German National People's Party of the Free City of Danzig

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The German National People's Party of the Free City of Danzig ( DNVP ) was a national conservative party and sister party of the Reich German German National People's Party , which was active in the Free City of Danzig .

history

The democratic time

After the First World War , the DNVP was also formed in the province of West Prussia . The driving force and later party chairman was Heinrich Schwegmann . By the Versailles Treaty , Danzig and the Danzig area were separated from Germany against the will of the population. A State Council was set up as a provisional government , in which the DNVP was represented by the shipyard owner Willi Klawitter .

The election for the Constituent Assembly in Danzig in 1920 on May 16 was a great success for the DNVP. In the election for the constituent German National Assembly in Gdansk on January 19, 1919, it received 15.33% of the votes in the district and urban district of Danzig, now it was 28.33%. With 34 out of 120 seats, the DNVP had become the strongest parliamentary group. Together with the center and the liberals there was a bourgeois majority. With this majority, the constitution of the Free City of Danzig was passed and the Senate Sahm I was elected. The DNVP was represented in this Senate with the Justice Senator Albert Frank as a full-time senator and six honorary senators. Among them was Ernst Ziehm as Deputy President of the Senate.

The DNVP contested the election campaign for the People's Day elections in Gdansk in 1923 with strong criticism of the liberal trade senator Julius Jewelowski . This was accused (with clear anti-Semitic tones - Jewelowski was a Jew) too much indulgence towards Poland. The DNVP was the winner of the election. With 27.50% and 33 seats, the good result of the last election was almost maintained and was still the strongest group. Julius Jewelowski had to leave the Senate of the Free City of Danzig .

The rejection of the state budget in 1925 by Vice President Ernst Ziehm led to a government crisis. On August 19, 1925, the new Senate Sahm II became a minority senate made up of the SPD , the Center and the German Liberal Party (this had been formed in 1925 from the Free Association of Civil Servants, Salaried Employees and Workers and the German Party for Progress and Economy (since 1920 the Name of the Free Economic Association)) formed. This government was tolerated by the Poles and the now non-attached MP Wilhelm Rahn . The DNVP found itself in the opposition. After a government crisis, this Senate resigned on September 28, 1926 and the honorary senators were re-elected on October 25, 1926. A civil coalition including the DNVP had formed again.

The People's Day election in Gdansk in 1927 led to the defeat of the DNVP. Only 20.83% of Gdańsk residents had given their vote to the DNVP. 20 seats in the People's Day remained, the Social Democratic Party of the Free City of Danzig had become the strongest party. The DNVP was also no longer represented in Senate Sahm III .

The constitutional amendment of 1930 was a success for the DNVP, which implemented its proposals. For cost reasons, the Senate and the People's Day were reduced in size and the electoral term ended early. However, the popular elections in Gdansk in 1930 did not bring the desired bourgeois majority. The DNVP had again lost votes with 13.89% and ten mandates. The NSDAP had tipped the scales . This declared itself ready to tolerate a minority government of the bourgeois parties under Ernst Ziehm. Already in 1933 the tolerance of the Senate Ziehm ended and there were new elections in which the NSDAP received an absolute majority of the votes. With 5.56% of the vote and four seats, the DNVP was the big loser of the election. One of the reasons was that the Danziger Neusten Nachrichten , which had previously been close to the DNVP, now reported in the interests of the National Socialists.

Synchronization and prohibition

The DNVP wanted to run as the “National Front” for the People's Day election in Gdansk in 1935 . After this was forbidden by the National Socialist rulers, they entered as the "Liste Weise" (after the top candidate of the DNVP, Gerhard Weise ). The elections were massively falsified. The fact that the list received 4.17% and three seats is therefore not representative of the mood in the population. On June 12, 1936, over 100 National Socialists stormed a gathering of the German Nationals in St. Josephs House and beat up the DNVP sympathizers. Over 50 people had to be taken to hospitals. The SS man Günther Deskowski, who died in this attack, was honored with a state funeral. On July 8, 1936, the DNVP's monthly magazine, the Danziger Nationale Zeitung , was banned. In May 1937, the DNVP "voluntarily" dissolved.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ernst Ziehm : The administration of Danzig by the main inter-allied powers and the constitution of the Free City of Danzig. In: Albert Brödersdorff (Ed.): The emergence of the Free City of Danzig - five essays. Gdansk 1930.
  2. ^ Heinrich Sprenger: Heinrich Sahm - Local politician and statesman (dissertation). 1969, pp. 118-119.
  3. ↑ Ernst Sodeikat: National Socialism and the Danzig Opposition. In: Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte , Volume 12 (1966), Issue 2, pp. 167–175 ( online ).