Hansabund

The presidium of the Hansa-Bund at a meeting in November 1912 in Berlin. From left: Franz Heinrich Witthoefft , Hartmann von Richthofen , Jakob Riesser , Kurt Kleefeld , Albert Hirth .

The Hansabund for trade, commerce and industry was an economic interest group for German merchants and industrialists based in Berlin .

The Hansabund was founded on June 12, 1909 with the aim of countering the conservative and protectionist influence of the Federation of Farmers (BdL) with an association of modern economy. The triggering moment was the failure of the Bülow block . The representatives of the BdL within the conservative party had made a significant contribution to this. The Hansabund was supported by the Central Association of German Industrialists , the Central Association of the United Guild Associations as a representative of the craft and the Central Association of the German Banking and Banking Industry . The federal government tried not only to address the economy and the old middle class of merchants and craftsmen, but also to address the new middle class of white-collar workers. After all, in 1913 the federal government had 650 local groups with 200,000 direct and a further 280,000 corporate (i.e. integrated through other associations) members. The Hansabund had not only economic but also political goals. He wanted to mobilize the bourgeoisie and public opinion against the agrarians, and pleaded for a new constituency that no longer favored the rural population; he turned against planned economy policy and tried to persuade the liberal parties to adopt common positions. The federal government also represented a collaboration between liberalism and the moderate forces of social democracy at times .

In the run-up to the Reichstag elections of 1912 , the federal government tried to get a left-wing liberal candidate through if at all possible. At times the Bund was also successful because the National Liberals approached the left-wing liberals at short notice and in 1912 an all-liberal electoral alliance was formed. The Hansabund wanted a coalition of the center against the right and was ready to work with the left to a limited extent. In the numerous runoff elections, the Hansabund insisted that if in doubt it would be better to support a Social Democrat than a Conservative. However, this turn to the center-left led to the fact that industrial associations in particular turned their backs on the federal government. The Central Association of Industrialists had already turned their backs in 1910, and in connection with the 1912 election, other associations were eliminated.

The federal government lost weight, but it was not officially dissolved until December 31, 1934 at the beginning of National Socialist rule. Shortly before, he had tried to prove his right to exist in the National Socialist state by drawing up the so-called Hansa Bund Plan for foreign trade.

literature

• Theodor Hirsch and Friedrich August Vossberg : Caspar Weinreich's Danziger Chronik. A contribution to the history of Danzig, the Lands of Prussia and Poland, the Hansabund and the Nordic empires . Berlin 1855 ( e-copy ).
• Siegfried Mielke : The Hansa Federation for Trade, Commerce and Industry 1909–1914. The failed attempt at an anti-feudal collection policy (= critical studies on historical science . Volume 17). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1976, ISBN 3-525-35968-3 (also dissertation, University of Berlin 1972).
• Thomas Nipperdey : German History 1866-1918, Vol. 2: Power state before democracy . Beck, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-406-44038-X , pp. 589-591.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Dirk Stegmann: Business associations (history) In: Handwörtbuch der Wirtschaftswirtschaft. Stuttgart, New York, 1980 p. 169