Center party of the Saar area

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The Center Party of the Saar region was the biggest party of 1920 separated from the German Empire until 1935 Saar . It was the sister party of the German Center Party and, as such, the political representation of Catholicism.

history

prehistory

In the German Empire the center was organized by country or in Prussia by provinces. Parts of the Bavarian Center Party and the Prussian Center Party therefore came together in the Saar region . A common organization had to be created first.

In the election for the Weimar National Assembly on January 19, 1919, votes were still held separately. In constituency 21 (Koblenz and Trier, which included the Prussian parts of what would later become the Saar region) the center had become the strongest party, in constituency 27 (Palatinate) it was second-strongest after the SPD.

The population of the Saar area was 72% Catholic.

organization

The Center Party was divided into local associations, district associations and the regional association. The highest body was the annual state delegate assembly, which elected the state board. Below the year there was the state party committee, which comprised around 80 members. The dovetailing with the Christian trade unions and the pastors was close, several pastors belonged to the state executive.

Positions

An important point in the policy of the Center Party of the Saar region was the question of church organization. Ecclesiastically, the Saarland belonged to the Diocese of Trier and the Diocese of Speyer . The diocese borders were not congruent with the borders of the Saar area. An assignment of the Saar area to the diocese of Metz or the creation of a separate diocese of Saarbrücken was discussed .

While the positions of the center and the French occupying power on the diocese question were low in conflict, the ideas in school policy were contrary. The center fought for the existence of Catholic denominational schools, the left parties for the adoption of the French model of secular state schools.

Across all party lines (the supporters of an annexation to France were a negligible minority) the parties of the Saar region were supporters of a return of the Saar region to Germany.

elections

In all elections to the National Council , the center was by far the largest party. In the first election on June 25, 1922, the center received an absolute majority with 16 out of 30 seats. In the three subsequent elections on January 27, 1924, March 25, 1928, and February 13, 1932, 14 out of 30 were each.

resolution

The NSDAP of the Saar area had remained politically insignificant. Nevertheless resulted with the seizure of power by the National Socialists a new location in the kingdom and for the parties in the Saar. This was especially true for the center as the largest party in the Saarland: On the one hand, a strong Reich government was welcomed, which would encourage the reintegration of the Saar region into Germany and resolutely fight the economic crisis. The Center had also voted for the Enabling Act in the Reichstag . On the other hand, as a democratic party, the Center naturally did not agree to the elimination of democracy. Above all, however, the persecution of the center supporters and church dignitaries in the empire after the seizure of power was unbearable.

This persecution could also be felt in the Saar area. The Catholic trade unions, which were financially dependent on the support of the trade unions from the Reich, forfeited these grants and were unable to act after the coordination of the free trade unions in the Reich.

Ultimately, the goal of reunification with Germany was more important to the bourgeois parties than democracy. The center became a member of the German Front , which voted in a referendum (the Saar vote ) for the return of the Saar region to Germany. This was not largely enough for the new rulers in Germany. Adolf Hitler called on the parties in the Saar area to disband. On September 20, 1933, the DNVP dissolved, and on October 6, 1933, the German-Saarland People's Party.

In the Center Party, a meeting of the State Party Committee on September 28, 1933 led to a vote in battle. The representatives of the Christian trade unions, namely Peter Kiefer, spoke out in favor of dissolution; however, a majority of 52 to 33 votes rejected a dissolution. The state chairman Franz Steegmann then resigned from his office. Pastor Franz Bungarten was elected in his place.

As a result, negotiations took place between the center and the NSDAP. As a result, the center received assurances that center politics and center politicians would not be defamed and that center members and supporters would not be persecuted. This was recorded in writing. On October 13, 1933, the dissolution of the Center Party was announced.

Post-history

The assurances of the National Socialists were broken after a short time. On January 31, 1934, Johannes Hoffmann , the editor-in-chief of the Zentrumszeitung Saarbrücker Landeszeitung, published statements by the NSDAP leader in the Saar area, Alois Spaniol , in which he described Hitler as the “new, greater, mighty Christ”. Voting against Bung Artens, the supervisory board of the newspaper was, Hoffmann was dismissed and the newspaper into line . The promises not to prosecute the leading figures of the center were also broken. Franz Steegmann lost his license to practice as a lawyer in 1940, which he only regained after the war.

Center press

The following newspapers in the Saar area were party newspapers or were considered to be close to the center:

Personalities

Chairperson

Group leaders

Members of the National Council

MP 1st WP 2nd WP 3rd WP 4th WP
Karl Albrecht 0 0 member member
Eduard Angel member 0 member member
Richard Becker member member member member
Albert Blügel 0 0 member member
Josef Gardener 0 0 member member
Johann Gladel member member member member
Elisabeth Hallauer member 0 0 0
Nikolaus Hassler 0 0 0 member
Peter Heinz member member member 0
Georg Hirschmann-Sutor 0 0 member member
Mathias Karius member member 0 0
Peter Kiefer member member member member
Johann Jakob Kratz member member 0 0
Franz Levacher member member member member
Wilhelm Martin member member member member
Mathias Dutch member 0 0 0
Wilhelm Palm 0 0 member 0
Wilhelm Rütters member member 0 0
Peter Scheuer member member member member
Wilhelm Schinhofen 0 0 0 member
Anton Schmidt member 0 0 0
Nikolaus Seiwert 0 member 0 0
Willibrord Thiel 0 member 0 0
August Weber 0 0 member 0
Johann Werth member 0 0 0
Peter Wilhelm member member member member

literature

  • Maria Zenner: Parties and politics in the Saar area under the League of Nations regime 1920–1935. Diss., Saarbrücken 1966
  • Markus Gestier: The Christian parties on the Saar and their relationship to the German nation state in the voting battles in 1935 and 1955, 1991, ISBN 3-924555-68-0

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Biography of Franz Steegmann