Westphalian farmers' association

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The Westphalian Farmers' Association was an association-like body that - with precursors since the early 1860s - was dedicated to representing the interests of the peasantry in the province of Westphalia from 1871 to 1933 . Politically, the farmers' association was of particular importance because it was an important sponsor of the Westphalian section of the Catholic Center Party and, due to this position, had a considerable influence on the composition of the lists of candidates that the Center received in public elections to parliamentary representative bodies - in particular the Reichstag and the Prussian Landtag - nominated in the Westphalian constituencies. The current successor body to the Westphalian Farmers' Association is the Westphalian-Lippian Agricultural Association .

history

In the 1860s, various farmers' associations were founded at the local level in Westphalia , the purpose of which was to promote the interests of agriculture or, in particular, of the farmers - that is, members of the agricultural class who own their own land or who work as independent tenants (as opposed to wage earners Employees such as servants, maids, etc.) - to represent. The first association of this kind was the Wettringer Farmers Association , founded on June 10, 1862 in Wettringen . The chairman of this association expressed the goal to which this association was dedicated to the formula that he should raise "the members in religious, moral, intellectual, social and material terms" .

In November 1871, the Wettringer Farmers' Association and a number of other local farmers' associations that had been founded in the meantime merged to form the Westphalian Farmers' Association to represent their economic interests beyond the municipalities as well as to organize cooperative self-help and stabilize the Christian-class consciousness. This was the first free agricultural professional organization of the German Reich and became the model for numerous similar foundations, which were gradually carried out in almost all other provinces of the Reich in the following years, e.g. B. the Oldenburg Farmers Association , the Upper Silesian Farmers Association (1878), the Rhenish Farmers Association and the Hanover Farmers Association . Later, most of these associations were brought together under a common umbrella organization, which served to coordinate their cooperation and the representation of their interests vis-à-vis the Berlin central government and which was successively established as the Association of Christian German Farmers 'Associations (1900-1916), Association of German Farmers' Associations (1916-1931 ) and operated as an association of German Christian farmers' associations (1931–1934).

The seat of the association was Münster . The organ of the association " Der Westfälische Bauer " served to publicly propagate his demands and views . Ideologically, the farmers 'association was strictly Catholic, which resulted in close political ties to the Center Party, of which the farmers' association was one of the most important sponsors. The co-founder and long-time chairman of the Westphalian farmers' association Burghard von Schorlemer-Alst was also chairman of the Center Party from 1873 to 1889. During the early years of the farmers' association from the authorities of the Protestant-Prussian empire in the course of the culture war of the reign of Otto von Bismarck due to its Catholic orientation and its country-based demarcation from the rest of the empire - Schorlemer was then known as the "Westphalian peasant king" - was viewed with suspicion as a potentially subversive organization, the association integrated itself into the existing state over the years, so that during the reign of Kaiser Wilhelm II it was finally considered a very conservative organization representing the interests of the ruling class of the empire .

During the First World War , the association placed itself behind the war aims of the imperial generals and propagated territorial annexations and economic contributions to the war opponents of the empire as the result of the war to be realized.

In 1928, the organization was structured through the establishment of district associations for the Münsterland, for the Paderborn country, for the industrial area, for Minden-Ravensberg and for the Sauerland. As a result of the takeover of power by the National Socialists, the Christian-oriented farmers' associations were banned as early as 1933, and in September of that year the synchronization was completed with the establishment of the Reichsnährstand . In 1947, the Westphalian-Lippian Agricultural Association also followed up on the tradition of the farmers' association.

Membership development

  • 1879: 14,000 members
  • 1898: 28,900 members

Chairman of the association

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Historical data on the pages of the Agricultural Association

literature

  • Westphalian Farmers 'Association: Contributions to the history of the Westphalian peasant class, on behalf of the board and committee of the Westphalian farmers' association in conjunction with Paul Bahlmann , Münster 1912.
  • Norbert Wenger: From Schorlemer to Heereman: 125 years of the Westphalian Farmers' Association, 50 years of the Westphalian-Lippian Agricultural Association , 1997.