Reichsdeutscher Mittelstandsverband

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The Reichsdeutsche Mittelstandsverband was an anti-capitalist , anti-Semitic and anti-social-democratically oriented leading association of German craftsmen founded in 1911 .

history

In 1911, the Reichsdeutsche Mittelstandsverband (Reichsdeutsche Mittelstandsverband) was founded in Dresden under the main direction of Theodor Fritsch . The organization found support from the Federation of Farmers and the Central Association of German Industrialists . One goal of the strictly anti-social democratic association was to free craftsmen and small tradesmen from the liberal Hansabund and to lead them into their own camp.

At the founding meeting in 1911, the chairman's speech made the objective clear. According to this, the middle class would have two international enemies - the “golden international” of (Jewish) capital and the “red international” of the labor movement . He linked this with a middle class ideology and stylized handicrafts as the basis of state and society . “The state can only flourish as a living organism in which all the members are assigned their function for harmonious cooperation. And the commercial middle class is not only an important link, but also the core of a well-ordered state society. "

The association was quite successful. By 1913 he managed to gain 500,000 members. Allegedly, as many as 640,000 people were members in 1914. However, the majority of these were corporate members. This made it more than twice as strong as the Hansabund. Between 1912 and 1931 Johann Christian Eberle was chairman of the organization.

The association held three large Reich German Mittelstand days. Shortly after the Reichstag elections in 1912 , shocked by the success of the SPD , he proposed a new anti-social-democratic alliance. This was founded on the third day of the association in 1913 as a cartel of the creative classes . During the First World War , the association represented annexationist war aims and in the second half of the war it supported the German Fatherland Party. After the First World War, the association was of little importance.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Quoted from Heinz Georg Haupt: The "golden craft". In: German places of remembrance . Vol. 2 Munich, 2003. p. 399.
  2. ↑ Thomas Nipperdey: German History 1866-1918. Vol. 2 Power state before democracy. Munich, 1995 p. 589.

literature

  • Massimo Ferrarir Zumbini: The Roots of Evil. Founding years of anti-Semitism. From the Bismarckian era to Hitler . Klostermann, Frankfurt am Main 2003, ISBN 3-465-03222-5 , ( Das Abendland , NF 32), p. 391ff.
  • Heinrich August Winkler : The long way to the west . Volume 1: German history from the end of the Old Reich to the fall of the Weimar Republic . 4th revised edition. Beck, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-406-46001-1 , p. 322f.