German-Saarland People's Party
The German-Saarland People's Party (DSVP) was a party of the bourgeois camp in the Saar area , which was formed in 1924 from a merger of the Liberal People's Party and the Democratic Party . It was absorbed into the German front in 1933 .
prehistory
The Liberal People's Party (LVP) came into being after the Saar government commission began its work. The first delegation consisted mainly of representatives from industry and business. In the 1922 election campaign, the party campaigned for unity with Germany and against the French policy of annexation and the work of the government commission. She received 12.8 percent and was able to move into the 1st regional council of the Saar region with four mandates . On the other hand, the German Democratic Party had only 3.9 percent and only one seat in the regional council. For the next election it was therefore decided to join forces. The German-Saarland People's Party was founded in 1924.
program
The German-Saarland People's Party was a national liberal party . Their positions agreed in essential points with the policy of Gustav Stresemann and the work of the German People's Party .
She was a representative of the united front and sought good relations with both the Social Democrats and the Center Party . The Saarland economy was particularly important to the party, and with it the assertion of Saarland interests against the government commission and France. So the policy was designed to merge with other parties. In addition to political demands, the interests of the trade unions were also taken into account and thus social demands were also included. While she was very cautious in dealing with other parties, she criticized the work of the government commission very sharply. In the Saar area question, the party campaigned for a return to Germany, whereby the political orientation played no role for them.
Despite its nationalist program, the DSVP was an opponent of the German national forces and in particular the National Socialists .
Election results
In the election for the 2nd regional council , the association received 14.8%. This improved the percentage, but overall the bourgeois camp was ousted by the communists . Otto Hussong moved to the regional council for the Saarland People's Party for the first time and Hermann Röchling , Wilhelm Schmelzer and Max von Vopelius were able to defend their previous mandate as representatives of the LVP. In the third electoral term, the result deteriorated to 9.06% and the party lost one seat. Philipp Diehl , Röchling and Schmelzer were now represented in the district administrator . In 1932, in the elections to the 4th National Council , the result deteriorated to 6.6%. Röchling and Schmelzer received the two mandates.
meaning
Even if the election results can only be seen as a partial success and it was actually only a small party, the German-Saarland People's Party was an influential force in the Saar region, which can be attributed above all to its members. In addition, with the Saarbrücker Zeitung , she had an influential medium at hand that represented the party line in terms of journalism. The newspaper had a circulation of 70,000 copies at that time.
Hermann Röchling was a representative of the National Liberals and had great influence on the delegation in Geneva, connections to the British socialists and the German government. Due to his strong anti-Semitism and his national thinking, he switched to the NSDAP in 1935 and was instrumental in establishing the German Front .
The other members of the party had a great influence on the Chamber of Crafts and were among the most powerful faction in the Saar region in terms of economic policy.
Merging into the German front
Even before 1932 the DSVP began to disband. On the one hand, the growing influence of the National Socialists was a negative development for the party; on the other hand, the Reich's DVP had become leaderless since Stresemann's death. The disintegration and disintegration of the DVP also had an impact on the Saarland party, which regularly had to distance itself from the Reich Party. In this situation, Röchling turned directly to Adolf Hitler and advocated the idea of a united front made up of national and liberal forces in order to achieve a referral back to Germany in the Saarland. Röchling then took over the party chairmanship and thus led the DSVP into the German front. After a short phase in which all parties were still independently active, it merged with the German National People's Party (DNVP), the Center Party , the Economic Party (WP) and the National Socialist German Workers' Party to form the second German Front and was then considered dissolved.
literature
- Maria Zenner: Parties and politics in the Saar area under the League of Nations regime 1920-1935 . Saarbrücken: Minerva-Verlag 1966. pp. 170-178
Individual evidence
- ^ Weimar Republic 1918-1933: State elections - Saar area. Wahlen-in-deutschland.de, accessed on July 28, 2012 .
- ^ Maria Zenner: Parties and politics in the Saar area under the League of Nations regime 1920-1935 . Saarbrücken: Minerva-Verlag 1966. pp. 265-270
