politicians from all four zones of occupation took part. Theodor Heuss ( Democratic People's Party ) and Wilhelm Külz ( Liberal Democratic Party of Germany ) became chairmen with equal rights . Arthur Lieutenant and Ernst Mayer were appointed managing directors. The party's offices were set up in Frankfurt am Main , as the seat of the bizone administration , and Berlin .

When Külz in contrast to the also invited East CDU chairpersons Jakob Kaiser at the " first German People's Congress for Unity and just peace " on 6 December 1947 of the SED had been organized, participated, which led to considerable resentment within the LDPD, but also between the East and West German partners of DPD. Participation contradicted the decision of the provisional Reich Executive Committee of the DPD on November 3, 1947, after all-German representations should have emerged from free elections.

The main committee of the LDPD disapproved of Külz's behavior, but avoided further consequences such as those demanded by West German liberals. At the full board meeting of the DPD on January 18, 1948 in Frankfurt am Main , at which Külz did not appear, Theodor Heuss accused the LDPD of having opted for “the Russian view of German unity” with its refusal. Arthur Lieutenant then declared for the LDPD that under these circumstances and allegations, further cooperation was "initially impossible" for the Eastern Liberals. That was the de facto end of DPD. There was no formal resolution, they just couldn't get together anymore. B. After Külz's death in April 1948, there was no by-election of a chairman.

The LDPD in the Soviet occupation zone was then brought into line with the bloc party , and the FDP was formed in the western sectors at the founding party congress in 1948 .

literature

  • Dieter Hein : Between liberal milieu party and national collection movement. Foundation, development and structure of the Free Democratic Party 1945–1949. Droste, Düsseldorf 1985, ISBN 3-7700-5127-0 , p. 278 ff.
  • Jürgen C. Heß : False start. Theodor Heuss and the Democratic Party of Germany 1947/48. In: Yearbook on Liberalism Research . Volume 9, 1997, ISSN  0937-3624 , pp. 83-121.
  • Wolfgang Hoffmann: Attempt and failure of an all-German democratic party 1945-1948. Book publisher Der Morgen, Berlin 1965.
  • Ines Soldwisch: The Democratic Party of Germany (DPD) in the liberal democratic daily press of the Soviet occupation zone (SBZ). In: Yearbook on Liberalism Research . Volume 20, 2008, ISSN  0937-3624 , pp. 47-58.
  • Siegfried Suckut : Parties in the Soviet Zone / GDR 1945–1952. Federal Agency for Political Education, Bonn 2000, ISBN 3-89331-384-2 , p. 53 f.