People's Day election in Gdansk, 1935
The election for the 6th People's Day in Danzig on April 7, 1935 was marked by a large number of irregularities and election fraud. The fact that the NSDAP still did not receive a two-thirds majority was generally perceived as a defeat for the National Socialists and delayed the coordination of democratic organizations. Massive violations were found in the election test, but no redial was ordered. Since the constitutional elections for 1939 were not held, it was the last election in the Free City of Danzig .
initial situation
In the election for the 5th People's Day on May 28, 1933, the NSDAP received an absolute majority of the votes and 38 out of 72 seats in the People's Day. Hermann Rauschning (NSDAP) became the new President of the Senate. After a conflict between NSDAP Gauleiter Albert Forster and Rauschning, the Rauschning Senate ended on November 23, 1934 and Arthur Greiser (NSDAP) moved to the top of the Senate. Rauschning, who had previously belonged to the Danzig German National People's Party, had not implemented Nazi policy with the intensity that his party had expected and had lost the confidence of his parliamentary group.
The 1933 election was influenced by the Great Depression . As in the Reich or in the USA ( New Deal ), the Senate also used the instrument of the job creation program in Danzig . The possibilities of financing this through deficit spending , however, were limited in Gdansk, as the Gdansk Bank was partly owned by foreign central banks and the League of Nations had to regularly prove the required currency cover on reference dates. The Reichsbank temporarily made foreign currency available to the Danziger Staatsbank on the cut-off dates. In 1935, however, this instrument was largely exhausted.
A number of laws and ordinances that the National Socialists had enacted to ensure conformity were in conflict with the Danzig constitution . The opposition factions had appealed to the League of Nations (which was the guarantor of the Free City of Danzig) with complaints about this. Although the League of Nations had taken no action, there was a possibility of action.
The dissolution of the state parliament
The Senate was faced with unpopular economic policy measures and the danger that the constitutional violations could lead to intervention by the League of Nations. The National Socialists therefore sought a two-thirds majority in the state parliament in order to be able to change the constitution. On the one hand, the NSDAP hoped for a tailwind from the economic recovery in the Reich and above all from the Saar vote , which had shown overwhelming approval of the NSDAP's Saar policy.
On February 21, 1935, the Danzig People's Day was dissolved with the votes of the NSDAP MPs. The new elections were set for April 7, 1935.
The election campaign
The election campaign of the NSDAP was supported by the Senate to the best of its ability, that of the democratic parties (the Communist Party had already been banned on May 28, 1934) obstructed.
The city and the rural area were massively decorated with NSDAP flags and posters, and a public presentation to the democratic parties was largely prevented. The NSDAP carried out over 1,300 election campaign events. The SPD and the center only managed to get 7 events approved, the other parties received no approvals. The radio was available exclusively to the NSDAP for five weeks.
The NSDAP's election campaign received massive financial support from the Reich; the democratic parties there had already been banned. This allowed the NSDAP to distribute its newspaper Der Danziger Vorposten in large special editions to the people. In return, the opposition newspapers such as the “ Danziger Volksstimme ” (SPD) and “ Danziger Volks-Zeitung ” (center) were repeatedly banned and confiscated during the election campaign.
The motto of the NSDAP election campaign was: “Fight the separatists! - Danzig remains National Socialist! ”. The term "separatists" came from the election campaign in the Saar area. The fact that there were no separatists in Danzig did not matter.
There was also a wave of threats and physical violence against candidates and supporters of the democratic parties.
The vote
When the elections were held, there was also election fraud and manipulation in many places. This began with the approval of the electoral lists. For example, the German nationalists were not allowed to run under the desired name “National Front”, but were admitted as “List of Wise Men”. With the admission of "foreign Danzigers" to vote, a large number of people who were not registered in Danzig were given the right to vote.
| April 7, 1935, election for the 6th People's Day | be right | Seats | ||
| at all | vH | overh | vH | |
| Eligible voters | 237.165 | 61.76 | ||
| Voters | ||||
| voter turnout | approx. 99.5 | |||
| invalid votes | ||||
| valid votes | 235.062 | 72 | ||
| from that: | ||||
| National Socialist German Workers Party (Hitler Movement) | 139.423 | 59.31 | 43 | 59.72 |
| Social Democratic Party | 37,729 | 16.05 | 12 | 16.67 |
| Center Party | 31,522 | 13.41 | 10 | 13.89 |
| List way | 9,805 | 4.17 | 3 | 4.17 |
| Poland | 8,294 | 3.53 | 2 | 2.78 |
| Communist Party of Germany | 7,916 | 3.37 | 2 | 2.78 |
| Others | 373 | 0.16 | - | - |
Post-election development
Shortly after the election, on May 2, 1935, the guilder was “reassessed”. The gold content of the Gdańsk guilder has been reduced to 57.73% of its previous value. Another ordinance reduced the guilder coverage limit from 40% to 30%. On May 4, 1935, the price of bread was increased by 10%, the price of butter by 30 to 40% and that of grain and legumes by 70%. As a result, all other prices rose as well. This, along with other cuts in the Senate, created considerable dissatisfaction with the Senate. Unofficially, the Senate estimated that the proportion of votes it would receive in a repeat election would be between 18 and 35%.
The election test
At the constituent meeting of the People's Day on April 30, 1935, the representatives of the democratic parties declared that the composition of the Landtag did not reflect the will of the people and that an election review would therefore take place. The quickest way to new elections would have been to dissolve the state parliament. However, the opposition's application for self-dissolution was not dealt with until August 26, 1935 in the People's Day and was rejected with 42 votes from the NSDAP against the 28 votes from the opposition. Immediately after the election, the democratic parties filed a number of actions to challenge the election before the Danzig High Court.
On October 30, 1935, the date for the oral public hearing before the First Civil Senate of the Danzig Higher Court, chaired by the President of the Higher Court, Dr. Walter von Hagens instead. The court dismissed all the cases presented and interviewed 988 witnesses. The verdict was announced on November 14, 1935. The High Court confirmed many cases of election fraud and confirmed the representation of the opposition parties about the involvement of state organs in favor of the NSDAP.
However, not the entire election result was declared invalid. Instead, it was decided that the National Socialists should withdraw 3% of the votes in the cities and 10% in the rural communities. In eighteen towns in the rural districts, the manipulations were so significant that the election there was declared invalid. The National Socialists lost 10,804 votes and one seat in the People's Day (this went to the SPD).
The petition to the League of Nations
After the verdict, representatives of the Social Democratic Party, the Center Party and the German National People's Party petitioned the League of Nations. In the League of Nations meeting in Geneva from January 22nd to 24th, 1936, this request for re-election was discussed. This time, too, the League of Nations could not bring itself to action.
literature
- Ernst Sodeikat: National Socialism and the Danzig Opposition; In: Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte , Volume 12 (1966), Issue 2, 139–174, online
Individual evidence
- ↑ Falter u. a. 1986, p. 115
