Alsace-Lorraine Center Party

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The Alsace-Lorraine Center Party ( ELZ ) had been the regional organization of the center in the realm of Alsace-Lorraine since 1906 .

prehistory

The population of the realm of Alsace-Lorraine was almost 3/4 Catholic. Catholic politicians therefore determined regional politics. The denomination of the population was a major reason for the critical attitude of the population towards the Prussian-Protestant empire and its Protestant emperor. This critical distance led to the fact that the (predominantly Catholic) members of the Reichstag did not join the parliamentary group there, but acted independently and represented autonomist positions.

First Catholic electoral associations

The association law of Alsace-Lorraine , adopted by France, provided for the formation of electoral associations only at constituency level. From the beginning of the 1890s, such associations were formed in various places. In 1892 a local group of the People's Association for Catholic Germany was formed in Strasbourg . In the Reichstag election in 1893, however, the candidates from the association Cetty and Dr. Paul Müller-Simonis after the announcement that after the successful election he wanted to join the center parliamentary group .

Catholic People's Party

Despite the election defeat, Müller-Simonis founded the Catholic People's Party in Strasbourg in 1894. After this establishment had received government approval, the first general assembly on April 17, 1895 elected Charles Voltz as chairman and Müller-Simonis as vice-president. The government rejected the expansion of the party, which had around 800 members in 1895, to include other counties. However, electoral successes continued to fail.

Foundation of the Alsace-Lorraine Center Party

The Volksverein grew at a rapid pace. The 1500 members in 1891 had already become 5,108 in 1901/02 and 15830 in 1902/03. In 1904/05 there were 35,071 members and the third largest national association was formed. Through the integration of the association into the nationwide organization, the demand for a cooperation with the center with vehemence in the Reichsland was raised. The Catholic newspapers also supported the demand. The opponents of cooperation, such as Nicolaus Delsor , Emile Wetterlé and von Rappoltsweiler, increasingly came into a minority position.

The national association of the center was founded on January 26, 1903 in Strasbourg. Dr. Peter Burguburu became the first chairman. A variety of local groups joined. On March 11, 1906, the Alsace-Lorraine Center Party was formed, which the national association joined.

Alsace-Lorraine Center Party as the leading force in the Reichsland

The Alsace-Lorraine Center Party won the 1907 Reichstag election . With Franz Xaver Hoën , Karl Hauss , Leo Vonderscheer and Dionysius Will , the Alsace-Lorraine center provided four members who joined the center parliamentary group in the Reichstag. Even if Leo Vonderscheer resigned from the central parliamentary group in the conflict over the constitution of the Reichsland of 1911 and other Catholic MPs such as Heinrich Wiltberger did not join the central parliamentary group, the center had become the strongest party in the Reichsland.

In the first and only elections to the Landtag of the Reichsland Alsace-Lorraine in 1911, the center received 31.0% of the votes and 24 seats out of 60 mandates.

After the end of the Reichsland

With the French occupation of Alsace-Lorraine in 1918, the history of the center also ended there. The Alsatian People's Party (French Union populaire républicaine) was formed as a new political Catholic party in Alsace . In Lorraine, the Union Républicaine Lorraine (URL) was the successor party.

Party leader

literature

  • Hermann Hiery : Reichstag elections in the Reichsland. A contribution to the regional history of Alsace-Lorraine and the electoral history of the German Empire 1871–1918 (= contributions to the history of parliamentarism and political parties. 80). Droste, Düsseldorf 1986, ISBN 3-7700-5132-7 , pp. 92-96, (also: Freiburg (Breisgau), University, dissertation, 1984).
  • Christian Baechler: Le Parti catholique alsacien. 1890-1939. You Reichsland à la République Jacobine. Éditions Ophrys, Paris 1982, ISBN 2-7080-0516-2 (also: Paris, University, dissertation, 1981).

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Christian Baechler: Le Parti catholique alsacien. 1890-1939. You Reichsland à la République Jacobine. 1982, p. 716.