German Federation for South West Africa
| German Federation for South West Africa (DB) | |
|---|---|
| founding | September 3, 1924 |
| Place of foundation | Windhoek |
| resolution | July 1, 1937 |
| Headquarters | Windhoek |
The German Federation for South West Africa (DB) was a political gathering movement and party in the mandate area South West Africa . She represented the interests of the Deutschnamibier in the former German colony .
prehistory
The German colony Deutsch-Südwestafrika was administered by the South African Union in 1919 as a League of Nations mandate in South West Africa in accordance with the provisions of the Versailles Peace Treaty .
In the course of the subsequent "South Africanization" of South West Africa, around half of the 15,000 Germans still living there were expelled and their farms were handed over to South Africans. South Africa's policy, known as “de-Germanization”, only changed with the London Agreement of October 23, 1923, according to which the Germans remaining in the country were offered British citizenship and immigration from Germany and the expansion of the German language were strongly encouraged. 258 Germans refused British citizenship, 2873 German Namibians made use of the possibility of changing citizenship.
The founding of the party
The chairman of the German Association in Windhoek , the doctor Fritz Brenner , was the driving force behind the establishment of the German Confederation. At the beginning of 1924 he invited all German associations, organizations and churches to a meeting. The ten participating organizations agreed that a common organization was necessary to defend German interests.
On September 3, 1924, the founding party conference took place in Windhoek. Brenner was elected as chairman. The new collection movement gave itself a 14-paragraph statute. Paragraph 1 described the self-image: It was a bipartisan association of German organizations and individuals. Members could be persons who were German by birth or who professed to be German .
The politics of the German Confederation
The main demand of the German Federation for South West Africa was the recognition of German as the third official language (after English and Afrikaans ). Closely related to this was the question of the continued existence of German schools. The Education Act of 1919 stipulated that German could only be used temporarily as a school language until 1927. In 1926 this regulation was relaxed, but the goal of preventing German as the school language remained. One means of implementing language policy was the nationalization of German schools. The German schools were private schools ; they had to be licensed by the government, which was limited to five years. At the end of the 1920s, these licenses were often no longer renewed and the schools continued to operate as state schools. In 1933 there were still five private German schools left.
The Germans' demand for equality also included the issue of immigration. Immigrants from South Africa were naturalized one year after they took up residence in the Mandate area . Longer deadlines apply to immigrants from other countries (such as Germany). This regulation was the most important instrument to change the composition of the population at the expense of the Germans.
On the other hand, there were fewer conflicts on economic issues. Here, too, the goal of the mandate rule was to gain control over the important companies, especially the mining companies. This was achieved largely through voluntary sales.
At the party conference on September 9, 1928 in Karibib , Albert Voigts was elected as the new chairman.
Participation in the elections for the South West African Legislative Assembly
1926
On July 21, 1925, the Parliament of the Union of South Africa approved the constitution for South West Africa, the South West Africa Constitution Act, No. 42 of 1925
The Constitution created the legal basis for a legislative assembly (Legislative Assembly) and the Cabinet (Executive Committee) in South West Africa. The parliament consisted of 18 members, twelve of whom were elected and six by appointment. Only the whites were entitled to vote, not the native majority population.
The elections ended with a great success for the German Confederation: seven out of twelve seats were won, since there were two other Germans among the appointed MPs, there was a stalemate in the chamber of nine Germans to nine Union supporters.
The fact that the members of the Union appeared in two parties contributed to the election success: on the one hand, the National Party and, on the other, the South-West Party . In connection with the majority vote , the unity of the German side had paid off.
1929
The elections for the South West African Legislative Assembly in 1929 were changed. Due to the immigration regulations, the proportion of Germans among the whites continued to decline. Above all, however, the National Party and the South West Party had merged to form the United National South West Party (UNSWP) (Dutch: Verenigde Nasionale Suidwes Party). Now the majority vote was directed against the German Confederation: The UNSWP won eight of the twelve mandates, only the four constituencies of Grootfontein , Kolmanskuppe , Lüderitzbucht and Windhuk-Zentral could be defended.
The German Confederation for South West Africa drew the conclusion from the election result that the chances of a purely ethnic party would also be slim in future elections. Accordingly, a dual strategy was designed: On the one hand, a multi-ethnic party was to be founded. This was implemented in the early 1930s with the Economic League . On the other hand, attempts were made to coordinate a common policy with the unionists. A delegation was sent to Barry Hertzog ; However, she came back with no results and reported that the government was unlikely to be accommodating. However, the effects of the global economic crisis led to a gathering of political forces.
The board of directors of the German Federation for South West Africa and the UNSWP met on March 19 and 20, 1932 for an economic conference organized by the Mayor of Windhoek, John Meinert . The two parties agreed to work together. In a joint declaration of April 27, 1932, two points were to be emphasized: Both parties spoke out in favor of strengthening the self-administration of the mandate area. Essential competencies should be transferred from the mandate to the bodies of South West Africa. The agreement also included the wish for the German language to be recognized as the official language.
On the part of the UNSWP, the compromise met with fierce opposition from within the party. Even before there were joint parliamentary activities, the UNSWP revoked the declaration.
After 1934
The elections for the South West African Legislative Assembly in 1934 led to a further breakdown of the German Confederation. The Lüderitzbucht constituency was the only one that could still be won. In addition, the newly founded Economic Party managed to win the constituency of Okahandja . The other ten mandates went to the UNSWP.
The German Federation for South West Africa has always worked closely with the German government throughout its existence . With the seizure of power by the Nazis in 1933, the relationship changed. The NSDAP had started in 1932 to build up its own party organization in South West Africa through the NSDAP / AO . There was no longer any room for a non-partisan rallying movement. Even after the NSDAP was banned in South West Africa in 1934, the German Confederation was unable to regain its former role. On July 1, 1937, the German Confederation was dissolved.
With the beginning of the Second World War in 1939, South Africa sided with the British by a narrow majority, but without actively intervening in the war. The residents of German descent living in South West Africa were first placed under farm or house arrest in 1939 and then taken to internment camps in South Africa from 1940, where they had to remain until 1946. Accordingly, no German parties ran for the elections for the South West African Legislative Assembly in 1940 .
Election results
| choice | be right | Share of votes | Seats * |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1926 |
7/12 |
||
| 1929 |
4/12 |
||
| 1934 |
1/12 |
* without appointed seats.
See also
literature
- Martin Eberhardt: Between National Socialism and Apartheid: The German Population Group 1915–1965 . LIT Verlag Dr W. Hopf, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-8258-0225-7 .
- Zedekia Hgavirue: Political parties and interest groups in South West Africa (Namibia) , 1972, 1997, ISBN 3-908193-00-1 , pp. 130-166; 167 ff., 280-282, 301
- Daniel Joseph Walther: Creating Germans Abroad: Cultural Policies and National Identity in Namibia , 2002, ISBN 9780821414583 , pp. 160-162, online
- Fritz Wertheimer : From German parties and party leaders abroad. 1927, p. 235 ff.
- German Colonial Society (Ed.): German Federation for South West Africa. Windhoek 1926–1932, Volumes 1 and 2.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Victor L. Tonchi, William A. Lindeke, John J. Grotpeter: Historical dictionary of Namibia. (= African historical dictionaries. No. 57). Metuchen 2012, ISBN 978-0-8108-5398-0 . (English)