Reich party of the German middle class

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The Reichspartei des Deutschen Mittelstandes (also economic party , WP for short ), which called itself the economic party of the German middle class from 1920 to 1925 , was a German party during the Weimar Republic .

history

The party emerged from medium-sized lists of interests that had achieved political successes in the Berlin area since 1920, primarily at the expense of the German Democratic Party (DDP). The master baker Hermann Drewitz became well known. The collecting tank for these lists of interests was founded in September 1920 by representatives of various medium-sized organizations from Berlin, Brandenburg, Silesia, Mecklenburg and Pomerania in Charlottenburg, the Reichspartei des Deutschen Mittelstandes (Economic Party), which was still the Economic Party of German Mittelstandes until 1925. The political and financial cooperation with the Central Association of German House and Landowners' Associations has been important since the Prussian state elections in 1921. Prominent members such as Johann Viktor Bredt stood for candidates on the WP list. So four mandates could be won. The WP limited itself to the representation of the interests of house and landowners, craftsmen and small tradesmen and showed itself as a pure interest party, which is to be settled in the bourgeois-right spectrum.

After prominent craftsmen functionaries such as Otto Colosser and Jacob Ludwig Mollath from the Association of Craftsmen had joined the board in 1924 , the politically most influential phase of the WP followed. She achieved electoral successes in Saxony, Thuringia and Mecklenburg-Schwerin; in Saxony and Thuringia she was involved in the state government, in Saxony with Walter Woldemar Wilhelm , in Thuringia at the instigation of Max Robert Gerstenhauer in the National Socialist-ruled Baum-Frick government from January 23, 1930 to April 1, 1931. 1928 she profited at the national level from losses of the DNVP and became almost as strong as the DDP. In 1930 the party lost in percentage terms, but was able to maintain the number of seats. She supported the Heinrich Brüning government , in which she was represented by the Minister of Justice Johann Viktor Bredt, but at the end of 1930 she left the government against Bredt's will because she did not want to support Brüning's consolidation program and large parts of the grassroots were moving closer to the " national opposition ”. Subsequently, an internal power and direction struggle broke out in the WP. As a result, prominent WP politicians like Otto Colosser split off and converted to other parties. After the Reichstag faction had saved Brüning from being overthrown in October 1931, many members and supporters left the party and switched to the NSDAP .

In 1932 the WP supported Paul von Hindenburg in the election of Reich President and tolerated Reich Chancellor Brüning - despite all internal tensions and the devastating defeat in the Prussian election in April 1932, which ended without winning a seat. For the Reichstag election of July 1932 , she entered into a list connection with the BVP , which, despite the party's huge losses, saved two of the 23 seats so far. In November only Johann Viktor Bredt came to the Reichstag through the list connection with the BVP. For election in March 1933 it has not raced for more; In the Prussian state election , the WP won another mandate under the name “Prussian medium-sized businesses and savers” and due to an alliance with the Center Party . In April 1933 the WP organization disbanded, especially since many regional associations did not support the course of the party leadership and had called for the election of the NSDAP or DNVP. Many party leaders, including Mollath, joined the NSDAP.

people

Party leader

vice-chairman

General Secretaries

  • 1921–1922 Fritz Borrmann
  • 1923–1929 Otto Dannenberg
  • 1929–1933 Wilhelm Baeumer

Members

About 50,000-60,000

Reichstag election results

Election results of the WP in the Weimar Republic (1919–1933)
8th%
6%
4%
2%
0%
year be right Votes in% Mandates
May 4, 1924 524,610 1.8 7th
December 7, 1924 694,568 2.3 11
May 20, 1928 1,397,129 4.5 23
September 14, 1930 1,362,353 3.9 23
July 31, 1932 146.875 0.4 2
November 6, 1932 110,301 0.3 1

Regionally and chronologically different names

  • Anhalt - 1924–1928 Volksgemeinschaft (DNVP, Landbund , AHG, WP, DVP, German Farmers' Union)
  • Baden - Economic and Peasant Party (WBP), 1921 economic association, 1925 economic association of the Baden middle class
  • Braunschweig - 1930–1933 Civil uniform list from the center, DVP, DNVP, HuG and business party
  • Bremen - Reich Party of the German Mittelstand
  • Hamburg - 1919–1921 Hamburg Economic Party, including the members of the electoral list “Landowners”, 1921–1924 within the DVP faction, 1928–1931 Mittelstandspartei, 1931–1932 with the Reich Party of German Mittelstandes
  • Lippe - Reich Party of German Medium-Sized Enterprises (Economic Party)
  • Mecklenburg-Schwerin - 1919–1920 Mittelstandspartei, 1920–1921 Economic Association, 1924–1926 Economic Association for Town and Country, 1926–1927 Economic Party of the Mecklenburg Mittelstand (State Association of the Reich Party of German Mittelstand), 1929–1932 Economic Party of the Mecklenburg Mittelstand / ANM
  • Prussia - 1921–1928 Economic Party of the German Middle Classes, 1928–1932 Reich Party of the German Middle Classes
  • Saxony - Reich Party of German Middle Classes (Economic Party)
  • Schaumburg-Lippe - economic party of the German middle class
  • Thuringia - Reich Party of German SMEs (Economic Party)

See also

literature

  • Werner Fritsch: Reichspartei des Deutschen Mittelstandes (Economic Party) [WP] 1920–1933, (1920–1925 Economic Party of the German Mittelstand). In: Dieter Fricke u. a. (Ed.): Lexicon on the history of parties. The bourgeois and petty bourgeois parties and associations in Germany 1789–1945. Volume 3: General Association of German Employees' Unions - Reich and Free Conservative Party. Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig a. a. 1985, pp. 722-738.
  • Martin Schumacher: SME Front and Republic. The Economic Party - Reich Party of the German Mittelstand. 1919–1933 (= contributions to the history of parliamentarism and political parties. Vol. 44, ISSN  0522-6643 ). Droste, Düsseldorf 1972.